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Cyprus title deed seminar

Nigel Howarth
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With so many buyers currently without Title Deeds, the Cyprus Property Action Group (CPAG) has organised a free seminar at the Elysium Hotel in Paphos on the 26th March, starting at 15:00hrs.

Lawyer Mr Tasos Coucounis will be the main speaker and will cover the current courses of legal action which can be undertaken through the courts in order to ensure that buyers can secure full legal ownership to the properties they have already paid for.  This will include the actions, time-frame, likely costs and associated risks.

CPAG will also be inviting the Minister of the Interior, or a deputy, to attend and explain the Title Deed legislation which they have assured the British Government and House of Lords is being developed.

Update 13th March 2008

The seminar is now fully booked, no more reservations are being accepted.

Dolphin hits out at cancellation rumours

Editorial
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South-east Europe resort developer Dolphin Capital Investors has spoken to Overseas Property Professional (OPP) to counter media reports stating it was to postpone the launch and sale of any new projects until the economic downturn has passed.

In a Reuters interview, the developer’s chief executive Miltos Kambourides was reported as saying that it could play a waiting game when it came to building new resorts as it had €170m in cash reserves.

“If we put villas on the market and we discover that nobody wants to buy, we will just delay it and wait for six months until the market recovers,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters. “We are prepared to hold the projects for the next 30 years if we need to. The land doesn’t go bad.”

“No projects to be postponed”

However, the developer contacted OPP, denying the reports, saying that the quotes had been taken out of context and that it still planned to build and sell units on its 15 sites in Greece, Cyprus and across Europe.

“We have not taken any decision to postpone any of our resorts, but what we are doing at present is value-engineering, negotiating agreements with operators, constructors and renegotiating these contracts to get more favourable terms,” said Katerina Katopis, investor relations director at Dolphin Capital Partners. “We are not postponing construction under any circumstances, there may be a month or two delay while we sort the contracts out, but that is it. We have a lot of shareholders and we have to, and want to, do what we promised to do.”

Katopis added that the construction and delivery of certain projects was due this year, with an announcement expected soon on the launch of “probably the largest sea-front development in the Mediterranean” to be built in Cyprus. Construction has already started on the “very high-end” Venus Rock project, situated on land already built upon by developer Aristo, which Dolphin bought out in 2007.

“We will be aggressively pursuing sales on this when we launch, and although we have large agent networks in the UK and Europe, we obviously want to speak to agents in other markets as it can’t hurt to have as many synergies as possible in the market at present,” she added.

© Overseas Property Professional

EU questions Cyprus over property issues

Nigel Howarth
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In response to a number of questions raised in the European Parliament concerning property rights and abuse of Title Deeds in Cyprus, the European Commission has asked Cypriot authorities for further information.

In written replies on behalf of the Commission to questions E-6513/08EN, E-6793/08EN and E-0110/09EN, Mr. McCreevy said:

“The Commission cannot make an assessment of the situation based on the information included in the question.

Therefore, and in order to collect all the necessary and relevant information, the Commission has addressed a request to the Cypriot authorities asking for detailed information on the legal provisions and practices regulating and operating in this sector.

The Commission will take the necessary measures if it can establish the existence of infringement of EU law.“

Editor’s Comment

Everyone knows there are huge problems in Cyprus with property developers exploiting loopholes in the law to make massive profits for themselves.

I sincerely hope that the European Commission’s investigations will force the Cyprus government to put an end to these despicable practices and punish the offenders.

First loans approved for Cyprus low cost housing

Marianna Pissa
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Yesterday the Cyprus Finance Minister, Charilaos Stavrakis, delivered the first 30 loan approvals totalling €4.2 million, to young couples who applied for a housing loan to the Housing Finance Corporation, under the government scheme for acquisition of a first home.

Stavrakis also called on “other young couples with relatively low incomes to benefit from the generous housing policy to acquire their first home”

“The Finance Ministry in cooperation with the Housing Finance Corporation once again defeated bureaucracy. Just fifteen days after the first announcement of the plan we have already approved 30 loan applications, particularly to young couples…the total amount of the approvals was over €4 million from the overall €200-million scheme“.

According to Stavrakis the government had drafted the housing scheme within the framework of its social policy, with a repayment period of up to 30 years and zero interest rates for the first two years “perhaps the most competitive interest rate on the market for the following 28 years“, he said.

He said that 16 of the loans concerned the construction of a new home. Stavrakis said this was important for the government because building new homes meant proportionally more jobs, which was one of the purposes of this project.

The remaining 14 loans concerned the purchase of ready apartments or houses. According to the Finance Minister only one from the 30 loans approved will be used to purchase a house from the Housing Development Organisation.

“When the project was announced many said that this plan was drawn up in such a way to satisfy some organisations and businessmen adding,” he said.

“The evidence we have before us now proves otherwise.”

Chairman of the Housing Finance Corporation Christos Loizides. “Interest has been enormous. We are receiving hundreds of phone calls and we are confident that in a few days the number of applications will increase even more because more people are being informed over the scheme,” said Loizides.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

Pandora (Leptos) indicative results

Nigel Howarth
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Pandora Investments Public Ltd, which is owned by the Leptos Group, has released indicative results for the year ended 31st December 2008, which were approved by the Board of Directors on February 25, 2009.

