Before you consider buying land in Cyprus seek independent legal advice.
It is recommended not to use a lawyer who was recommended by vendor, as he represents the interests of the vendor and his advice may be incomplete and in favour of vendor.
Government Approval
Cyprus residents EU-Nationals may buy as much property as they wish. To confirm their residency they can in their local District Administration Office where the officers will issue them a special certificate. This process is quite fast and a Certificate of Permanent Residence will be delivered within a week by post.
Non-resident EU nationals are allowed to purchase as much land as they wish. Although if they want to purchase any other sort of property, it is restricted to one house or one apartment and they required to have an approval from the Council of Ministers.
Non-EU nationals are required to seek approval from the Council of Ministers and their ownership is usually limited to:
- An apartment;
- A house;
- A building plot or land of approximately 4,000 square metres;
Land Registry
The authorities of Cyprus keep a ledger for land where all the property that is immovable (referring to both land, and property) is centralized.
Each immovable property has assigned:
- A certificate of Registration (named Title Deed) that has information related to the owner, the location, the size, and the reference of the Office of Lands.
- An assigned Plan of the Site that shows the location of the land, on a map.
- The Registry of Land is registered and maintained by several Offices of the Lands for each district, where are issued, kept, and maintained the ownerships of immovable properties. These offices are present in most of the big cities of Cyprus.
Planning Zones
For better organization, the island is split in few planning zones. These zones may be residential, industrial, agricultural, green belt, tourist, or for animal rearing. Please ensure that when you want to buy the land, it is of the appropriate type, otherwise you may not be allowed to rise a building.
Also, at the end the cost of joining the electricity, phone, and water networks will be very expensive, or you may have to wait for years.
Also, you may be requested to give up some area to government to build roads, pedestrian ways, or amenities.
Additionally, you may have no road for vehicles to the plot you bought.
In the case your land is located at more than 100 meters from the road, most probably you will be declined to build up, or you may end neighbouring hoards of animals.
You may also buy building plots, which have the advantage that you are already connected to the utilities, and you’ll have also access on the road. These plots are usually more expensive, mainly because the owner had to invest in connecting the plot, splitting it, and getting approvals and installations of services.
You should keep in mind few issues to investigated. Pay attention to the density of the buildings, usage, the number of floors and the height of the buildings; these aspects will outline the parameters and restrictions of the buildings that can be built up. At the end you may find out that the density or the zone will prohibit you from building constructions for habitation.
Finding Land
Most of the land for sale in Cyprus is private and it is owned by a person or a family. The Estate Agents (that rose in Cyprus as a job only in the 90’s) may supply you with more information about lands and the newspapers may contain advertisings.
Most of the locals in Cyprus are not using Agents, but they are using direct approach via the word of mouth in order to find the best land in specific available locations.
You may visit some areas you are interested in, and ask residents, shops, the town hall, or even the coffee shops about lands for sale. Once you find announcements marked "For Sale", “ΠΩΛΟΥΝΤΑΙ” or “Πωλούνται”, you should stop, note down the phone numbers, and ask neighbours about details.
Inspecting Land
Every time you are visioning a land, make sure the land you see is the same you are going to buy. Ask the vendor for the Land Certificate and the Land Office Site Plan and:
- Check that the references/plan/sheet/plot shown on the certificate match those from the Site Plan.
- Check the Site Plan for its boundaries, placements and form, take a look around you and find the roads, constructions, and other elements shown in plan.
If the seller cannot or does not want to supply you with copies of any of these documents you should look for another land. The Title Deed will give you more information, including the planning zone of the given location and the area of the plot.
Searches
In the situation you found a land you want to buy, ask the lawyer to proceed to the land and title search. The land search will find the area and the scope of any building you are permitted to build, and the title search will find out all the enforcements and restrictions against the land.
In Cyprus is fine to sell a land or other immovable property, even though against it are charges as mortgage. But, you will not own the property until the actual owner will clear the debt. In the situation the actual owner does not clear the debt, the creditor may pursue the claim against the property, by a court of law enforcement.
For clear reasons, buying any property in Cyprus that is subject of a mortgage or any other claim is strongly not recommended, as you may end without anything.
Contract
In the moment you find out the land has a clean title (no claims stand against the land) and you negotiated an acceptable price and the terms of payment with the seller, the lawyer will draw the contract of sale. In Cyprus is no cooling off of the contract, so once you have signed the contract, you are committed to buy it.
Within two months from signing, the lawyer will deposit the contract to the District Lands’ Office for the “specific performance”. This is to protect your rights as buyer by creating a constraint against the land, that prevents the current owner to sell it to somebody else.
Conveyancing
The last stage of purchase is the conveyance of the title on your name. This is the moment you are finally the owner of the plot and you can celebrate!
The process of conveyance is carried out by the District Lands’ Office. You only need to complete a specific form and your lawyer will handle the remaining. Non-residents from EU and other foreigners need to provide a copy of the certification of the permission issued by the Council of Ministers to acquire the property, while EU residents need to provide the “Certificate of Permanent Residence” issued to them by the local District Administration Office.
Fees related to the transfer of the property have to be paid at the time of conveyance. The amount of fee changes from time to time and the lawyer should be able to explain you properly.
At the end, the District Lands’ Office will issue a new Registration Certificate (the Title Deed) that has the name of the new owners.
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