CyprusLiving

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 14 Nov 2015 20:39

Many people have contacted my about applying for the deeds under the new 'trapped buyers'/'hidden mortgage law' following messages posted in another forum and Facebook from other sources which say that Title Deeds are only be offered to cash buyers (which is a load of rubbish.)

To set the record straight, if a purchaser wishes to apply for the Title Deeds to the property they purchased, the only requirements are that:

(1) their contract of sale has been deposited at the Land Registry and

(2) they agree to deposit any outstanding financial obligations to the vendor is a into a special account set up by the Land Registry. (e.g. In their contract, some people were able to hold back a few thousand Euros until the Title Deed was available for transfer - they have to agree to deposit this money with the Land Registry.)

You do not need to contact the developer - if the Land Registry needs any information from the developer, they will contact him.

You'll find the application form and other information in an article I wrote - 'Apply for your Title deeds'.

(Someone involved in the other forum contacted me at the end of October to say that my readers may be interested in a campaign. You can read the correspondence by clicking here.

You may also be interested to know that a member of this forum 'Dexter' appears to be involved in this campaign, which is spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt amongst those who have yet to obtain their Deeds. And I expect that many people have been dissuaded from applying for their Title Deeds because of the mis-information being published by 'Dexter' and others.)

Regards,

**Sponsor**

by **explodingaardvark** » 14 Nov 2015 22:45

Nigel,
So if a buyer fulfills requirements (1) and (2) and makes an application to the Land Registry, does this shortcut the requirements placed on the developer to get all the approvals that are mentioned on your other thread or does this just kick start the developer's requirement to get these approvals from the other end, so to speak.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 14 Nov 2015 23:54

Hi explodingaardvark

What the law currently says is that a Title Deed will be issued if possible. There is no mention of kick-starting the developer into action, only that the Land Registry may require the company to provide information.

However, I've been reliably informed that changes to the law coming down the line and I will be able to say more once they've been published.

Regards,

by **explodingaardvark** » 15 Nov 2015 22:35

By the term 'if possible', it would not be unreasonable to assume that if the developer had not got all the approvals required by the District Office (not Land Registry) then the Land Registry would/could decide not to proceed with the issue of Title Deeds until the approvals were received.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 16 Nov 2015 00:22

Extract from my article:

A Title Deed has not been issued yet – In addition to the application for the transfer of property , trapped buyers may be asked to complete an application for the forced issuance of the Title Deed for the property.

(In some cases applicants are also required to sign a declaration/acknowledgement that their application will be activated when a Title Deed has been issued).

On receipt of the forced issuance of Title Deed application the director of the Land Registry will give a 60 day written notice to the vendor demanding that they file all the necessary documents and take any and all actions that may be necessary to enable Title Deeds to be issued. If the vendor does not comply they face a penalty of €10,000.

Regards,

by **mel845** » 10 Dec 2015 15:33

Can you advise me please, we have a holiday apartment in Trimathousa which we have had for 10 years, we did register the title deeds with the land registry when we bought the property. We have heard that we can now apply for the title deeds and we need to do this by 31st Jan 2016, we wont be back in Cyprus until late next year, can we apply for our deeds by email, or can someone apply on our behalf or is it possible to wait until August when we are back in Cyprus.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 10 Dec 2015 18:05

Hi mel & welcome to the forum.

I'm sure someone else asked me this question recently.

Who told you that you had to apply for the Title Deeds by 31st Jan 2016? The reason I ask is they no time limit is specified in the law (which you can read by clicking here) - pages 18 -29 contain an English translation.)

I'm keeping an eye on the catalogue of laws to see if anything changes.

You can authorise your lawyer or a friend in Cyprus to act on your behalf under a Power of Attorney if you wish to submit the application on your behalf. They will need original documents.

