Cyprus Ministry of Interior
PRESS RELEASE
ΜINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR
The Ministry of Interior considers it necessary to announce the following concerning some comments that were allegedly made by the Minister in an announcement during a conference held on the 20th of June. Specifically, the Minister allegedly declared that the possibility of small businesses going bankrupt is of no concern to the Government, since that will caution developers to be more careful during business and when investing.
(a) The Minister has never mentioned anything even remotely pointing to the above unfortunate statement, and could not have done so, given that he very well knows the importance of small and middle businesses in the field of construction and development. These businesses have an important function in the field of land and housing market, forwarding competition as part of a healthy economy, providing work places, and influencing various other specialized businesses of the specific field.
(b) Apparently, some of the Minister’s answers to questions were misinterpreted. The Minister, when asked on the possibility of the government’ s intervention in case of mortage on a property, in order to safeguard the rights of buyers, and to provide a guarantee by the government itself to the buyers, stated that as in any state, the government does not intervene in private contracts and agreements between free parties (between the seller and the buyer), neither before the signing of the deal or agreement, nor afterwards, to safeguard any of the parties.
(c) The Ministry of Interior wishes to inform the public that the Ministry is not only studying a new legislation, for a comprehensive amendment of three different laws concerning property registration and building permission procedures, but is also completing the amendment of a fourth law; all four legislative amendments will remedy and provide feasible answers to a number of problems that many buyers in Cyprus have been facing when dealing with matters concerning property and permit procedures. The amendments will be actually a significant reform of the planning system and will largely improve the system of issuing immovable property titles, providing solutions to a lot of the problems of the present system.
(d) The Ministry of Interior wishes to once again advise every future buyer of immovable property, whether a buyer of a part of or of a whole building (whether it be an apartment, a single detached house or a house in a housing complex), to go forward in agreements to acquire immovable property with caution, and after carefully examining the content of the agreement, the guarantees given by the seller for the issuing of the title for the immovable property in a defined period of time, the measures obliging the seller to deliver what has been agreed, whether the property has a planning and building permit etc., with the advice of relevant professionals (a lawyer or an architect). As stated before, it is not possible nor desirable that the Government take on any responsibility as to any of the agreements made between a seller and a buyer, to the benefit of any of the parties concerned.
MINISTRY OF INTERIOR
July 26th, 2009
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