Cyprus-Forum.com

[Get Real!]

Hello world! «Do Not Buy property in Northern Cyprus aka TRNC”

Missing Funds
Double Selling
Properties Half-Built
Properties Built with no Utilities
Properties Sold by Plan and Never Built
Properties Paid For In Full - Nothing Built
Stage Payments paid - No Property
Property Built on Government Land

The list goes on and on

http://trncpropertywarning.wordpress.co ... -aka-trnc/

http://www.trncpropertywarning.freewebs ... =1_3_About

[Paphitis]

http://www.overseaspropertymall.com/for ... ed-97.html

http://www.1888pressrelease.com/norther ... na6j9.html

[Oracle]

The hassles are many. Restitution would be minimal.

But for me the overriding issue which people do not appreciate when considering purchasing in the illegal "trnc" northern area of Cyprus is the stigma attached.

What self-respecting, liberal, educated person can consider moving somewhere guarded by tens of thousands of Turkish troops; there because the UN does not rightfully recognise this amalgamation of part of Cyprus with one of the most belligerent countries in the world ... Turkey.

A place still fresh from the sounds of bloody war and the cries of the refugees forced to flee these homes and land, lest they become another statistic at the hands of Murdering, Genocidal Turks.

It's even worse than buying in Turkey ....

[Mr. T]

Hello world! «Do Not Buy property in Northern Cyprus aka TRNC”

Missing Funds
Double Selling
Properties Half-Built
Properties Built with no Utilities
Properties Sold by Plan and Never Built
Properties Paid For In Full - Nothing Built
Stage Payments paid - No Property
Property Built on Government Land

The list goes on and on

http://trncpropertywarning.wordpress.co ... -aka-trnc/

http://www.trncpropertywarning.freewebs ... =1_3_About

Is it any better in the south. No, with a few of the problems mentioned in a south Cyprus newspaper and referring to two groups attempting to have the situation brought up to the standards which should be expected of a country now in the EU.

The article reads;

The statement said the two groups met in Peyia recently and toured the area “to view the shocking illegal and other unsuitable developments taking place in the area, even in places like ravines and drainage courses”, CPAG said.

George Strovolides, President of KSIA, said that the two groups had an interest in resolving the common problems faced by their members.

He said one of the biggest problems faced by property buyers of all nationalities in Cyprus was the isuse of title deeds.

Foreign buyers can wait years or even in cases decades to receive their title deeds from peopery developers.

“In Cyprus, buyers can pay in full and then not own their homes, sometimes for many years, as developers raise mortgages using land on which these very homes stand,” said Strovolides.

“Given the risk in this situation, especially in the current economic climate, something needs to be done to turn this current situation around.”
Denis O’Hare of CPAG added: “We don’t mind developers taking their own business risks, this is how the world works. However, we do strongly object when they are taking risks with our homes, especially as we have already paid for them in full. We think this situation is scandalous and needs addressing by the government right now.”

Meanwhile, in the UK, British property buyer Conor O’Dwyer, whose developers were arrested and charged with allegedly beating him up in January this year, will this weekend continue his picketing of UK property trade fairs to highlight his case and those of other Britons facing problems in Cyprus. O’Dwyer spent a week in Larnaca hospital.

This weekend, he and his wide will publicise their situation by handing out leaflets outside the property show “A Place in the Sun Live” at the ExCel centre in London’s Docklands. It is the second time the couple has picketed a property fair in the UK in as many months.

O’Dwyer, whose case is fully detailed on the website lyingbuilder.com, is also planning a demonstration outside the Cyprus High Commission in London in June.

“Problems suffered by victims range from the non issuing of title deeds, structural faults, illegal building and developers extorting immovable property tax and transfer fees. Many victims are resident in Cyprus but will be represented by their offspring who may inherit the problems drawn up by unscrupulous lawyers,” said O’ Dwyer.
“In my particular horror, the Minister of Interior told the media ‘an Investigating Officer has already been appointed’. That was in August 2007! Since then I’ve been brutally beaten for just looking at my house from the roadside in Frenaros. Every month, my lawyer Yiannos Georgiades chases the authorities for a criminal investigation into the reselling of my house and every month it’s the same. It’s stuck at the local level.”

[Eric dayi]

And there's more...com'ere.

Illegal hotel conversions

By Nigel Howarth on Feb 23, 2008 in Cyprus property news, Property market

THE Cyprus Technical Chamber (ETEK) yesterday accused the government of standing idly by while ailing hoteliers illegally convert their hotels into residential properties.

ETEK has compiled a list of 30 hotels which have converted to apartment blocks without permission from the Town Planning Department.

Six of the hotels are in Limassol and one was selling its converted apartments for nearly €1.5 million each.

“Bear in mind that although we may be talking of a very small number of hotels, but this itself is only a small percentage of the number of illegal buildings that really exist,” said ETEK’s Linos Chrysostomou.

He said if the authorities were asked what they were doing about it, they would likely say they were acting on the issue.

“But the reality is they really can’t act because there is no political will to act,” said Chrysostomou.

Chrysostomou said millions of euros were being made from the illegal conversions, and he questioned how owners were being allowed to break the law.

ETEK said the safety specifications for hotel buildings and residential buildings were different and in some cases the conversion could pose a danger to new residents.

The organisation expressed concern that many of the hotel properties when they were converted were not complying with anti-seismic regulations.

Twenty tears ago during the Cyprus tourism boom, the main concern was the illegal conversion of residential properties into hotels but tourism has slumped in recent years and many hoteliers are trying to leave the business.

Two years ago the government and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation came up with a scheme for the withdrawal of some 10,000 lower standard tourist beds from the market in an attempt to upgrade the product.

This would leave around 90,000 beds on the market in total.

However hotel occupancy has become so low that some three and four star hotels have joined the exodus. New estimates say that as many as 30,000 beds could be withdrawn.

In addition, the incentives for withdrawing the beds have not yet become available due to government red tape. Tired of waiting, fed-up owners have turned to the property boom to offload their ailing businesses, and developers are more than eager to pay up for prime beach locations.

Only last year one estate agent had five hotels for sale on his books in the space of a week.

But Chrysostomou said using the delay in incentives to illegally convert was a “cheap excuse” and the lure of easy profit.

“There is no excuse to break the law,” he said. “We are a country with laws and we need to abide by them. It seems we only abide by the laws we want to abide by“.

Under the law, the owners of the converted buildings could be fined up to €17,000 depending on the nature and gravity of the offence. They could also be fined up to €170 per day.

The Cyprus Hoteliers Association PASYXE said yesterday that to date they had struck off 20-30 properties from their list of registered approved hotels.

“Authorities accused of inaction over illegal conversion of hotels” by Jean Christou

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

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