Property owners in Cyprus are facing dismal news as attempts to sort out the island’s long-running title deeds law run into troubled waters. The Cyprus government has been unsuccessful in its attempt to introduce five bills aimed at accelerating the issue of title deeds by the end of the parliamentary session but they were delayed and as a result, an expected recovery in the real estate market is failing to materialise.  It is estimated that around 130,000 properties on the Mediterranean island do not have the legal documents to transfer asset rights from one person to another. Many of these structures were either built illegally or are subject to second mortgages taken out by developers. Critics say that new laws just gloss over the problem and won’t rectify the issue of developers who have ignored planning laws and taken out mortgages on properties they have then sold to unsuspecting buyers. As a result, buyers will have no title deeds and risk losing their homes if the developer can’t pay the mortgage or goes bankrupt. |
