# Title Deeds trap



## monte korfi (Sep 14, 2008)

I am new to the site and having looked through subjects currently being discussed I thought I would give a bit of advice to those thinking that house buying in Cyprus is based on the UK system. It is not, the housing market on this island is a minefield of curruption and fraud perpetuated by developers and the solicitors who work in league with them. 

Having spent five years fighting for our title deeds we have, at last, been successful although we ended up paying the illegal Immovable Property Tax invoice supplied by our developer. We will continue now to fight to get our money back through the Courts or police if necessary.

One of our neighbours, 83 year old widow, was asked for over 15K Immovable Property Tax before her title deeds would be released after paying for her home 23 years ago. This week she successfully took the developer to court and the Judge ruled that her deeds were to be released and she did not have to pay the Immovable Property Tax invoice the developer had given her.

Although you pay in full for the house without the title deeds the developer owns the land the house is on, he can take out a mortgage which the bank can foreclose on and sell your home from under your feet.

For advice on house buying visit the Cyprus-Property-Action-Group web site who are working with the British High Commission to put an end to this corruption and fraud. Alternatively the lyingbuilder web site and shameoncyprus web site will also paint a picture of how one particular British man has been treated out here by a developer in Paralimni.

The Cyprus-Property-Action-Group are working on behalf of thousands of people who have bought homes from two large developers in Paphos, also for people in Limassol and throughout the island. Cypriot action groups are also working in co-operation with CPAG to get title deeds for their people too. These groups intend to take this scandal to the EU commission for Human Rights if need be.

All I can say is if you intend to buy on this island make sure the title deeds are available if not then walk away ignoring the promises from solicitors that "you will have them in 3 months" it has taken us 5 years to get peace of mind here on this island. Developers promise to give you title deeds in 3 years, why not immediately? Simple, they use them to take out further mortgages to build more properties, if they go bust you are homeless without a leg to stand on.


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## desi (Aug 9, 2008)

My developer has also told me my deeds will not be available for three years any advise on wot i should do till then.


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## monte korfi (Sep 14, 2008)

desi said:


> My developer has also told me my deeds will not be available for three years any advise on wot i should do till then.


I would not have got involved in the first place. A Cypriot on our estate recently paid 51% of the price of the property which enabled him to move in. He withheld the rest of the money until the title deeds were transferred over to him, the developer wanted his money and transferred the deeds. 

Check your contract of sale and see if there is a penalty clause of 8% interest on monies outstanding if you dont pay within a set period. If that clause is not in your contract you can have a word with your solicitor and ask for his advice, that is assuming he is not also a solicitor for the developer or involved with the developer which is often the case.

It is recommended that you use a solicitor outside of the area, ie if buying in Paphos use one in Larnaca as they are unlikely to be in the developer's pockets and lining their own.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

monte korfi said:


> I am new to the site and having looked through subjects currently being discussed I thought I would give a bit of advice to those thinking that house buying in Cyprus is based on the UK system. It is not, the housing market on this island is a minefield of curruption and fraud perpetuated by developers and the solicitors who work in league with them.
> 
> Having spent five years fighting for our title deeds we have, at last, been successful although we ended up paying the illegal Immovable Property Tax invoice supplied by our developer. We will continue now to fight to get our money back through the Courts or police if necessary.
> 
> ...


WOW you really have a downer on developers. Not all of them are bad and while I know that there are many buyers who have fallen foul of unscrupulous developers it is unfair to tar them all with the same brush. 
You ask why you dont get your title deeds immediately. This is down to the land registry not the developers in most cases. It is only in the case of indvidual properties that title deeds can be isssued quickly. In the case of developments the developer cannot apply for title deeds to be issued until t he development is finished. The land registry then has to split the land into individual deeds and this takes time. Unfortunately the wheels of progress grind very slowly in Cyprus and it can take many years before title deeds are issued.
However the preoccupation with title deeds is totally out of proportion as you do not need them in order to sell your home. Most developers are more than happy to sign the transfer papers for a small fee, there are only a few who will charge well over the odds for this service, but you can safeguard yourself by having a clause in your contract which caps the amount that the developer can charge. 
Our solicitor insists on such a clause in all contracts and refuses to allow their clients to sign without such a clause in place. 
So as long as you make sure that you have a reputable developer who is working on your behalf and not for the developer there should not be any problems re title deeds.
Those who end up with problems have often not done their research thoroughly enough before jumping in feet first and buying.

