Buying property in Cyprus, a familiar tale of woe

Purchasing property in Cyprus could very well qualify as an extreme sport.

The property pages of newspapers may well be full of reports proclaiming 2025 as being the strongest year for property sales since 2007, with ever pricey Limassol leading the charge and Paphos a close second.

But behind the glitzy statistics of spiralling high-end property sales to rich foreigners lie the old tales of woe of people being swindled, misled and sold false expectations by developers and lawyers, and buyers turning to the state for guidance only to experience a cold brick wall.

For many, venturing down the dark alley of purchasing property in Cyprus has turned into a living nightmare, be it elusive title deeds, missing permits, disappearing developers or arrogant tenants who refuse to budge. Recent legislative changes have helped but not solved the problem.

Title deed marathon

Jayne Richards’ parents purchased in full a residential property in Cyprus on November 30, 1992.

“They took possession immediately and the property has been occupied peacefully and continuously ever since,” Jayne told the Cyprus Mail.

Thirty-three years and €46,000 in legal fees later, they still do not have title deeds to the property.

They were amongst the thousands of people who had paid for their properties in full but had not been issued with their title deeds because the developers had mortgages on the properties. Since developers’ land and buildings are counted as assets that need to be offset against their debt to banks, this gave banks a claim on properties that had been mortgaged by developers.

“More than 33 years later, no separate title deeds have ever been issued to them.”

The family made “repeated attempts to resolve the situation through Cypriot lawyers”.

“In total, more than £40,000 was spent on legal fees […] we also paid property taxes and charges that would ordinarily have been payable by the developer, in an effort to regularise the position. Despite this, nothing was resolved and no court proceedings were ever brought to determine the matter,” Jayne explained.

“In recent years, correspondence from the developer’s side has claimed that the original contract of sale has effectively converted into a lease and has demanded a substantial sum described as ‘compensation’. There has been no court judgement confirming this position.”

In the meantime, “the situation has become particularly distressing because one of the purchasers, my father, now lacks capacity due to Alzheimer’s disease.”

“The ongoing uncertainty over the family home has placed significant emotional and financial strain on us,” she added.

Aware of the long-standing trapped buyer problem in Cyprus and recent legislation aimed at protecting buyers who paid for their property but never received title deeds, Jayne contacted the Department of Lands and Surveys, which is now examining the case.

“I am not seeking special treatment or to assign personal blame. I am simply asking for the current law to be applied fairly, so that families like mine can finally obtain legal certainty and the title deeds to homes they have lived in for decades.”

Title deeds, though, are not the only problem.

Living for free

Andrew Georgiou is of Cypriot descent and lives abroad. He owns property in Cyprus as part of plans for his retirement. In the meantime, he is renting the apartment out to someone who has not paid a single penny in rent for four years.

“We have a tenant in our apartment in Cyprus who has not paid rent for four years and has no contract. We have been trying to evict them now for four years using two different solicitors,” Andrew told the Cyprus Mail.

The case has gone to court “at least eight times” and each time the trial gets postponed.

“I do not understand the Cypriot law, but surely this can’t be correct: someone living in our potential retirement home for free,” he said.

Finding no help or solution, Andrew hopes making his story public will move things forward.

“I am proud of my Cypriot heritage and should be allowed to retire peacefully in my property.”

Like the trapped buyers, there is – in theory – legislation to help frustrated landlords like Andrew.

A decree was passed in 2023 concerning the tenancy law for buildings built before December 21, 1999. Tenants who began renting a property before that date have now become institutional or sitting tenants. Under this decree, landlords can increase the rent by up to 6 per cent for the next two years and the tenant is obliged to pay it. 

A tenant can continue occupying the property as long as he pays the rent. Eviction procedures have also supposedly become faster and simpler with a law passed in 2020. If a tenant has not paid the rent for 21 days, the landlord can initiate an eviction process. If the tenant refuses to leave, then the case is settled in court – which inevitably is where everything gets mired in delays, postponements and other legal clutter.

And, in any case, property owners have complained that even if tenant is paying the rent on time, landlords are unable to use said property in any other way they see fit, as the now sitting tenant can remain there indefinitely by law. In essence, they are trapped landlords.

For properties built after 2000, the contracts law applies. The owner and the tenant sign a contract and agree on the obligations and rights of each party. Once the contract expires, the landlord can impose any increase he wishes. In case of a disagreement, this is settled in court – with all that entails – and the owner can request the eviction of the tenant.

Needless to say, Andrew has not been successful with the implementation of the law.

He is not the only one.

Stelios Antoniou, a Cypriot residing permanently on the island, has been having similar problems with land he owns in an industrial area.

He had built a warehouse on part of the land and is renting it out. However, the tenant has practically taken over a large part of the land not in the contract and is using it to park old, immobilised cars he collects.

Stelios, who wants to develop the part of the land not rented out, is having a hard time getting his tenant to remove the cars from his property.

Frustration grew when he sought legal advice, as he was told he would get nowhere in court any time soon as procedures could take ages and he was not allowed to remove the vehicles himself. In the best case he could sue the tenant for lost income as he is unable to use his own land. If, of course, the case was actually tried.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asked.