Cyprus government to demolish illegal properties
Technical advisors are calling for the Cyprus government to demolish illegally built properties that are unlikely to be approved under the new planning amnesty.
As part of its plan to sort out the decades long title deed and illegal building situation the government has set up a process where illegal developments can be regularised. But the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK), the statutory technical advisor to the state, wants a clear sign that illegal building will not be tolerated.
It believes that demolition will not just be a penalty for those who have broken the law but also serve as a warning to those who may consider breaking the law in the future.
ETEK also wants a black list of property developers who sell apartments off-plan without first having secured the necessary permissions and who then make false claims regarding completion and withhold Title Deeds, and those who, having been refused a loan, remortgage property for which no Title Deed has been issued in order to fund the development of their next illegal project.
Spokesman Costantinos Constantis said various companies were destroying Cyprus’ international reputation and the authorities should reject applications made by land developers who were known to have broken the law.
There is still considerable doubt in Cyprus that the measures currently being adopted with solve the problems faces by tens of thousands of property buyers who don’t have title deeds and who may face having their properties demolished.
There is also concern about how long it is taking to put the new bill into action. It also claimed that some of the provisions in the proposed legislation being proposed will lead to stagnation in the construction industry.
Meanwhile European Parliament MP Daniel Hannan has called on the European Commission to send a fact finding mission to Cyprus to investigate the Title Deed problems. He is concerned that the new legislation will not address the main problems especially those relating to buyers whose properties have second developer mortgages on them and therefore they do not have title deeds.
In a written question to the parliament he has also asked for specific official figures on the number of property sales contracts that are encumbered with developer mortgages, the current balance of the total mortgage debt of Cypriot developers and the year on year percentage increase of that debt over the last three years.
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