Title Deeds Office

Many home buyers purchase their home in Cyprus without legal title because the system of Cyprus and the long process is involved. Many buyers go through the process with really understand until they have to sell. Most buyers think they will not have this problem when purchasing and many believe that they will retain their property for many years and have received the title by then.

Then, for some reason the owner wants to sell, without works. What should you do? Here are the details of the procedure that will occur when selling or buying process is good to know in both scenarios. The Cypriot legal system requires that each sale of the property is through a tax system which is either tax the capital gain or income. The income tax is imposed for resellers and developers or people who can buy and sell more than 2 to 3 flats. The capital gain taxes are estimated in the region of 20% after the following deductions are made on

1. The original purchase price


2. All costs that you can prove that they were made for the structural development of the property


3. 10.000CYP per person than the personal allowances


4. The rate of inflation for the period you had possession of the property.

In addition to the above, you should know that in the absence of a separate title deed, the only way to sell is to cancel your contract and a new contract to be signed between the developers and new buyers. This may create additional costs called cancellation fee. The amount payable depends on the developers you have purchased. In addition you will be asked to pay the stamp duty which the annulment of the contract is 150 CYP for properties at 100, 000 and 2% per thousand above 100,000 CYP. The procedures for the sale should be handled by lawyers who are familiar with the procedures and they can assume the relevant responsibilities for both legal and financial issues. Therefore, you should be prepared to pay the legal fees which, in our experience should be in the region around CYP1000 HT. The procedure to sell a property for which there is no individual act covers the following line,

1. A preliminary agreement was signed between the seller (original purchaser) and the new buyer (the buyer). In this preliminary agreement the parties undertake to price, payment terms, delivery date and the deposit. The filing, in this case must be considered non-refundable and must be at least 10% of the purchase price in order to create a proper commitment.


2. The seller cancels the contract with sponsors and settles any outstanding amount, including cancellation fees.


3. The cancellation agreement is stamped at the tax (stamp duty) and an application is filed with the tax administration of the taxation of capital gains.


4. The sales contract the seller signed the original is removed from the Land Office.


5. The new contract was signed between the developers and new buyers and is filed with the Land Office


6. The delivery of keys and payment of the balance is. At the same time the seller delivers copies of receipts for payment of utility bills.

The question of ownership is a concern for many, and a system that many hope will change. It only makes sense to receive the full ownership of a property that you buy. In the meantime, we hope this helps.