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Cyprus Real Estate Agents Developers & Lawyers

Nigel Howarth
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I sympathise with the plight of the Parnhams reported in your letters page of last week. Regrettably, problems of this nature are not uncommon when buying Cyprus property.

I personally receive three or four emails a month from people who have been deliberately misled into parting with their money by unscrupulous real estate agents, property developers and lawyers.

If we look at estate agents first, the government has reportedly introduced legislation to outlaw the cowboys. If that is truly the case, then why are the tourist areas still filled with many illegal agents preying on visitors to the island? On their Internet web sites they proudly declare “We are not Estate Agents” – but as far as I’m concerned, if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it’s a DUCK. So why doesn’t the government close them down today? What’s stopping them? Are they afraid they’ll get a bomb under their car or lose the next election?

Turning to ‘property developers’, the first question that has to be answered is why an individual who obviously has no qualifications (apart from being able to mix brandy sours) is allowed to set himself up in business as a ‘property developer’. Is there no qualification-based licensing system Is there no proper authority empowered to regulate the industry?

Maybe I should set myself up in business as a brain surgeon – at least my dissatisfied clients would not be in a position to write to letters of complaint to your newspaper.

And why is it that lawyers, who are so obviously in league with the developers, allowed to represent (I use that word very loosely) their buyers? In any other EU country they’d be marched before their bar association and be disbarred from practicing. Furthermore, the contracts they con buyers into signing are so biased towards the developer they leave the buyer with little or no protection. One contract I’ve recently seen gives the developer an unlimited amount of time to build the property if he is unable to get the labour to build it. The same contract states that the buyer must make payments on specified dates, regardless of any progress made. So this unfortunate person may well find themselves in a position where they’ve paid for the property in full but the developers been unable to build it because he hasn’t got the labour. What comeback does the buyer have – absolutely none!

Cyprus acceded to the EU on the 1st May last year. Joining the ‘club’ not only brought with it some benefits of membership but also a number of obligations. Maybe it should think about cleaning up the property industry now before it loses credibility.

Nigel Howarth,
Limassol

Copyright © Cyprus Weekly 2005

Buying Property in Cyprus

Editorial
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In April edition of The Cyprus Weekly I read an item headed “Illegal estate agents – stopping cowboys” by Antonis Loizou. No matter what legislation is brought in and no matter the size of estate agents there will always be people working for these offices whose only aim is to get a sale to get their commission.

In January 2004 my husband and I, both retired people, came to Cyprus in order to get a small apartment here in order to spend the winter months in better weather for health reasons.

We thought we were doing everything correctly by going to a large estate agency on the island.

We have found out since, to our regret, we might as well have gone to anyone of the thousands of unregistered people trying to sell property.

We were introduced to what we term “a developer from hell” who promised the apartment block he was building would be finished by May 2004 and we could move in the next month June, which was 5 months later.

We are living in this virtually empty block of 15 apartments in basic conditions, as the so-called developer, who is really a waiter at the army base, has hit financial problems.

The agency that introduced us and arranged the sale do not want to know, as we were told by them we should have checked this out ourselves beforehand.

The lawyer, to whom we were also introduced to by the salesman from the estate agency, paid over all our money before the apartment was completed, and now tells us it would be a waste of time suing the developer for breach of the contract he signed, as he has no money.

The supervising architect informs us that he has written to the Paralimni Municipality accepting no more responsibility for the building, as it has not been built to the required standards it should have adhered to, and he will not sign it off.

The Municipality of Paralimni says there if nothing they can do, even though the building has not been built according to the plans, we need to take the developer to court to get it righted.

So when we read the article in your paper today, it gave no indication of any organisation that monitors the state agents when things go wrong as they have done in our case and there must be many, many more cases such as ours.

Maybe you will pass on our letter to him to get this information to pass on to your readers.

Barry & Mary Parnham,
Paralimni

Copyright © Cyprus Weekly April 15 2005

Paphos looks into Sand Houses

Editorial
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The Paphos District Officer has initiated litigation against the developers and civil engineers involved in building a residence on soft soil, in what is the latest case of reckless and dangerous construction.

It is known that a number of Cyprus properties, particularly in the Paphos area, have been built on unsuitable ground. In several cases, the houses were sold to foreigners, and issue picked up by media abroad in the past. Many of the residences were villas with swimming pools.

In some cases houses’ foundations have shifted, potentially putting the residents at great risk. Although no accident has been documented yet, it does not take much to imagine what would happen in the event of an earthquake, not an uncommon phenomenon on the island.

Paphos’ District Officer, Andreas Christodoulides has said his office turned down two recent requests for building permits, but that the developers went ahead anyway. Somehow the construction company secured the licence from the Town Planning Department, raising questions as to how the district officer was bypassed.

Areas where the soil is unsuitable are well known to the Town Planning Department, so this state of affairs cannot be put down to ignorance. But how the aforementioned building permit was secured may be due to loopholes in red tape.

At a recent meeting in Paphos, an officer from the Town Planning Department conceded that a problem existed; she reportedly recommended that from now on maps should indicate soil safety levels and cautionary information.

