Our experience of buying property in Cyprus was to learn first hand of the corruption that goes on. We bought a property from a developer John Theodorou Estates. When it was finished we decided to sell it. As we lived in Uk Theo (John Theodorou) advised us what price we should market the property for. We were guided by him and we trusted him. He sold our property for 95,000.00 Euros more than he told us & charged us 12,000.00 Euros sales fee. We are still trying to get this money back from him with no success.

Cyprus leaves us with a very bad feeling.

Jill Williams

Have been coming to Cyprus since the 70's when in the RAF and loved the place at first sight. I retired here in 1994 and have only ever rented, not because of any vision of the future but there was always something that niggled at me when I thought of buying!! Wasted money I hear, and generally you are all right on this matter although I have always bought and sold in the UK without problems and made a few shillings profit. The maximum rent I now pay is Euro350 per month for 3bdrms, 2bthrms and a large sitting/kitchen/diner and utility room with lovely covered outside patio area. My landlord Harry is wonderful, anything needing fixed and he is over in a flash repairing without cost.

My heart is with all those who have been cheated, unfortunately this embedded in the local mentality. If you can make them money, they will love you, if you can't they won't want know you. They talk about not being exposed to toxic assets in the world financial collapse, this may be true but I think all the loans in Cyprus are toxic and will never be repaid. As said untill they start to hit those who are part of the big fraud ie confiscating money in banks, cars and property then nothing will change. ps remember those who own the banks, building companies, estate agents are also in the GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!

Briefly this is our story

In 2002, we bought a single plot for CY£45,000 (€76,900) from a Paphos developer and then paid him CY£90,000 (€153,800) to build a villa. In 2007, hearing that the developer was in financial difficulties, we mentioned this to our Paphos lawyer. At this juncture and to our surprise, we were informed that there was a developer mortgage on the land on which ‘our’ property was built. Nevertheless, we were assured that it was “only around CY£10,000” (€17,000) and that the developer would pay it off - this did not happen .

However, we took it upon ourselves to visit the Land Registry to try to ascertain the true facts – only to find out that there was a mortgage of €59,800 against the land. This was taken out just before we bought and we would definitely have refused to go ahead with the purchase if we had been informed of this at the time by our lawyer. In actual fact as we were still living in the UK at the time, after checking the contract we gave him power of attorney to sign it on our behalf and then pay the money over to the developer

In the contract it states 'that no acquisiton authority has any claim on the plot of land and that they (the vendors) undertake the obligation to proceed and transfer the property on the name of the Purchasers free of any impediment. We therefore naturally assumed that there was no other claim to the land, especially as we like tens of thousands of other foreign buyers were completely unaware of this totally unethical lending to developers by Cypriot banks.

We visited the lender bank who informed us that the developer who had around 14 dwelling sites when he got into difficulties in 2007 has not paid anything off the loan he took out on our land since 2002! We were also informed that the balance has gone from the original €59,800 to a figure of over €85,500 with the added interest.

The bank helpfully suggested that we may want to take a loan ourselves to pay off the developer’s mortgage.!!! as they could repossess not only our land but everything built on it at any time, They would sell it at a reduced price to settle the mortgage and other taxes, and then give us what is left over, which would be virtually nothing. This is why the banks don’t care if developers don’t pay anything back for 7 years !

Thank god for Denis,without his help and support I would have gone mad. .

We have been living in Cyprus for 6 years and paid for a property we do not really own becuase we do not have our Title Deeds. We are held to ransom by the developer's until we get our title deeds. This is not easy. When deeds are available we are still held to ransom and can be robed agin in so called outstanding Taxes that have supposedly been paid but by 4/5 hundred percent over charge. Even if one sells before they have deeds there is a so called cancellation fee. (Which is illegal.)
Keep up the good work CAPG and information.

Who are biggest advertisers in papers..........developers !!

So if the NAMA will have the power to seize and sell off properties, where the developer is indebt to the banks, does this mean those of us who do not yet have our tiltle deeds would potentially have our properties taken from us!

Where is the solution to all of us who do not have their deeds, am I missing something here?

