In Cyprus there are three types of registered land tenure, freehold, leasehold and shared ownership.
Freehold property is the property that the owner has the absolute ownership of the land and for all the buildings that stand within this land.
Leasehold property is the property that there is a temporary ownership right to the property in which the tenant can holds the rights of the land for a limited time. Usually leaseholders have to annually pay the ground rent and this is normally cheaper than the monthly. In Cyprus, there must be a valid term of fifteen years at least for a lease to be register.
Shared ownership this type of ownership of a property that is held by two or more persons. This property however, is held in undivided shares and therefore the owners of the particular property can not specify which part of the property belongs to who. For example, if a husband and wife in Cyprus own a property, they are considered as 'tenants in common', where each owner holds an undivided amount of shares in real property as if they were the only owner. Tenants in common, by law, have the right of inheritance, unlike join tenants. This means when a tenant in common dies, their shares of the property does not automatically pass to the survivor in contrast with the join tenant. In Cyprus law, the concept of the joint ownership of a property does not exists.
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