The new Urban Amnesty Plan is expected to be approved at today’s afternoon session of the Council of Ministers, and it will come into effect immediately for a period of only six months.

The amnesty aims to allow people to legalize unauthorized constructions in approved developments that involve small-scale planning infringements that do not significantly affect the overall development, its type, or their neighbour’s comfort.

Examples include covering open spaces, closing verandas, building pergolas and BBQ areas, etc. According to official sources, thousands of unauthorized constructions exist in buildings that, due to planning violations by the owners, cannot receive final approval and, consequently, title deeds.

As well as the many buyers who are ‘trapped’ because their developer/their lawyer failed to disclose the land on which their properties were being built was mortgaged to the bank/financial institution, many other buyers cannot get their Title Deeds, due to planning infringements.

Lionel Grancourt is just one example. His roads have not been completed, his whole site has not been completed, his apartment block encroaches on someone else’s land, his chemical sewerage system has not been installed. Others can’t get their Title Deeds because pavements and green areas have not been completed, their properties do not comply with fire regulations, their apartment balconies are unsafe as they’ve not been built correctly, their development has been overbuilt and a whole host of other problems, including their developer having abandoned the development.

Phileleftheros article

According to an article in Phileleftheros, which I’ve translated from Greek:

“First and foremost, there is the major and ongoing issue with foreigners who have bought properties and other assets in Cyprus but have not yet secured a Title Deed. This issue has been reported by British buyers to their country’s media, defaming Cyprus.

“In fact, some British publications have stated that property purchases in Cyprus are not secure because title deeds are not issued. With such publications, we understand that no Briton is likely to be interested in buying property in Cyprus again.

“However, apart from foreigners, there are also many Cypriots who, although they have purchased and fully paid for property, have not yet received a Title Deed. This is because the contractors of these properties have committed so many irregularities and possibly illegalities that prevent the Town Planning and Land Registry from approving the issuance of Title Deeds.

“Furthermore, there is a third category of buyers who bought property and have paid for it in full, but due to violations of building permits by the contractors or their own interventions in the property, they have received a title of ownership with ‘notes’” This means they cannot sell or mortgage their property unless they correct the violations by the contractor at their own expense. However, the violations and interventions may be such that correcting them could be impossible.

“In this context, there are also many property owners who, regardless of whether they have a title of ownership, have made serious alterations (such as adding parking spaces, constructing additional floors, creating new rooms, closing verandas, etc.) to their properties. The situation in these cases is chaotic, resulting in most title deeds no longer reflecting the actual state of the properties.”

Although I agree with virtually everything above, I reject any claim that myself (and others) who report these problems in the UK media are “defaming Cyprus”. It’s the Cypriot authorities and their seeming inability (or perhaps unwillingness) to get to grips with these violations and punish those responsible who are defaming their country.

Who Can Apply for Amnesty?

Owners of the following types of properties can apply for the amnesty:

• Residential units.
• Industrial, artisan, storage, livestock, and agricultural developments.
• Commercial and office developments (additions to approved ground-floor shops).
• Recreation/entertainment developments, such as cafes, restaurants, snack bars, etc.

A key requirement for applying for the amnesty is that the properties with planning infringements must have obtained a planning permit or/and building permit by the date the Council of Ministers decides on the implementation of the scheme, i.e., by today, September 13, 2024.

Why a new amnesty?

In July 2015, the Council of Ministers introduced a plan offering urban planning incentives titled: “Measures for the legalization and licensing of unauthorized/new constructions in approved developments.” This plan, initially valid for four years until December 31, 2019, was extended three times by the Council of Ministers until December 31, 2023.

However, since this plan only applied to buildings licensed before 2015, it resulted in just 3,151 applications, which was not representative of the total number of unauthorized constructions across Cyprus.

According to the Interior Ministry, many more buildings have irregularities, but their owners did not take advantage of the scheme to obtain approval certificates and, consequently, Title Deeds. Therefore, the Ministry of the Interior deemed it beneficial to implement a new policy framework for granting urban amnesty.