I have no doubt that the property market and the Cyprus economy will suffer greatly in the time ahead in view of the numerous property scams and lack of Government action to address these. A vibrant property market along with tourism are core to the Cyprus Economy The Cyprus property problem is now well known thanks to the efforts of the CPAG and it's members in spreading the word.
However this is something which no one,like myself,who have a genuine love of Cyprus wishes to see. The property market dies off,the banks suffer and ultimately because of the title scam we individuals, British and Cypriot together with many others will suffer. Why? Because we are investors,mortgage holders ( some of us obviously did not realise this) and bank depositors. We will be hit twice. If the Banks ultimately go down our deposits will vanish.
"Simple" steps can be taken now to try and sort the problems in my opinion without the need for legislation.
Stop the problem happening again. The Attorney General and the Law Society should route out and deal with rogue professionals immediately and effectively. The Bank of Cyprus should ban Banks from lending any more money on properties already mortgaged. If the developers want more money bank waivers are automatically granted to new purchasers. Banks should pursue developers for payment of debt rather than lending more and increasing the debt. They would not let us miss our mortgage payments for too long!
Sorting the problem for new sales would not be difficult and would ultimately restore buyer confidence in the Cyprus property market.
For those of us already caught up in the scam we need the Government to take action and ensure that those of us caught up in the Cyprus shame of this scandal are left mortage free and that the rightful debtors are held personaly responsible.
If this issue is not resolved I fear the worst for the Cyprus economy.

To anyone who has known Cyprus for the last 50 plus years and is also familiar with other parts of the world the corruption issue will not come as any surprise except that in days gone by it would not have been termed corruption but keeping the wheels of commerce turning.

Corruption, nepotism and only abiding by those laws that suit whilst ignoring the rest is how Cyprus has developed and was attractive to foreigners. It came under the Generic heading of "a laid back attitude". All was well until those from s different Country & Culture thought of buying into the Cypriot way of life and living here.

I am not excusing the attitude as I do believe had we not joined the EU staying exactly as we were would have worked but joining the EU brings not only benefits but responsibilities too and I am sorry to say that all indications are that we are quick to pick up the benefits but slow to implement the responsibilities.

The property issue is a monumental farce by any measure of a civilised administration. The apparent lack of effective control of the judicial system is another. The absence or apparent absence of accountability must be addressed as must be the xenophobic attitudes of town & city dwellers. Fortunately much of our village life is still based on traditional Cypriot values of hospitality and welcome.

I work in UK and can understand the vast difference in cultures, likewise I also see and hear of Cypriots whining and moaning about the British administrative process and rip off mentality together with their being aghast at the overgenerous benefits system which is perceived to reward the bone idle but penalise them who they consider to be hard working, most are, but not all. A familiar tune can be heard in Cyprus with the British ex-patriot community. Likewise similar stories come out of South America, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the Middle East and North Africa.

Cyprus must adopt EU values, Legislation, Guidance and regulation sooner rather than later and the sooner the Government Ministers can see beyond the end of their noses and at the same time tell the people the truth then perhaps they will find that people will accept the measures that need to be put in place to arrive into the 21st Century as then we can rightfully claim to have adopted the EU vision. Sure it will be hard, we will all suffer for a while, but at least it will get back to normal, confidence will return, holidaymakers will return and we will prosper.

As long as we continue to lie, distort & embellish the truth we will not retain any integrity as foreign institutions and people will only be caught once, they now view anything we say with suspicion and sadly I must admit they have good reason to.

I firmly believe our administration has the ability to put things right for the good of all citizens including those who have adopted our country as their own and contribute vast sums to our economy, however they must have the moral fibre and will to do so. Permitting outside interested commercial parties to influence Government is a recipe for disaster it must not be permitted to continue and reports to the EU must be truthful.

I have since birth told my children to always tell me the truth in order that I can protect them perhaps the Government can adopt the same attitude toward the EU. Constantly claiming there is no problem when there so obviously is is not doing the Nation or it's people any favours. If it is the case that those making the statement genuinely believe it then perhaps they should have the decency & honour to resign and let someone who is capable of understanding the problems take over.

Dennis you are absolutely on the ball it is amzing this problem is not so widely reported as the Spanish ones are.
Maybe it is too simplistic, but the Government at a stroke of the pen could invalidate developers/builders & banks' claims on properties already sold and paid for by homeowners.
The honest developers would chuggle along as normal producing the title deeds for the owners, whereas, the crooked ones would not survive.
Furthermore, are there many examples of people being driven from their homes by these bad loans?