YESTERDAY the Property in Cyprus Action Support Group (PICAS) launched an on-line petition concerning applications made by the Alpha Bank to auction eight plots of land in the Paphos district to recover monies owed to it by bankrupt property developer Yiannis Liasides.
People affected by the Alpha Bank’s applications paid Liasides for their homes in full and have also been forced to spend many thousands of Euros in addition to make their homes habitable by completing unfinished construction work, build roads and obtain utility services as a consequence of the company’s collapse.
These unfortunate people may lose their homes if the Alpha Bank’s applications are approved.
Time is of the essence and PICAS is urging as many people as possible to sign its on-line petition. PICAS plan to submit the petition to the Ministry of the Interior. The petition reads:
Stop the Alpha Bank’s application to Auction
We the undersigned demand that the Ministry of the Interior and the Land Registry in Cyprus act decisively and intervene by rejecting any and all the applications made by the Alpha Bank to auction eight plots of land that were mortgaged to property developer Yiannis Liasides against which contracts of sale to purchase immovable property have been lodged.
Many people who bought from this developer in particular and in Cyprus in general did so with the utmost good faith. They were reassured by the Ministry of the Interior that once a contract of sale is lodged with the Land Registry for Specific Performance then the buyer is protected.
In his statement of the 22nd July 2009, Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis wrote “Nobody and no Authority anywhere can ever challenge the property rights or the ownership status of buyers of immovable property within the territory which is under the control of the ROC.” And that “the property market in Cyprus is stable and secure, and property buyers must be absolutely certain that their investments are safe here; indeed, property investment is much safer in Cyprus than anywhere else”.
We ask that a clear and unequivocal message is sent to the banks in Cyprus that buyers must not pay the price for the failure of developers, negligence of Advocates, lax oversight by the banks and the inability of successive governments to legislate against this.
Failure to send such a message will result in a complete breakdown of trust and confidence in both the Cyprus property market and also in the assurances made by the Minister of the Interior on behalf of the Cyprus Government.