The Town Planning department has come under scrutiny on several occasions, with it boss under investigation by the Ombudswomen for lack of accountability and out-right breeches of planning regulations.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail

Peyia Development Probe

Editorial
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Interior Minister Andreas Christou has set up a three-member committee to examine possible building violations in the Coral Bay area near Paphos. Christou acknowledged yesterday during a visit to Peyia the existence of irregularities with a number of Cyprus property developments in the area.

Peyia Municipality has come under attack over development in the Coral Bay area, with complaints being heard that members of the local authority have a personal interest in the area. Christou visited Coral Bay last Tuesday, on an unofficial visit to see for himself the extent of the violations.

The minister met with Peyia Municipal Council to discuss the dimension of the problem yesterday.

“I am in contact with the municipality to do right in the area. If there are violations, the state won’t remain with its hands crossed. This is a big issue, which has political, legal and economic aspects, it’s not just about land appropriation.” he said.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail

Architects Blast Authorities for Building Permit Delays

Editorial
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Lengthy delays in obtaining town planning and building permits for new buildings can squarely be blamed on the antiquated practices of the Town Planning Department and local municipalities, the President of the Architects Association, Costantinos Costandi, said yesterday.

The issue of town planning and building permits has long plagued construction in Cyprus, with lengthy delays in processing applications helping to formulate the common practice of ‘build now, seek permit later’. This routine has left Cyprus with a vast collection of illegal buildings or extensions, causing huge delays in the issuing of title deeds and a host of other troubles.

Last Sunday, Phileleftheros reported on the problem, quoting Strovolos Mayor Savvas Iliophotou blaming architects for the delays in processing permits. He told the paper that, in most cases, the delay in issuing permits was a result of architects making errors or omissions, leading to valuable time being lost spotting mistakes.

Iliophotou reportedly said his municipality would no longer do the jobs of others, and instead, start noting down all the mistakes and omissions so it would not be blamed for all delays.

Evidently upset by the comments, Costandi described the claims as “unacceptable and groundless”.

“Instead of the authorities (municipalities and town planning) apologising to citizens for offering the worst service of delays, they have the nerve to ask for change. This doesn’t surprise us so much, since we already experienced it when they asked parliament to increase charges for examining and issuing permits to cover their ‘operational costs’ without even concerning themselves with the whole system of examining permits,” he said.

“It’s not possible in the 21st century to waste working hours to measure the area of a house, when it could be done by simply pressing a button on a computer.”

Costandi charged the relevant authorities with failing to modernise with the times. “They spend a whole day walking around the house with a ruler measuring every room and calculating the total area. This would take five minutes using a computer, but they don’t have computers.”

The association president maintained that despite the town planning law being in effect for nearly 15 years, town planning and municipalities still don’t co-ordinate on who checks what, resulting in checks being made twice, increasing operating costs for both.

“Their behaviour has created a social problem and left citizens and architects vulnerable,” he added.

Due to the extensive delays, developers or citizens start off with one idea of construction costs, and finish with another when the permits finally come through. If someone wants to be a law-abiding citizen, they run the risk of watching costs break their budget limit as time goes by, noted Costandi.

Regarding criticism that architects often submit an application without the necessary structural design studies, Costandi challenged the municipalities not to accept inadequate applications, as they were plain to see.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail

House Opens Way to Release Title Deeds

Editorial
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Parliament has unanimously approved a bill that would enable thousands of joint owners of illegitimate residences or land plots to secure building licences and title deeds, although under strict conditions.

The bill, drafted primarily by deputies Demetris Syllouris (independent) and DISY’s Maria Kyriacou, hopes to set in order a “complex social and economic problem that has plagued the country for decades.”

Syllouris yesterday explained to the Cyprus Mail that, in the absence of specific legislation, over the years there have accumulated thousands of buildings without a permit. This has two major consequences: firstly, loss of millions of pounds for the government in registration fees; secondly, the co-owners of flats or residences that are part of building projects are deprived of all the benefits of holding a title deed.

As the deputy told parliament on Thursday, the main culprits for this state of affairs were developers who take advantage of the absence of title deeds so as to mortgage the same property several times.

According to the new law, affected co-owners have a way out of the mess, because they can now directly apply to register their domicile or land plot without having to wait for the developer to take the initiative.

However, Syllouris was yesterday keen to demonstrate that the law does not legitimise flagrant violations of urban planning rules, but rather provides a workaround for minor irregularities or derogations.

For example, in cases where a building coefficient has been exceeded by up to 25 metres or 10 per cent of the size (whichever comes first), it will be possible for someone to apply to a special committee to have these derogations legalised.

According to Syllouris, applicants will be subject to a string of criteria; and since most of these are quantifiable, it will be quite clear which cases merit approval and which do not, thereby eliminating any complaints about unfairness or bias.

The deputy added that this had not always been true in the past, when there were widespread rumors that the so-called “derogation committee” would overlook patent breaches of the law, fueling speculation about kickbacks and corruption.

At the same time, the new arrangements stipulate more severe penalties for those who continue to flaunt town planning regulations.

Although the bill has been hailed as an “innovation”, its effectiveness will be closely monitored, and in about two months’ time parliament will review the legislation and make amendments to it if deemed necessary.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail

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