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Can I stop being deafened by building work

Nigel Howarth
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EARLIER this year my wife and I took delivery of a property in a large development near Paphos. Since we moved in we are constantly being deafened by the noise of building work going on all around us.

The builders start arriving on site at around 06:45 and are so noisy talking to each other, I’m convinced that most of them are deaf. They start work at 07:00 and continue non-stop until 15:30. They work 7 days a week, often continuing until late into the evening. Throughout the day heavy lorries bringing concrete, bricks, steel and other construction materials drive past our house in a never-ending stream. The noise is unbearable.

To get away from the noise and dust we spend most of our time out of the house driving around or visiting friends.

If we knew we were going to have to put up with this incessant noise and dust, we would never have bought our house. We’re now at our wits end and our doctor has prescribed tranquilizers for my wife.

Our neighbours are also affected and feel the same as we do. Four of us spoke with the village Mukhtar who just shrugged his shoulders and said it’s the way things work in Cyprus and there was nothing he could do.

Surely there must be laws governing working hours on building sites. Can you please advise me what we can do?

Answer

I’m sorry to hear of your problems. I know it will be of little consolation, but you are not alone. Property development companies work all hours in their eagerness to finish construction work and move onto their next project, totally ignoring those living nearby.

The faster they can build, the faster they can sell, the faster they can make their money.

Sadly, there are no laws governing the working hours of construction workers in Cyprus. They can start work when they like and finish where they like. I believe there are some agreements between the unions and some of the property development companies that limit the number of working hours. But as property developers use cheap, unskilled, non-union labour from Eastern European and other countries, such working hour agreements can be conveniently ignored.

I suggest that you discuss the matter with your lawyer. There is a possibility that you could take civil action, or the Police could bring a criminal action, against the developer for causing a nuisance. I suggest you get your lawyer’s opinion on the matter before deciding whether it’s worthwhile pursuing this course of action and what it’s likely to cost.

Any case may take some time to be heard by the Court and it may be worthwhile speaking to the other people who are affected to see if they would be willing to share in the cost.

Real estate agents concerned over Cyprus property prices

Nigel Howarth
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According to the Pancyprian Association of Real Estate Agents the slump in Cyprus property prices has now spread from Paphos to other parts of the island.

Interest rate increases, inflation and other factors have pushed demand from the domestic and foreign markets down resulting in severe problems across the island.

Chairman of the Pancyprian Association of Real Estate Agents, Solon Kourouklides, is reported as saying that in Paphos: “Sales have dropped significantly and the number of unsold properties has increased drastically. In the past three months, the external market has dropped by 30-40% while the internal market has dropped by 5%. Forecasters say that the situation will continue until the end of the year – early 2009“.

The slump not only affects the number of properties being sold, but their prices too. “Comparatively, Paphos had the highest prices. Today property prices are showing a dramatic decrease of up to 30% or even 50% for flats“, Mr. Kourouklides noted.

The problems affecting the property market are not restricted to Paphos. “The future of the property market is gloomy due to the slowdown in the number of sales across Cyprus. Commercial plots and land are largely unaffected since the demand by foreign investors (mainly Russians) who want to expand their business activities in the island, is big“.

Reasons for the downturn

According to the report, Mr. Kourouklides said that the slump was due to:

Interest rate increase by 125 base points in few months.

Impacts of the Central Bank Circular, which provided for the increase in the advance payment for the purchase of a home from 30% to 40%. Although it has been withdrawn, it still causes problems as it is too hard to regain the external demand.

Global economic crisis that hit the British market, which is 80% of external demand.

Devaluation of Sterling against the Euro.

“The interest rate increase, which pushes monthly instalments up, is the main reason for the drop in domestic demand, which will continue in the next few months“, Mr. Kourouklides stressed.

Other reasons are the drop in the purchasing power of the consumers due to the sharp increase in the price of fuel and the confusion from the upcoming imposition of 15% VAT on properties.

MRI Overseas Property withdraws from NAEA

Nigel Howarth
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MRI Overseas Property, which has its Cyprus offices in Paphos & Larnaca, issued the following press release issued on 21 August:

Leading Real Estate Company Withdraws from UK Trade Body over Impartiality Concerns

A leading real estate company has withdrawn its membership of the UK’s National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), due to concerns that the body is be being used as a platform for libellous comments against it.

MRI Overseas Property, the largest overseas real estate firm in Europe, announced the move today having been refused the adjournment of an NAEA hearing.

The company says it requested the adjournment in order to collate and present evidence that it claimed would bring into question the “motivation and good faith” of the complainants.

It also wanted sufficient time to collate this evidence in order to instigate legal action against the perpetrators.

Dominic Pickering, the company’s chief operating officer, said:

“The NAEA took the wholly unreasonable decision to proceed with this hearing, despite being informed of the very serious matters we have uncovered. They have not been able to provide us with any justification for this approach.

“As such, and given that the NAEA claims to represent the interests of its members, I am simply at a loss to understand how they can consider it appropriate to deprive us of a fair hearing in this way.

“In the circumstances, I have entirely lost faith in the processes and authority of the NAEA, and I have regrettably concluded that we can no longer remain associated with them.”

He added: “The NAEA has sadly failed to demonstrate its impartial position, and even after it was provided with information showing its failings, it refused to correct the situation.“

New swimming pool laws bring relief

Nigel Howarth
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NEWS that the Cyprus government is looking into changing the laws concerning swimming pools will bring relief to many people who have bought property in Cyprus.

