Cyprus-Forum.com

[zan]

Not in the TRNC.............enjoy

[Swashbuckler]

Where's it a criminal offence exactly? And I'm not talking about developers but merely householders.

[Alexis]

Hello Everyone

I am new to this forum.

I've just purchased a property in the North which is on Exchange land. This means that a Turkish person was given this land in exchange for land they owned in the South prior to 1974.

Does this make me a criminal!!!!!

I think criminal is a very strong word to use in my opinion, in some respects you are potentially a victim.
Just be aware that the term 'exchange land' is very misleading. Exchange implies that two parties agreed to trade land between themselves.
This was certainly never the case with what is Greek Cypriot owned land in the North and so the land you have bought could conceivably and legally be sought by its rightful owner at some future date especially in the event of a settlement. You may or may not get compensation if this happens and you will have little or no control as to whether this happens or not.

The TRNC continue to mislead and even deceive foreign nationals with regards their title deeds. This is not only making the issue of property harder and harder to adequately address in a comprehensive settlement but is potentially creating a new breed of 'victims' of the Cyprus Problem needlessly. Be sure that come the crunch time in negotiations the TRNC interests will lie with its people and not the foreigners who have bought property on Greek Cypriot title land. Having said all this it could still be the case that the 'exchange land' you have bought is not GC title land in which case it is unlikely you will face any problems in the future.

[Trinket]

I agree with some of your points but if the land was once owned by a GC, surely it was given to TC in exchange for their land in the south, hence the title deed 'exchange'

This then implies that if this land was ever taken back from me I would be awarded the land in the South that it was exchanged for.

They can't have it both ways surely!

[andri_cy]

Trinket you could very possibly try sue someone and get some kind of land and/or compensation if that land were ever taken away from you in the event of settlement. The truth is, some people that own and sell "exchanged" land, never owned land in the south. I am sure that Turkey herself would possibly compensate you, but if I were wanting to move to the North I would have made sure to buy pre-1974 TC title land to make sure that it was MINE. After all you get what you pay for.

[Alexis]

I agree with some of your points but if the land was once owned by a GC, surely it was given to TC in exchange for their land in the south, hence the title deed 'exchange'

This then implies that if this land was ever taken back from me I would be awarded the land in the South that it was exchanged for.

They can't have it both ways surely!

I think you are missing the point to a certain extent. The land is still owned by a GC, the so-called exchange was forced upon the individuals concerned so does not hold. Please remember that because of the imbalance of this 'exchange' many refugees in the south of the island literally had no land to exchange theirs for, in other words what happened in 1974 was not simply an identical swap of TC land for GC land, far more GC land was taken in return for little TC land. This is very important in understanding the nature of the property issue and as to why the GC community are pursuing their land in greater numbers than the TC community.

Having said all this if the land is GC title deed and if it is taken away from you in a comprehensive settlement then you would probably expect to get whatever land that refugee 'exchanged' back in 1974 in the south. This of course would only apply to land sold to you by a genuine TC refugee and not a settler. I am no expert on TRNC title deeds and so I am not sure how they classify GC title land which has been given to settlers, military personnel or foreigners since 1974. Certainly it is far safer for yourself to buy land from a genuine TC refugee than from a foreigner or settler as at least you would have a claim to the land the refugee left behind in the south. My only concern there would be in proving that you bought the land from the TC refugee and that therefore that refugee has effectively handed over the rights to their land in the south over to you.
As I'm sure you can see the whole concept of exchanging land with no agreement becomes very messy indeed meaning that a comprehensive settlement regarding the property issue becomes harder and harder to achieve the more land is sold to non-Cypriots.

[Trinket]

I do agree, as time goes on it will become more and more complex to trace back who actually owned the land prior to 1974.

Also a point to note, when people purchase land in the South do they stop to think whether it was originally owned by a Turk???

[miltiades]

Trinket , you obviously are not familiar with the Land Registry of Cyprus one of the finest in Europe , and with a completely safe system of registering titles to land or other property. Where illegalities occur these are generally challenged in courts and justice prevails.

[Alexis]

I do agree, as time goes on it will become more and more complex to trace back who actually owned the land prior to 1974.

Also a point to note, when people purchase land in the South do they stop to think whether it was originally owned by a Turk???

Hi Trinket,

This is a much discussed topic on this forum. In theory the Republic of Cyprus government claims that all Turkish Cypriot (TC) refugee land is looked after by the state and either rented out to GC refugees or left derelict. In practice and especially more recently it has been discovered that some GC refugees have actually built their own houses on this land. In addition a few unscrupulous developers have recently been convicted of developing and selling TC land. I don't know the extent to which this goes on but every report I have read indicates that this is not a common occurrence. In any case the law in the RoC is very clear: All TC owned land in the south remains TC owned and in the event of a settlement will be returned to the refugees. The only exception to this is land that is expropriated by the state. Again there have been many discussions about this, particularly regarding some land expropriated by the state to extend Larnaca airport which is TC owned. In the case of expropriation the owner should be compensated at market value. Therefore, the answer to your question is yes, the mechanisms at least are in place to prevent TC land being developed and/or sold to anyone.
One important point to make though. One reason the RoC is able to prevent the illegal sale of TC land is the fact that there isn't a huge amount of it. It is still a sizeable chunk of southern Cyprus but much of the land can easily be isolated and protected. The reverse is true in the north, because there is so much GC refugee land even if the TRNC wanted to she would not be able to fully protect the GC land since there is so much of it as a percentage of the total land.

[souroul]

I do agree, as time goes on it will become more and more complex to trace back who actually owned the land prior to 1974.

Also a point to note, when people purchase land in the South do they stop to think whether it was originally owned by a Turk???

Hi Trinket,

This is a much discussed topic on this forum. In theory the Republic of Cyprus government claims that all Turkish Cypriot (TC) refugee land is looked after by the state and either rented out to GC refugees or left derelict. In practice and especially more recently it has been discovered that some GC refugees have actually built their own houses on this land. In addition a few unscrupulous developers have recently been convicted of developing and selling TC land. I don't know the extent to which this goes on but every report I have read indicates that this is not a common occurrence. In any case the law in the RoC is very clear: All TC owned land in the south remains TC owned and in the event of a settlement will be returned to the refugees. The only exception to this is land that is expropriated by the state. Again there have been many discussions about this, particularly regarding some land expropriated by the state to extend Larnaca airport which is TC owned. In the case of expropriation the owner should be compensated at market value. Therefore, the answer to your question is yes, the mechanisms at least are in place to prevent TC land being developed and/or sold to anyone.
One important point to make though. One reason the RoC is able to prevent the illegal sale of TC land is the fact that there isn't a huge amount of it. It is still a sizeable chunk of southern Cyprus but much of the land can easily be isolated and protected. The reverse is true in the north, because there is so much GC refugee land even if the TRNC wanted to she would not be able to fully protect the GC land since there is so much of it as a percentage of the total land.

bull shit

The ROC wont just give up the TC property because its the right and legal thing to do, unlike the north psuedo fake and fucked up so called government is all about taking advantage of whatever they stole so they sell it to the cheap bastards and the criminals that migrate over there