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[Bubble 'n' squeak]

Shame on Cyprus
Cyprus Mail Article

Posted: 15 Aug 2008 06:09 AM CDT



Tent protest aims to shame Cyprus in dispute with developers
By Jean Christou

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 the 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.”

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Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

[Oracle]

Yes... Height of stupidity and desperation IMHO

[kafenes]

It should have been titled 'shame on Cyprus Mail' for printing and publicising this.

[tayl0r]

This happens to so many people. They put lots of money into developing/buying/building homes for themselves and their family and the builders fuck it up by either dragging it out over a longer period of time than expected, by raising the price half-way through the deal or by just not getting the job done and walking away with the money.

This case should be settled, this man should be given all his money back and THEN settlement for being beaten up (for trying to do the right thing i might add).

Wether Cyprus or England - This shouldnt be taken lightly.

[T_C]

It should have been titled 'shame on Cyprus Mail' for printing and publicising this.

Whys that then?

[RichardB]

No not seen it

[Sotos]

It should have been titled 'shame on Cyprus Mail' for printing and publicising this.

Whys that then?

Because Cyprus Mail is sponsored by the British and they always post pro-Turkish, pro-British and anti-Cypriot bullshit!

[Bubble 'n' squeak]

It should have been titled 'shame on Cyprus Mail' for printing and publicising this.

Whys that then?

Because Cyprus Mail is sponsored by the British and they always post pro-Turkish, pro-British and anti-Cypriot bullshit!

Well i never knew that!

[Mr. T]

Yes, I have seen it in the press here and also a television programme about problems in the south with dishonest builders a bent lawyer etc. A GC politician also made an appearance but he hardly helped the situation.

With the situation in the north no better the word is spreading that buying in Cyprus can be an absolute nightmare and a step that should perhaps be avoided. Just wait until the frauds being carried out by builders re IPT (I hope I have the correct initials) become common knowlege together the fact that the GC government have not taken any action!!!

To use Oracle's words

'Height of stupidity' In retrospect he must be aware that he must have reached such heights by buying in the south of Cyprus.

'desperation' He has despaired of the uselessness at best of the Cyprus legal system....both police and courts and no doubt of some GC's who from this thread don't seem to care less.

Umm. I may just research the IPT frauds and bring it to the attention of the press here. Thanks for the encouragement Oracle.

[Nikitas]

Remember those adverts in the Times, warning people not to buy "the house that Jack built"? They were capitalising on the widely known dishonesty of some British builders.

As a former lawyer and from what I read of this case it seems that the buyer bought without legal advice, from people of unverified business background (he could have gotten a banker's reference), and in Frenaros of all places!

In any case, when a country decides to entice foreigners to its real property market then it must take steps to protect them, even trom their own gullibiliity. Letting such cases drag on is not clever business practice.