Legalities

Before you can acquire property, or rather real estate property, legally, you as a foreigner (or legally, as an ‘alien’!) have to obtain approval by The Council of Ministers. This function has been delegated to the relevant Authority in every District. This excludes foreigners who originated from Cyprus, or the spouse of Cypriots.

Acquisition of real estate property in Cyprus includes:

• Transfer of title deed
• Long lease for periods of more than 33 years
• The acquisition of shares in a company that owns immovable property, if such acquisition results in the company becoming controlled by foreigners.
• The establishment of a trust or any type of set-up, which is connected with ownership of real estate, for the benefit of a foreigner, including tax benefits

Although the legal acquiring of property may take some time, you are allowed to occupy their properties until this happens. Much has been written about the long time it takes for title deeds to be acquired. You should always ensure that the title is unencumbered, that is, there are no loans secured against the title deeds by your developer for instance. Your solicitor will be able to do this for you, and this is a good reason why your solicitor should have no ‘’friendly’ connections to your developer.

If you are applying for residency, and it is rejected, any contract for the purchase or lease of property is still valid. So if you are applying for residency, you should make sure the contract has provision in the event of your application for residency being rejected, for a refund or other remedy to be made to you for monies you paid.

As a general rule, permission is granted to bona fide applicants for residency provided they have:

• No criminal record in their country or in Cyprus
• The financial means to support themselves in Cyprus. For a couple a joint income CYP 12,000 is adequate
• As of 1 May, 2004, citizens of the EU residing in Cyprus or Cyprus based companies controlled by citizens of a Member State are not considered to be foreigners. As for citizens of the EU not residing in Cyprus, there is a transitional period until May, 2009, after which, they will be treated as equal to Cypriot citizens, regardless of their residential status.