Seldemosa
A case, of vital importance to all purchasers of property in Cyprus. It is essential that all owners of immovable property know and understand not only their obligations but also their legal rights as owners of immovable property in Cyprus.
Recently, G KOUZALIS LLC had a profound victory in the lawsuit with action number 1472/2011 at the Famagusta District Court under the company name Seldemosa.
Our legal team fought this case on behalf of our clients, who purchased a property and sought their title deeds. A court order was filed ordering the issuance of the title deeds on behalf of our client, however, a local bank issued a temporary court order to prohibit the transfer of the deeds after we have launched the contract with the land registry. There was no connection of the money owed and this property. The original owner (Developer) owed the bank for some other matter, and the bank tried to link the property with other loans.
Due to the existence of two opposing court orders, the officer from the District Land Registry Office requested the court to give instructions how to proceed. The court following the hearing decided the following:
“The Contract of Sale, as an encumbrance created earlier than the temporary Court Order (which was prohibiting the sale of the property) precedes the 2nd prohibition and it has priority over it”.
In simple terms, the court rules that the purchaser cannot be prevented from taking full title deeds of the property, because the order to prohibit the transfer came after the deposition of the contract of sale, according to the ‘Sale of Property (Specific performance) Law 2011, Article 8 (1).
Therefore as long as your contract is registered before any prohibition orders, loans, memos or other encumbrances, by banks, or tax authorities you cannot be prohibited from taking your title deeds.
If you would like any further information or would like advise on how to proceed, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Title Deeds
Every owner of property in Cyprus at some point will come into possession of their title deeds. The title deed is an official document issued by the district land registry office, and it is your official proof that you are the registered owner of the property. The title deed contains information relating to your property: its location, its size, its rites of passage, limitations, 1980s values, current market value, plot size, property size, share of communal property.
The title deed is normally transferred at such time, that your developer (if you have one) has completed all the necessary work and provided all the necessary documents and certificates to the district land registry office enabling them to proceed with the separation of the ‘project’. At this point, all bills must be paid in full to enable to transfer to take place.
Several developers on the East Coast, are working tirelessly in order to comply with all local and national legislation and to proceed with the issuance of the title deeds in the names of their clients. We applaud these actions.
Due to the 2011 amnesty law a large number of title deeds are ready and the title deeds have already been issued. Notwithstanding, as a result of the 2015 legislation, we expect a greater number, if not all title deeds will be issued by the end of 2016.