Amnesty terms and conditions

The basic conditions for participation in the scheme are:

• The building must be approved, and the development must have been granted a planning permit and/or building permit before the expected decision of the Council of Ministers today (September 13, 2024.)
• The unauthorized additions must have been completed before the expected decision of the Council of Ministers today. It should be noted that, when the application is submitted, the responsible planner must provide a sworn declaration regarding the date of completion of the unauthorized additions.
• Illegal modifications, both outside and within the shell of the approved building, must comply with the building’s morphology and architecture, be constructed with high-quality and aesthetically pleasing materials, and not negatively impact the environment, neighbour’s comfort, or third-party property rights.
• In cases of exceeding the building density coefficient, the planning permit will include a requirement to pay a financial compensation, a percentage of the excess value, to the Special Funds of the Cyprus Land Development Corporation (KOAG) for Affordable Housing. Before the planning permit is issued, ten percent of the compensation will be deposited into the accounts of the Planning Authorities (District Administrative Organizations) to cover administrative costs. Where the building deviates from the building regulations, financial compensation must be paid for each deviation category before the planning permit is issued.
• The Planning Authority will instigate a process for purchasing additional parking spaces, which are required in cases where these cannot be allocated within the development property, even if the development is in an area where the ministerial decree for purchasing parking spaces does not apply. Approval of the minister’s deviation order is not required.

Key provisions

The “Urban Amnesty Plan for the Legalization of Unauthorized Constructions in Approved Developments,” expected to be approved in today’s session of the Council of Ministers, provides the following key measures:

• Introducing an obligation to pay financial compensation for residential developments with three categories of building density coefficient excess, either within the main shell of the existing building, outside the main shell (horizontal or vertical expansion), or in cases where an additional residential unit has been created through unauthorized construction. Compensation is also required for other categories of development in cases of building density excess.
• Introduction of the obligation to pay financial compensation for regulatory deviations (covered veranda/pergola, reduced distance from the property boundary, increased coverage percentage, increased height or length of an auxiliary building along a shared boundary, etc.).

The financial compensation will be calculated based on the current General Valuation Tables of the Department of Lands and Surveys. In cases of regulatory deviations from the provisions of Development Plans, a specific amount is determined for each deviation category, depending on its scale and significance, as well as the administrative region in which the property falls.

Residential developments deviations and payments

In cases where residential developments have undergone extensions without obtaining the required planning permit, resulting in an excess of the maximum allowed building density coefficient, the Planning Authority may approve an increase in the coefficient by 20% or up to 60 square meters, whichever is greater.

Unauthorized extensions may have been carried out either within the shell of the building (incorporation of auxiliary spaces, carports, and covered verandas into the interior of the unit), or outside the shell (horizontal or vertical extension).

The Planning Authority may also approve an extension for an additional unauthorized residential unit, provided it is used exclusively to meet the housing needs of the landowner’s family, as long as the legalization of the additional unit does not infringe on the comfort or property rights of co-owners.

The plan can also be applied to existing residential apartments in buildings for the purpose of legalizing constructions related to the incorporation of covered verandas, provided that written consent from all joint-owners is submitted with the application.

In cases of excess building density in residential developments, compensation will be required depending on the type and category of the development. The market value will be derived from the General Valuation of the Department of Lands and Surveys, and the compensation obligation will vary as follows:

• 20% of the value of the excess building density for applications involving an increase in buildable area within the shell of the originally approved building.
• 25% of the value of the excess building density for applications involving an increase in buildable area through vertical or horizontal extension outside the shell of the originally approved building.
• 30% of the value of the excess building density coefficient, in cases where the application concerns an increase in buildable area due to an unauthorized additional residential unit.

Friday evening amnesty update

Earlier this afternoon, the Cyprus Mail reported that the Council of Minister approved the Urban Amnesty Plan.