Regards,

by **alan Clark** » 15 Dec 2015 17:52

Hi,
We went today to the land registry office to register for our title deeds, we had all th information they needed apart from a final receipt or letter stating that our house has been paid in full (it has by the way accept we are unable to provide prove of this, we have lost or misplaced it) The lady at the land registry wasn't to bothered she registered our property but said go to your vendor and ask for a letter stating you have paid. We went straight to our vendor who refused to issue us with a letter stating our house is paid for unless we paid him back debts of IPT monies and a Community tax which all came to over €4500. We refused to pay him any monies. Were we right to do so and should we just wait until the Land Registry get in touch with him?
________________________________________

alan

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 15 Dec 2015 22:24

Hi alan,

I suggest that you swear an affidavit in court (a lawyer is not needed) that you have fulfilled your contractual obligations to the vendor and take this to the Land Registry.

(I assume that you were able to prove that you'd made all the payments to your developer.)

Regards,

by **explodingaardvark** » 15 Dec 2015 22:29

If you follow what Nigel says you should go back to the Land Registry and explain the situation to them and they should then contact the developer and ask why he is delaying issue of Title Deeds. There is a possible €10,000 fine on the developer if he continues to delay unreasonably. The government is far more interested in getting the money from you for issuing title deeds than getting a relatively small amount from a developer for IPT which will still be on the books after the issue of title deeds.

by **alan Clark** » 16 Dec 2015 07:55

Hi,
Thank you so far for your replies. What I probably failed to mention is we cannot prove we had fully paid all of the money to the vendor, yes, we have found some of the receipts but somehow the final acknowledgement from the vendor to us that we have fully paid for the villa we cannot find (yet). And as I said before he is refusing to give us a letter saying we have paid. (We have been in this house now for nearly 12 years, I'm sure if we hadn't paid in full we would have been out long before now). What worries us is the amount of back IPT money he says we owe, plus a said amount of Community Tax as well that says he had to pay. (The Community Tax is €40 a year for 12 years, where does that come from?)

___________________________________
alan

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 16 Dec 2015 08:34

Hi Alan,

I suggest you look through your contract to see if you are obliged to pay property related taxes from when you took delivery of the property.

If you are obliged to pay property related taxes, can you please let me know:

The year in which you took delivery of the property.

The 1980 value of the property (which you should have from paying IPT last year and this).

The amount of IPT the developer is charging you.

(The community tax is paid to the local community in which the property is situated. I pay around €150/year in Erimi)

Regards,

by **alan Clark** » 16 Dec 2015 09:52

Hi,
Yes we pay property tax to the local community, Mesogi, (€100 a year, we get a discount as pensioners). We took delivery of the house in 2004. The developer (DNP) are charging us €165.20 a year from 2004 to 2011. €330.40 year 2012. €784.70 for year 2013. Can't see a value on our IPT form but believe it to be something like £4100Cyprus.
_________________________________
alan

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 16 Dec 2015 15:31

Hi Alan

According to the figures you gave me, the 1980 value of your house is €41,300 (which is similar to your figure.)

Here's my calculation based on a 1980 value of €41,300:

2004 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2005 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2006 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2007 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2008 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2009 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2010 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2011 @ 0.40% = € 165.20
2012 @ 0.80% = € 330.40
2013 @ 1.90% = € 784.70

Total: = € 2,436.70

The first thing to do is to check your contract of sale to see if you are liable to pay property-related taxes and other charges from when you took delivery of the property.

If you are liable then your developer has to supply you with records of the amount paid as Immovable Property Tax (IPT) and a certificate showing the rate of IPT applicable to the property. Please refer to this letter from the Interior Ministry (and if necessary give a copy to DNP.) Once he has done that you should pay him and he must issue you with a receipt.

Once you have the deeds you can then apply to the Tax Department for a refund of any legitimate IPT overpayments.

If all you have been paying is the property tax to Mesogi, the other charge may be for rubbish collection and sewerage charges. You'll need to ask DNP to demonstrate that they have paid - and also for a proper invoice and receipt.