Veronica


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## monte korfi (Sep 14, 2008)

The "no title deeds until last brick laid on the development" was scrapped some time ago on entry to the EU. There is no reason now for any delay in the transferring of the title deeds although you may have to wait 2-3 months for it to trickle through the Land Registry to get the hard copy. What our developer did, and others do the same, is to hang onto them and instead of charging the IPT that they actually pay, they charge 0.4% of the sale price and then add 9% compound interest. I have just received an e-mail from another resident whose total IPT comes to 18,000 euros!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

monte korfi said:


> The "no title deeds until last brick laid on the development" was scrapped some time ago on entry to the EU. There is no reason now for any delay in the transferring of the title deeds although you may have to wait 2-3 months for it to trickle through the Land Registry to get the hard copy. What our developer did, and others do the same, is to hang onto them and instead of charging the IPT that they actually pay, they charge 0.4% of the sale price and then add 9% compound interest. I have just received an e-mail from another resident whose total IPT comes to 18,000 euros!



The fact that officially things are supposd to have changed dosnt actuallly alter anything. As I said the wheels of progress grind slowly and Cyprus is very slow to change its ways. Change will come but not as quickly as it should. Until such time as things do change there are things that buyers can do to safeguard themselves.
If buyers do their homework and do not allow unscrupulous developers and agents pressurise them into signing contracts before they are absolutely sure they are doing the right thing and the contract is in their favour they should not have any problems.


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## monte korfi (Sep 14, 2008)

Exactly. I brought the subject up because like so many people who do not do their homework we ended up being taken to a solicitor who was also the solicitor for the developer. We came out on one of these 3 day viewing trips from an exhibition in the UK nearly 5 years ago and were thoroughly duped. Homework is essential on the property market out here as there are so many pitfalls people can fall into. Have you seen the shameoncyprus site where a purchaser of a property in Paralimni is actually camped outside the Cyprus High Commission in London in a tent in this awful weather? This is a man fighting for justice and good luck to him.

The Minister of the Interior has stated that he will introduce new laws on title deeds before the end of this year and we await his ruling with bated breath. 

Incidentally we did pay the illegal IPT invoice we were given as we could run out of money if it was allowed to drag on any longer and build up as we are OAPs. Our deeds have been transferred and we await the hard copy which should be available in 2-3 months.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

monte korfi said:


> Exactly. I brought the subject up because like so many people who do not do their homework we ended up being taken to a solicitor who was also the solicitor for the developer. We came out on one of these 3 day viewing trips from an exhibition in the UK nearly 5 years ago and were thoroughly duped. Homework is essential on the property market out here as there are so many pitfalls people can fall into. Have you seen the shameoncyprus site where a purchaser of a property in Paralimni is actually camped outside the Cyprus High Commission in London in a tent in this awful weather? This is a man fighting for justice and good luck to him.
> 
> The Minister of the Interior has stated that he will introduce new laws on title deeds before the end of this year and we await his ruling with bated breath.
> 
> Incidentally we did pay the illegal IPT invoice we were given as we could run out of money if it was allowed to drag on any longer and build up as we are OAPs. Our deeds have been transferred and we await the hard copy which should be available in 2-3 months.



Unfortunately the Uk exhibitions are responsible for many of the unhappy expats
here in Cyprus. They make everything sound so rosy and they get their hands on unsuspecting people who come out on cheap inspection trips and then are 'babysat' by the developers reps who use hard sell timeshare style tactics.
They tell the clients that they will save money by using their solicitor but of course the odds always stacked in the favour of the developer.
We will never allow our clients to use the same solicitor as the developer and unlike many of the bigger companies we do not beleive in cheap inspection trips.
We beleive it is far fairer to reward clients who purchase through us with a cash back to help cover their costs. That way those who purchase dont end up paying for cheap holidays for those who have no intention of buying but just use the system for cheap jollies.


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## monte korfi (Sep 14, 2008)

Hopefully some of the forum members will read our discussion and learn from our mistakes.
Nice to talk to you.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

monte korfi said:


> Hopefully some of the forum members will read our discussion and learn from our mistakes.
> Nice to talk to you.



It's always cheaper if you learn from other peoples mistakes rather than making them yourself


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