THE GOVERNMENT has decided to introduce special measures that will allow town-planning authorities to approve certain existing or planned constructions that would otherwise be illegal.

The amnesty involves additions or changes to existing structures and must have taken place before the end of 2020.

“With a simple application the town-planning authority, which will be obliged to issue a permit inside three months, all illegal cases will be legalised,” Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos said on Wednesday.

And it does not only involve verandas turned into rooms or construction of garages or sheds, which traditionally resulted in the owners being deprived of a title deed.

“We are giving our fellow citizens the right to add up to 20 per cent of the (building) coefficient,” he said. “They can add a small flat above their home, add a room, and so on.”

He said the measure would help people because it would offer them a better quality of life and afford them a title, allowing them to mortgage and sell their property.

The measure involves existing industrial and commercial units.

Asked what the gain for the state would be, Hasikos said this was not about the state.

“Honestly, this does not aim at compelling people to issue title deeds so that we can have revenues.”

He added that the government afforded incentives for large developments because of the economic crisis, and it was now also offering the same to ordinary people,

The government has recently decided to reduce transfer fees by 50 per cent until the end of next year.

FURTHER details have emerged of the eagerly anticipated reduction in Property Transfer Fees, which are paid by the purchaser and become payable whenever a property in Cyprus changes hands and are the Cyprus equivalent of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) payable in the UK.

The key features of the legislation are as follows:

For transfers that take place before the 31st December 2016:

(a) If VAT was paid on the property, no Property Transfer Fees are payable.

(b) IF VAT was not paid on the property, the Property Transfer Fees are reduced by 50%.

However if the Director of the Land Registry considers that the price stated on the contract of sale does not reflect the market value of the property at its date of purchase he may, at his discretion, charge the full Property Transfer Fees based on the market value of the property at its date of sale less the price stated on the contract of sale.

In addition, where a property is transferred from parent to child, Property Transfer Fees have been abolished.

Those who have or will purchase property between December 2, 2011 and December 31, 2016 will benefit from the reduced Property Transfer Fees regardless of when the transfer takes place. (Article Transfer fee abolition/reduction law published at last! refers.)

The law make no mention of a refund to those who have already paid their Property Transfer Fees.

However, in a statement he made last year, the Interior Minister was reported as saying that there was no point in putting off transferring the deeds as any reduction would have retroactive effect if it is decided and that amounts commensurate with the reduction will be returned to all impacted parties.

Further reading

Consolidated Land Registry Fees Law (Greek)

Consolidated Land Registry Fees Law (English)

THE FOUNDER of Aristo Developers and former chairman of the Bank of Cyprus, Theodoros Aristodemou, his wife Roulla and the former municipal engineer Savvas Savva have been found innocent of all charges relating to the illegal division of land at Skali.

The decision of the court was announced following a three hour speech by the President of the Paphos Criminal Court.

They charges were in connection with permits that had been granted for 177 land plots in Skali, allegedly falsified later by changing the architectural plans. These changed plans enabled the company to build on 2,750 square metres of land that had been earmarked for green spaces and pavements.

The land had an estimated value of €1.1 million.

In its verdict, the Paphos criminal court cleared the defendants of all charges. These included forgery, circulation of a forged document, conspiracy, abuse of authority, and obtaining property under false pretences.

Reading out the ruling presiding judge Dora Sokratous said the state prosecutors had failed to prove intent to defraud the public beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court concluded that, despite “certain irregularities” in the paperwork and the manner it was compiled, there was no deliberate intent on the part of the accused to secure a town planning permit under false pretences or to conceal the true dimensions of the green area within the land in question.

“We have heard several witnesses testify and analyse situations, and their sincerity was not questioned,” Socratous noted.

“The difficulty in this case lay in the interpretation of the motives behind the recorded facts of the case. The witnesses relayed the events as they understood them.”

The court noted that during the initial police investigation, a deposition by a Paphos municipality technician had pointed to discrepancies in the company’s architectural blueprints as these were submitted to the municipality.

It subsequently emerged during the trial that the police investigators had incorrectly transcribed the numbers cited by the technician.

The technician, Savoulla Kouspou, took the stand for the prosecution. During the end-stage of the trial, the state prosecutor had asked the court to strike her testimony from the record.

The court took note of this: “It cannot be that any witness for the prosecution expressing views that lend credence to the account of the defence should be declared untruthful.”

On the alleged bribery of former municipal engineer Savvas Savva by Aristodemou, the court likewise said this was not proven.

According to police findings, Aristodemou cashed a cheque for €20,000 in €500 notes in August 2010.

Two days later, Savva was found to have deposited the same amount, in notes of identical denomination, to his own bank account.

The court said that although the proximity of the two dates “may create suspicion, it is not sufficient, based on the defendants’ testimony, to lead to a certainty of guilty.”

Savva, who was facing charges of corruption, claimed the money had come from his aunt and uncle.

Speaking to the media later, Aristodemou hailed the decision, saying that justice had been served.

The developer spoke of his trials and tribulations, contending that a conspiracy had been concocted to ruin him, his family and his company.

“We hope that…we are the last victims of such organised endeavours. It is a pity for innocent people to be pilloried and destroyed,” said Aristodemou.

“The injuries that remain, despite today’s ruling, are too great, and I am not sure how these injuries can be healed,” he added.

“All that we ask for is that no more people are victimised through similar persecutions and machinations. This is why, and not for vindictive reasons, that we shall look into moving legally against those who deliberately participated in committing this crime.”