It was very interesting to read that a local company, by the name of Proper Property, has created the Tenant Credit Check Tool, which enables the owners of properties and estate agents to check the ‘trustworthiness profile’ of a potential tenant. The tool was developed by a young Cypriot man to bring a level of transparency and technological innovation to the property rental market.

In an interview with Phileleftheros, its creator Christos Clerides gave the following answer about the evaluation of tenants: “The evaluation is carried out through a system of credit analyses, that takes into account multiple indicators, such as the fulfilment of financial obligations, historical creditworthiness and the overall economic stability of the tenant. The result is an analytical trustworthiness profile that is presented in a simple and easy to understand way.”

There has always been a need for such a tool in Cyprus because the law is weighted in favour of the tenant so excessively that the property owner stuck with a bad tenant could be financially ruined. Apart from the law ‘protecting’ tenants, the slowness with which justice is administered offers them an even bigger advantage. A tenant can stop paying the landlord because of a dispute, such as refusing to pay a higher rent, until the court issues a decision, which could take four or five years. And when the court issues the decision, the tenant could claim inability to pay the five years of owed rents, making additional legal action necessary.

There does not have to be a dispute for a tenant to refuse to pay the rent. Many do not pay, aware that the courts could take years to issue an eviction order for non-payment of rent. There have been cases of a landlord paying off a non-paying tenant to get him out of the property because waiting for a court decision would have incurred greater financial loss.

These are the distortions that have been created by unfair legislation and ultra-slow administration of justice, that instead of protecting property rights, protect those who violate them and do not honour their contractual obligations. Many landlords, justifiably, prefer to rent to foreigners as they are much less likely to exploit the rent law. This is a contributing factor to the problem of unaffordable rents that many Cypriot complain about.

Some six years ago a bill had been prepared to allow the eviction of a tenant after failing to pay rent for three of four months, but then the pandemic arrived and it was shelved. The reasoning was that people had to be protected during the lockdown, when many were not earning anything. The pandemic was over three years ago but the bill never returned to the legislature. The tenant credit check tool might help a property owner choose an honest tenant, but unless the existing law is changed we will not get rid of this messed up rental market.