Regards,

by **Patricia G** » 17 Jan 2016 15:07

Thanks to your very informative forum, I intend to apply for Title Deeds when I visit Cyprus in May 2016 especially as I believe my Transfer tax will get a 10% reduction if I pay within 60 days of being requested, in addition to the 50% reduction available if the transfer takes place by 31st December ’16. Am I reading this correctly that I could potentially get a 60% reduction? Almost too good to be true!!
This would be a great saving as I foolishly put the contract in one name only. I bought the apartment in Ayia Napa in 2006 for €234,000 euros and made final payment via bank transfer to my solicitor in November 2008 taking possession also at that time.
My contract says I must pay the Government and Local Authorities all the taxes, levies, duty or charges in connection with the property from date of delivery.
I signed up for direct debit with the local municipality so I pay a small amount, around €17, every 3 months with an extra larger payment of €162 at the end of each year- all these payments are written as “Ayia Napa Municipality Utility Payment”
What else should I be paying?
Do I presume the Developer has been paying my Immovable Property Tax for the past 7 years, which I must then reimburse? Do I need to pay those bills to him before I apply for the title Deeds?
Thanks in anticipation Nigel,
Regards,
Patricia

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 18 Jan 2016 10:14

Hi Patricia and welcome to the forum

If your application for the Title Deeds is successful you will receive a 10% reduction if you pay the Property Transfer Fees within 60 days of being notified that they are available.

Providing the transfer takes place by 31st December 2016 - If you paid VAT when you purchased the apartment you will receive a 100% discount on the Property Transfer Fees – and if you did not pay VAT you'll receive a 50% discount.

I expect your developer has been paying Immovable Property Tax on your behalf for the six years from 2008 to 2013. You should reimburse him when he bills you and provides you with records of the amount paid as Immovable Property Tax (IPT) and a certificate showing the rate of IPT applicable to the property as described in my earlier reply.

You should have paid the IPT for 2014 and 2015 directly to the Tax Office (the law changed in 2014). You will need to visit the Tax Office and get a letter from them saying that you don't owe any IPT.

I expect the amounts you have been paying to the Ayia Napa Municipality will include the Municipality Tax and the Sewerage Tax. You will need to visit their office and get a letter saying that you've paid up.

There are a few things in the application process that are not absolutely clear. I'm trying to get more information on precisely what information applicants need to take to the Land Registry when they apply.

Regards,

by **Patricia G** » 20 Jan 2016 01:55

Thank you Nigel,
Gosh I have a lot to do THAT I WAS COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF. First I must register for a tax number. Then try to pay three years IPT 2014-2016.
Two questions please. Sorry if you've answered these questions before, but I only started reading your forum since Christmas, attempting to read all posts re Title Deeds - BUT only read your posts about the IPT since you replied to my post and alerted me to the new law - I had thought the developer was paying it until title deeds were transferred.

1. IPT is based on 1980 value but my apartment was only built in 2008 so what happens?
2. As the form 318-2014 requires Vendors TIC and his valuation etc. do I understand that I must go to the developer for this information since I won't know this information myself?
Patricia

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 20 Jan 2016 08:50

Hi Patricia

I published an article in 2014 about paying IPT to the government - you can find it at 'Paying Immovable Property Tax'

To answer your questions:

The 1980 value is calculated using the rate of inflation. Roughly speaking - if inflation has increased by 75% between 1980 and 2008, the value of the property is reduced by 75%.

And yes you may need to get this information from the developer although he should have notified the Tax Office.

(The IPT rates have yet to be set for 2016.)

Regards,

by **Patricia G** » 22 Jan 2016 00:31

Is it necessary to pay the Immovable property Tax before getting the Title deeds transferred into my name?
Patricia

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 22 Jan 2016 15:54

Hi Patricia

Yes - you need to pay IPT for 2014 & 2015 to the Tax Office - plus any IPT that you're contractually obliged to pay to your developer.

Regards,

by **Petit Mousse** » 13 Feb 2016 16:29

Good afternoon Nigel. We applied for our Title Deeds in October 2015 under the new rules. In your answer above to Patricia you say that IPT must be paid before getting the Title Deeds transferred into the owners' name. We have paid the IPT for 2014 and 2015 but not for 2009-2013. Between October and December 2013, I posted on your forum our concerns about the Developer requesting an extortionate amount for his alleged payments of IPT. He refused to comply with the law and provide us with proof of his payments and we didn't pay him. He was on the Government list of Developers owing large amounts of tax. I hope that when the Title Deeds are issued (soon!!) payment of our 2009-2013 IPT tax will be straightforward. By this I mean that we will simply be required to pay what we should have paid had the Title Deeds been issued when we took possession of our property and not at the higher percentage rate Developers were required to pay based on their portfolio of properties, plus the penalty charge imposed by the government for late or non-payment. As our Title Deeds have not yet been issued do you think we ought to contact the IPT office now or wait until they are released?

