I HAVE been busy trying to sort out the Building Amnesty; an amnesty that requires me to correct and pay for the illegalities of my developer. Apparently, my house isn’t the property for which my developer had obtained planning permission.
My most well-known Paphos developer was only trying to give me the house I wanted but knew it wouldn’t get a building permit so he submitted plans for a house with a basement area, when in fact the basement had two bedrooms and a bathroom.
An illegal house can’t get Title Deeds, therefore I would have to sell back to the developer at a loss.
To legalise the situation, I now have to pay an ETEK registered architect to submit a statement of intent. I must then pay the architect to submit planning applications to legalise the changes to the plan.
I have paid over €1,000 so far. If the irregularities are serious, I will have to pay substantial fines to the Cypriot authorities for the crimes of my developer. Eventually, I might get a Final Certificate of Approval and a Title Deed. However, the Title Deed will specify all the original illegalities created by dishonest and devious developer. Doesn’t an amnesty absolve one of all illegalities? In the meantime, the developers and their compliant lawyers in this massive fraud are free of any penalties.
Chris Solomon,
Peyia,
Paphos
