Land Registry Title Deeds

Whether you are a Cypriot or ex-pat your property in Cyprus could be at risk in this recession - even if you paid in full!

Why? Because thousands of residents of Cyprus have not yet their titles.

So what's the problem? Many developers do not start the process of obtaining land titles issued since they may still use the land they were paid for security for loans. In the current economic situation, if they went bankrupt, the bank has borrowed their title to the land - and all property standing in this regard. So, if you owned a property, you may find yourself in front repay the loan by the developer - if you could help me - in order to return to your own home.

To try to get the problem solved there is a petition on the No 10 e-petitions website asking the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to get the Government to solve the Cyprus problem.

If you want to sign go to: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TitleDeedsCyprus/

There has been much publicity about this issue recently in the press of Cyprus and questions have been tabled in the House of Lords.

The petition reads as follows:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to pressure the government of Cyprus to protect property rights in Cyprus, in accordance with Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights

Cyprus is poorly described as having a record of ownership and system based on the British legal system. In fact, it is based on archaic Turkish law allows the elimination of property rights of ownership of both Cyrus and foreign nationals.

It works like this: The developer builds a building, it sells, is paid in full and releases of property without providing a definitive title of ownership. They are issued by the local authority if the developer applies for the completion and met all planning requirements for the project. Until they are issued the developer can use land as collateral for additional loans!

Figures for Cyprus Land Registry show that there 29,949 transfers of ownership rights to foreigners still outstanding and are issued at a rate of 1,600 per year! The number of Cypriots waiting for title dwarfs that of foreigners.