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 13 Feb 2016 22:20

Hello Petit Mousse

Your developer needs to provide you "with records of the amount paid as Immovable Property Tax (IPT) and a certificate showing the rate of IPT applicable to the property." Please refer to this letter from the Interior Ministry.

In addition he should have competed a Form T.D.318A 2015 (English) - you will note that it says "This form must be fully completed by the vendor for every buyer/assignee/beneficial owner for properties held."

I suggest that you speak with the LAND REGISTRY (changed from Tax Department) to see if they can help - take the demands from your developer.

Regards,

by **Petit Mousse** » 14 Feb 2016 14:28

Thank you for your reply Nigel. We will indeed check the situation at the IPT office and the Land Registry as soon as we return to Cyprus next week. In December 2013, after we showed him the Interior Ministry's letter you kindly provided, the Developer wrote that he would be negotiating with the IRD to pay in stages and added "so is up to you if you want to pay some money (IPT) now to help or to pay on the time of transferring the title". Needless to say, we had no inclination "to help"! and have had no further contact with him, except to inform him that we had lodged our Title Deed application with the L.R. We will take his e-mail suggesting we could pay on receipt of the Title Deeds to the IPT office.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 14 Feb 2016 19:19

Hi Petit Mousse

If your developer has completed and submitted the Form T.D.318A 2015 or if you paid IPT for 2014 and 2015 to the Tax Department they should have a good idea of the 1980 value of your property.

I think I mentioned elsewhere that I had been invited to a meeting with architect of the law at the Dept of Lands and Surveys to discuss problems that people were having - including nefarious developers trying to rip people off (I sent them a demand one 'crooked' company sent to one of their customers.)

But I've had to put the meeting on hold as I'm in the UK receiving medical treatment.

Regards,

by **Petit Mousse** » 14 Feb 2016 19:30

Many thanks again Nigel. We wish you well in your medical treatment and hope you will return to the sunshine soon.

by **kisa** » 25 Apr 2016 12:52

What advice would you give when you decide to apply for your deeds (4 properties) to be informed from the Lawyer (not the same lawyer when purchasing the properties) that only 1 of the properties is registered in your name & you can only apply for 1 Title Deed at the moment. The developer is saying once all the IPT tax has been paid on the other 3 properties, they will be transfer the properties out of their name to the buyer, to apply for the Deeds, No mortgage now on the properties.

by **Petit Mousse** » 25 Apr 2016 16:26

Hello Nigel. Here I am, pestering you again! I have just received a call from a friend who works for our developer. She insists that, despite the fact that we have applied for our T.D.s (using your form "Application for the transfer of property ..."), they will be sent to the developer who will invite us to collect them from him. Can you tell me if that is the case because we believed that, having applied ourselves, we would receive our deeds directly from the Land Registry, not from the developer. At the Land Registry this morning I finally saw the file, for all 12 houses on the development! Only 4 owners have applied for the deeds themselves.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 26 Apr 2016 08:44

Hi Petit Mousse

Please refer to the section "Transfer of Title Deed to buyer" in my article at http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... d=00126681

Regards,

by **Petit Mousse** » 26 Apr 2016 15:13

Hello again Nigel. Thank you for reminding me of the article you wrote, particularly "... the DLS will send a notice to the buyer and a notice to the vendor requesting them to transfer the property to the buyer ..." . I assume that I would then take the notice to the DLO and pay the fees, which in our case would be nil (100%reduction).

This is what I don't fully understand - at this stage will the DLO give me the Title Deeds or must I go back to the developer with the receipt indicating that the transfer fees have been paid and the DEVELOPER will give me the document (Title Deed)? I reiterate my thanks to you for all the efforts you are still putting into this endeavour.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 26 Apr 2016 19:41

Petit Mousse wrote:I assume that I would then take the notice to the DLO and pay the fees, which in our case would be nil (100%reduction).