Following a profit after taxation of €16,950,461 in 2007, Pandora made a loss of €1,589,013 in 2008:

31.12.2008
€

31.12.2007
€
(Loss) / profit after taxation

(1,589,013)

16,950,461
(Loss) / earnings per share

(0.37) cents

3.99 cents

The Leptos Group was founded in 1961 and has successfully completed a variety of large projects in Cyprus, Greece and in the wider Eastern Mediterranean.

It has led to the establishment of more than 30 companies in land and property development, commerce and tourism with approximately 1,500 employees in Cyprus and abroad. The Leptos Group maintains offices in Cyprus, Greece, Russia and the U.K. as well as associates in over 50 countries worldwide.

How much pressure before Cyprus acts?

Nigel Howarth
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As the financial crisis bites ever deeper, property buyers are getting increasingly worried and angry at the seeming lack of progress being made by the Cyprus Government to resolve the ‘Title Deeds-cum-fraud mess’.

In June last year the Interior Minister, Nicos Sylikiotis, assured property buyers that a new Title Deed law could be implemented by the end of the year. Last September, details of the new Title Deed Law emerged and Mr Sylikiotis confirmed that the new legislation would be ready by the end of the year.

But despite of growing pressure from Europe, the UK and his own countrymen to resolve the Title Deed situation, the Cyprus Interior Minister is keeping very quiet; there have been no official announcements since last September.

Questions raised in European Union Parliament

To date, four questions have been raised in the European Parliament about the issue (click on the reference numbers for further details):

Caroline Jackson (PPE?DE) to the Commission – Ref: E-6513/08

Property rights in Cyprus

“The Government in Cyprus currently permits property developers to retain the title deeds to land that they develop, even after properties are built. Subsequently, property developers can use these title deeds as collateral to gain mortgages. However, should a property developer go bankrupt and have to surrender any title deed owned to their bank, homeowners living on that land risk losing their property.

This current situation appears to be in contravention of the constitution of Cyprus and possibly EC law. Does the Commission believe that it has any standing to intervene in any way in this situation, given that the interests of many citizens from EU countries other than Cyprus are being damaged by this practice?“

Mary Honeyball (PSE) to the Commission – Ref: E-6793/08

Title Deeds in Cyprus

“I have been receiving correspondence from constituents regarding title deeds in Cyprus. My constituents have legitimately bought properties in Cyprus, but the Cypriot Government has allowed the property developers to retain the title deeds to the property after the purchase. Property developers can then use these deeds as collateral to obtain mortgages during the time that it takes for the Land Registry to issue the deeds to the buyer. If the developer goes bankrupt in this period the buyer stands to lose the property, despite having paid in full.

The Cyprus Property Action Group estimates that up to 40,000 non-Cypriot citizens risk losing their homes due to this.

Is the Commission aware of this situation?

Is the Cypriot Government breaching any EU directives by allowing this practice to take place?“

Syed Kamall (PPE?DE) to the Commission – Ref: E-0110/09

Property laws in Cyprus

“A number of constituents have contacted me regarding the property laws of Cyprus. My constituents are among thousands of UK citizens who fear they have bought properties in the country and risk losing their homes.

My constituents are concerned that the Cypriot Government is not following EU and UN Charters on the protection of property rights by allowing property developers to retain title deeds to the properties. My constituents inform me that these developers can use deeds as collateral to obtain mortgages and if developers go bankrupt, buyers, who have already paid in full, can lose their homes. Some of my constituents tell me that they have been waiting seven years for the title deed to their property.

My constituents inform me that it is the situation in Cyprus that deeds do not come automatically. They tell me that there can be many problems such as mortgages on the land, antiquated property laws and builds without permits. My constituents add that buyers are fooled by claims that the Cypriot legal system, with regard to property law, is based on British law and that this is not the case.

I would like to ask the Commission if Cyprus, by allowing developers to retain title deeds even after full payment, is acting in accordance with EU/UN Charters and its own Constitution (Article 23) regarding property rights.

Does the Commission have any plans to take action against the Cypriot Government? If so, what action does it plan to take?“

Alyn Smith (Verts/ALE) to the Commission – Ref: E-1022/09

Title Deeds in Cyprus

“Some of my constituents have brought to my attention the severe problems they are having with regard to obtaining the title deeds for properties they have bought in Cyprus. It appears that, in some cases, it is taking as long as 10 years to issue title deeds.

Even more worrying are reports that in some cases Cypriot banks are allowing developers to take out mortgages against property which has been paid for in full. As the developers still hold the title deeds, this puts the owners of the property in a very vulnerable position. If the developer goes bankrupt, the bank can sell the land and property on it to recoup their losses, leaving the owners with nothing.

Can the Commission state whether it is aware of this problem in Cyprus? Can the Commission also state whether the Cypriot government could be breaching any EU directives by failing to ensure the timely issue of title deeds to property owners?“

EU membership comes with obligations

Cyprus acceded to the EU on the 1st May 2004. Joining the ‘club’ not only brought with it some benefits of membership but also a number of obligations – some of which it seems the Cyprus government may be unwilling or unable to accept.

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