The Immovable Property Law, CAP. 224, prohibits the registered owner of a property (i.e. the name of the owner recorded on the Title Deed) from transferring or mortgaging that property if it has been issued with a ‘Certificate of Unauthorised Works‘.
A note to this effect was added on the property’s Title Deed, thereby making the property effectively worthless on the open market.
A Certificate of Unauthorised Works indicates that a property suffers from serious planning infringements which, in the main, have been caused by shoddy or incomplete building work. When the serious planning infringements have been corrected, the owner can apply to have the prohibition removed and thereby have a ‘clean’ Title Deed issued.
Some infringements, such as a balcony’s balustrade/guardrail/railing being too low, failing to comply with fire regulations, etc. have serious health and safety implications. Others, such as a lack of a green area, are less significant and generally pose no danger.
Although a ‘blighted’ property could not be transferred or mortgaged, it could be left to someone in a Will (transferred by inheritance) or donated to a close family relative.
In my opinion, this change in the law was a positive move as it prevented unscrupulous vendors dumping their worthless and possibly dangerous properties onto their unsuspecting buyers while retaining responsibility for sorting out the mess they created.
(The recently announced ‘Building Amnesty‘ may help those with a ‘blighted’ property overcome a small number of planning infringements.)
Government’s temporary Title Deed ‘amnesty’
Earlier today I learnt that the Government introduced a law (Law 54(I)/2021) that provided a temporary amnesty permitting registered owners of properties (in most cases the developer who built it) to transfer and/or mortgage properties despite the fact that they had been issued with Certificates of Unauthorised Works.
This temporary amnesty came into force on 14th April 2021 and ended on 31st December 2021. During the amnesty period nearly 13,000 transfers took place.
The government’s motive for introducing this temporary amnesty is open to speculation.
I have evidence confirming that one unscrupulous property developer managed to offload a ‘blighted’ property onto an unsuspecting buyer during the amnesty period – and I suspect there are many more!
If you have the Title Deed for the property you purchased, it’s easy to check if your property’s ‘blighted’ with a ‘Certificate of Unauthorised Works’.
How to check your Title Deed
Your Title Deed will be in the Greek language. Look though your deed to see if it contains the Greek text shown in the image below, where you’ll also find an English translation. (The x/xx/xxxx/xxxx is the Certificate of Unauthorised Works’ reference.)
What to do next
If your property has been issued with a Certificate of Unauthorised Works, you can visit the local Planning Authority to discover the scope and severity of the infringements.
If you bought an apartment or a property on a development, it’s extremely likely that others on the development have the same problem (although some of them may not have a Title Deed as the law protected them when the Deed became available for transfer.)
I know people who have clubbed together and paid for the work needed to resolve the planning infringements; understandably, others are reluctant to do so.
A second option is to club together and investigate the possibility of suing the vendor.
There is a third option if a bank has foreclosed one or more of the properties on your development.
The Cypriots way is to get ‘clean title deeds’ and then do unauthorised work, such as extending the house or enclosing the balconies to make another room.
Yes – the Title Deed system is a complete & utter mess!