If your application is successful you may opt to pay the full amount of the Property Transfer Fees, in which case their transfer fees will be reduced by 10%, or opt to pay the transfer fees in 12 equal monthly instalments.

If the transfer takes place by 31st December 2016, a further 50% reduction in transfer fees will be applied if you did not pay VAT on the property’s purchase price – or a 100% reduction if you did pay VAT on the purchase price.

All this is stated in the article? Are you sure that you looking at the latest one - http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... d=00126681 ?

Regards,

by **Petit Mousse** » 27 Apr 2016 06:57

Hello again Nigel. I apologise if what I wrote is confusing. Yes, I read the correct article. The bit I don't understand is who will give me the document (Title Deeds)? Will it be given to us by the Land Registry or by the developer?

I had the impression that the whole point of filing the application ourselves was to accelerate the process and also to bypass the developer.

(Sorry, I clicked the wrong link and the above was also posted to another thread.)

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 27 Apr 2016 08:40

Hi Petit Mousse

Title Deeds are issued by the Land Registry - and yes whole point of filing the application yourself is to bypass the developer.

Regards,

by **Petit Mousse** » 27 Apr 2016 09:36

Excuse me for being pedantic Nigel. You wrote "Title Deeds are ISSUED by the Land Registry", but will the L.R. then GIVE them to us or send them to the developer for him to give to us?

The reason why I posted on this thread on the 25th was because the developer's customer care employee phoned me and said, quite emphatically, that the Title Deeds will be given to us by the developer not by the L.R. and I didn't think that that information was correct. Thank you again Nigel for your patience.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 27 Apr 2016 20:32

No - the Land Registry will not give you the Title Deeds - and neither will they send them to the developer.

The Land Registry will issue the Title Deeds in your name once you have paid the Property Transfer Fees.

As I said in an earlier reply "whole point of filing the application yourself is to bypass the developer"

Your developer's customer care employee is speaking through an orifice normally reserved for another purpose!!!!!

Regards,

by **Petit Mousse** » 28 Apr 2016 07:58

Thank you so much Nigel. As you well know, statements from the developer often come, as you say, from where the sun does not shine. And, as rhe Americans say, "have a good day" Nigel. An ever-grateful Petit Mousse.

by **EDWARD** » 15 May 2016 08:53

Hello Nigel,
Can you advise us what will happen on our complex regarding title deeds.
We have applied as per your advice regarding "Trapped Buyers" and a handful of others on our complex of 36 units have done the same.
There are planning issues and Developer debts involved and the developer has disappeared! We are led to believe the file is at the division of plots stage, and we have been given an AX number.
What will happen with regard to the people who have chosen not to apply for their Title Deeds under the Trapped Buyers law?
Will they just get them at the same time as we do?

Edward.

by **robandaly** » 17 May 2016 12:37

Justice,
Well there is justice, today we completed our title deed transfer, after a long old hard slog it is finally over.

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 17 May 2016 16:34

Hi robandaly

Congratulations (I heard the news from Soona this morning).

Cheers,

by **Nigel-Howarth** » 17 May 2016 16:47

Hello Edward

The developers debts shouldn't be a problem.

However, I expect the planning issues may need to be resolved before the Planning Authority will issue a 'Certificate of Completion' that will enable the Land Registry to issue the deeds, it depends how serious they are.

I suggest you check with the Planning Authority - they should be able to advise.

In the worst case scenario you and the other purchasers will need to contribute to the cost of rectifying the problem and then sue the developer to recover the money. (That is if the developer doesn't do the work.)

If you didn't complete a 'Compulsory Updating of Title' form, I suggest that you do it now and ask the Land Registry to add it to your application.

As for those who have not applied for their deeds, I'm not sure what will happen. The Land Registry tends to issue Title Deeds for the whole development at once, so in theory they will be available at the same time as those who applied. But as they haven't applied they will not be transferred unless the developer or the Director of the Land Registry forces the issue (and they will not be entitled to the 10% transfer fee discount).

Regards,

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