Cyprus-Forum.com

[charliechoice]

Having just returned from Cyprus to view properties, I am a little confused as to what happened whilst out there. Having viewed a suitable apartment (re-sale) we promptly placed a deposit, to take it off the market, however when our solicitor made a request for the necessary details, the seller could not prove that he was the legal owner, as he never recorded the purchase with the land registary some twenty years ago. However the seller seemed determined that he could come up with the required documents by asking the developer (whom he allegedly purchased from) to confirm that he was sold the property all those years ago. However my solicitor advised that we pull out of the purchase as the developer had refused to confirm this. But I am curious now, had the developer agreed to confirm that he had sold the property to the alleged owner , would this be sufficient to make a legal contract/sale ? and secondly how does the seller now prove that he is the legitimate owner, without the written agreement from the developer ?


Regards Charlie

[Svetlana]

Hi Charlie

It is not clear whether the vendor does not have the Title Deeds or does not have the Title Deeds and never had his purchase registered at Land Registry. If they do not have the Title Deeds after all this time, you are well out of it.

Lana

[twinkle]

The titles deeds and records of the Land Registry would be your only guarantee of a successful purchase. As Svetlana said you are better out of it. You did get your deposit back I hope!

[nhowarth]

Hi Charlie,

As others have advised don't touch this with a 10' bargepole.

Unfortunately, there are more cowboys in the property market here than all the John Wayne films put together.

If you want to find out more about buying property in Cyprus, click on the 'www' button at the bottom of this message. It'll take you to my web site where you can read, see & hear all about it.

Regards,

[dolmadis]

Was this through a Licenced Estate Agent ? They are supposed to check out the chain of title when advertising a property.

If it was a Licenced EA please PM me with the name and I will pass this on to the licencing authority.

With that bad experience and Nigel's comments I would quite understand if you were put off ever purchasing in Cyprus !!

But there are less bad experiences then the many happy ones and you did as advised and " took independent advice from a registered lawyer".

Regards

[charliechoice]

The property was introduced to us by Buysell, there staff were very friendly and corteous, but as you say we were a little surprised that proof of ownership was not available from the outset. We paid a deposit of 500cyp cash, which was returned to us a few days later. If anythinf this episode has made us more determined to purchase in Cyprus, because the one thing we did learn whilst out there is how quickly prices are rising.

Many thanks Charlie.
.

[dolmadis]

Well Buy Sell is not a Licenced EA and clearly they do not due the due diligence that Licenced EA's do. I am glad you got your money back.

What was the evidence that prices are rising quickly?

Was this from off plan sales or re-sales?

Or was it perhaps what Buy Sell said?

I would be very interested to know as I have a small property to sell in Paphos and Agents advised me to drop the price substantially even though it is one that is good property in agents views.

Thanks

[nhowarth]

Hi Charlie

> because the one thing we did learn whilst out there is how quickly prices are rising.

I'm a bit surpised by that statement. Unfortunately, there is only one company that publishes a property price index - that's BuySell at: http://www.buysellcyprus.com/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1307

Since they started producing the index at the start of 2004, the index has risen by a tad over 10%.

And according to research carried out by Antonis Loizou, one of the large players in property game, there was an overall decrease in property prices last year in Paphos District see: http://cyprus-property-buyers.com/prop/ ... operty.htm

As you'll see from John's (dolmadis) case, if you're looking to sell property, some sellers/agents will tend to say it's overvalued. On the other hand, if you're looking to buy property they'll say it's a bargain.

They tend to have a somewhat 'simple' approach to marketing - a bit like the double-glazing salesmen used to have in the UK. 'Buy now because we're putting our prices up at the end of the month".

Regards,

[rotate]

The property was introduced to us by Buysell, there staff were very friendly and corteous, but as you say we were a little surprised that proof of ownership was not available from the outset. We paid a deposit of 500cyp cash, which was returned to us a few days later. If anythinf this episode has made us more determined to purchase in Cyprus, because the one thing we did learn whilst out there is how quickly prices are rising.

Many thanks Charlie.
.

Charlie,
When an agent, licensed or not asks for a deposit say NO!
Advice from our Lawyer in Cyprus and our Solicitor in the UK is never to place a deposit in the hands of an agent or seller in either country.
Always stuck to this advice and have never lost a purchase yet, agents dont like it but if your offer to purchase is serious they soon get over it. We purchased a house through BuySell two years ago, the question of a deposit never arose until we got to the exchange of contracts point with the lawyers.

'Asking' prices may be rapidly rising but 'Selling' prices are not. Agents and sellers in Cyprus like everywhere else like to talk up the value of property, sometimes it works so why not!

If you are still looking for an apartment pm me. My wife and I have two apartments for sale owned by us with Title Deed. And no we wont ask for a deposit!

Good Luck

[dolmadis]

I think there is some benefit for the seller in asking for a returnable subject to contract deposit held in escrow by your buyers lawyer.

The last "buyer" I had was described as a cash buyer of the highest integrity. After two weeks they had still not paid the holding deposit and alarm bells started ringing and a week later after more stringing along I was advised by e-mail that they were not going to purchase after all. If I had not asked for the deposit then I would not have known to much later when my lawyer had presented contracts for signing. And I would have had a bill for CY£500 for the abortive work.

I agree with the data on Nigel's site because the first valuation of my house in Paphos was 12% too high and now having reduced the price by the 12% viewings are now busy.

There will still be people who like me go along with the valuer initially but my advice as a seller is to do some searches yourself (Buy Sell have a running record of sales), and check the price out recommended to you.