TODAY saw the launch of an on-line petition asking the UK Prime Minister to exert pressure on the Cyprus Government to protect peoples’ property rights.
Add your name now by visiting the: Title Deed Petition on the official website of the UK Prime Minister’s Office.
Recent days have seen the pressure on Cyprus to resolve the Title Deeds-cum-fraud mess mounting. Buyers are worried that the global credit crunch will affect developers in Cyprus. Many property developers hold onto title deeds of buyers’ homes using the land on which they are building to raise mortgages. If a developer collapses, the banks have legal right of foreclosure. There are around 100,000 properties without Title Deeds, many of whose buyers may face losing their homes if their developer collapses.
Buyers are demanding that the Cyprus government puts guarantees in place, similar to those recently announced for bank deposits.
The petition reads:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to exert pressure on the Government of Cyprus to protect property rights in Cyprus in compliance with Article 17 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
Cyprus is mis-described as having a property registration and ownership system based on the British Legal System. In fact it’s based on archaic Turkish law which allows the removal property ownership rights from both Cyrus and foreign nationals. It works like this: The developer builds a property, sells it, is paid in full and releases the property without providing final title deeds. They are only issued by the local authority if the developer applies for completion and has met all of the planning requirements for the project. Until they are issued the developer can use the land as collateral for further loans!
The Cyprus Land Registry figures show there are 29,949 transfers of Title Deeds to foreigners still pending and are only being issued at the rate of 1,600 a year! The numbers of Cypriots waiting for title deeds dwarfs that of the foreigners.
Add your name now by visiting the: Title Deed Petition on the official website of the UK Prime Minister’s Office.
