OFFICIAL REUTERS NEWS REPORT: ORAMS Case
20:11 06Sep2006 UPDATE 1-British couple wins Cyprus property battle
(Recasts, adds reaction)
LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A British couple won a landmark court fight on Wednesday to keep a holiday villa they built in the north of Cyprus in a case significant to thousands of foreigners who bought property on the divided island.
Land claims are among the most contentious issues in Cyprus, a former British colony, which is split down ethnic lines since the north came under Turkish control in 1974.
David Orams and his wife Linda had been challenged by the dispossessed Greek Cypriot owner of the land who had fled to the south after the Turkish invasion.
Last year, a Greek Cypriot court ordered the Orams to demolish the villa in Lapithos, return the land to its previous owner Meletios Apostolides and pay him damages.
In November, the High Court in London ruled that the Greek Cypriot order was enforceable, but on Wednesday a High Court judge backed an appeal by the Orams against that judgment.
The Orams' lawyer, Cherie Booth, had told the High Court that the matter was of fundamental importance in respect of property dealings in Cyprus.
Thousands of Britons who bought homes in northern Cyprus are facing similar claims from the original landowners.
In comments to the Cyprus News Agency, Apostolides said the decision was "wrong" and that he would appeal.
"I hope we get a better result with the appeal," Apostolides, who was ordered by the court to pay the Orams' legal costs of 863,000 pounds, said.
Although an appeal would not reverse the original court decision, at best, it could reduce the cost Mr Apostolides will have to pay. An appeal against this decision would also likely to cause even more controversy in a case the EU would prefer to keep closed. Many Greek Cypriot mediators accused Mr Apostolides of further promoting the awareness of a seperate Turkish Cypriot Republic state in the North of Cyprus, cementing the idea of a permanent division as a suitable Cyprus solution.
Orams, 61, and his 59-year-old wife said they had bought the land in compliance with the local land registry system.
The couple, who spent 160,000 pounds on their Cyprus property, said they had risked their main home in England in order to fight the enforcement of the Cypriot ruling.
"The judgment allows others in the same position to invest in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus without the threat of enforcement of judgments rendered in the Republic of Cyprus in the EU," a statement on behalf of the couple said.
An estimated 250,000 Greek and Turkish Cypriots, a quarter of Cyprus's population, were forced to flee their properties in conflicts dating from 1963.
((Reporting by Tim Castle, Editing by Astrid Zweynert;
[email protected]; +44 207 542 7947))
Keywords: BRITAIN CYPRUS PROPERTY
Wednesday, 06 September 2006 20:11:47RTRS [nL06793901] {C}ENDS