Under current legislation, communal swimming pools in private residential developments such as apartment blocks, terrace/town houses and maisonettes are considered to be public swimming pools – and public swimming pools are required to have life guards, toilets for the disabled, showers and other facilities:

Cyprus Law N.55(I)/92 states in paragraph 2 that the term ‘public swimming pool’ also includes the swimming pools of buildings which are used by the owners of the units or their tenants.

Regulation Number 368/96 states in paragraph 47 (1) that all the employees relating to the swimming pool have to obtain a health certificate, to be clean and to behave properly.

Paragraph 47(2) states that all the trained supervisors will be on duty during the operation and the use of the swimming pool. Their number is determined in accordance with the size of the swimming pool and the number of the persons usually using the swimming pool.

Paragraph 47 (2)(a)(i) states that for small swimming pools at least one trained supervisor is necessary to be appointed.

Part VII of the Regulations Paragraph 53 states that a license is needed for the operation of a swimming pool by applying to the relevant authority. The last decision is made by the Minister.

Although the current legislation was drawn up in 1992 and the regulations in 1996, they have largely been ignored by property developers and the authorities charged with their enforcement. But things came to a head some 18 months ago when the authorities in Larnaca started refusing to issue Certificates of Final Approval to those developments that did not have the required changing rooms and other facilities in place. This left those who had bought property with communal swimming pools in limbo because without a Certificate of Final Approval, Title Deeds for the individual properties comprising the development could not be issued.

This issue now affects all property developers and all building complexes with communal swimming pools.

(This subject was raised with the Permanent Secretary of the Interior Ministry, Dr Lazaros Savvides, last year when I had a meeting with him along with Denis O’Hare and Linda LeBlanc)

The Cyprus Land & Building Developers Association is trying to resolve the issue. It has reached an agreement with the Cyprus government that communal swimming pools in commonly owned complexes should not be classified as ‘public pools’. The Association has drafted revised legislation and is due to discuss the matter with the Interior Minister this month.

If everything goes according to plan, the matter will be voted on by Parliament and the revised legislation will be in place by the end of the year.

So with any luck, by 2009 there should be one less problem for property buyers to overcome!

Update December 2009

It was hoped that this ridiculous situation would have been resolved by now, but that hasn’t happened.

Communal swimming pools in private residential developments are still considered as public swimming pools and continue to be subject to the legislation outlined above.

Brit loitering with intent aims to shame Cyprus into action

Jean Christou
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BRITISH home buyer Conor O’Dwyer marked his 39th birthday yesterday far away from his wife and children as he continued his indefinite protest outside the Cyprus High Commission in London.

O’Dwyer began his protest camping outside the Cypriot diplomatic mission this month because August marks two years since he was due to move his family to Cyprus, and August marks the anniversary of when the Minister of the Interior told the media he was looking into the unlawful selling of O’Dwyer’s house.

In two years, no progress has been made on O’Dwyer’s case outlined on his website www.lyingbuilder.com, and he has now set up a new site www.ShameOnCyprus.com, which will focus initially on his protest in London.

“I am still getting the same rhetoric that I was getting two years ago,” O’Dwyer said yesterday. “That’s why I’m protesting. I’m not going anywhere until they drag this case to court and take the developers off to jail. I deserve my day in court.”

O’Dwyer spent a week in Larnaca hospital last January after he was beaten up in Frenaros when he went to take pictures of the house he had bought and over which he later came into dispute with Karayiannas Property Developers.

They have been charged by police in connection with the attack on O’Dwyer in Frenaros, but the case has yet to reach the courts.

He says the developers unilaterally cancelled his contract and kept his money, some £75,000 sterling, because he had pulled them up over what he saw as a misrepresentation of their deal. That case is also pending at court. The developers have accused O’Dwyer of allegedly masterminding a plan to extort a newer more expensive property, and exorbitant damages from the company.

“My case is undeniable,” said O’Dwyer who, said that if anyone bothered to look at it, it could be solved in an afternoon. “It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure it out. This whole thing stinks.”

O’Dwyer did receive a visit from an official at the Cyprus High Commission on Friday but the official only gave him “the same old story“, he said. A new High Commissioner is due to be in place next week, whom O’Dwyer hopes might listen to him.

Since the indefinite protest began, O’Dwyer has been sleeping in a tent and spends his day updating his new website and talking to passers-by, including, he said, potential British property buyers for Cyprus. “A few have now been put off buying in Cyprus when they heard what happened to me,” he said. “I’m not going to stay quiet any more and watch other people lose their savings. I’m sleeping in a tent. That’s what I got for my £75,000. I’ve lost my home but I’m not moving from here until I let everyone know what a corrupt society Cyprus is.”

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

Construction continues to weaken

Nigel Howarth
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ACCORDING to figures just released by the Cyprus Statistical Service, CYSTAT, output in the property construction sector continues to weaken with the number of building permits issued during May 2008 standing at 732.

The total value of these permits reached €235.8 million and the total area 293.2 thousand square metres; they provide for the construction of 1,715 dwellings.

During the period January – May 2008, 3,520 building permits were issued; a decrease of 15.1% compared to the corresponding period last year. The total value of these permits decreased by 9.0% and their total area by 10.9%.

The number of dwellings decreased by 10.6%.

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