Ministry seeking solutions for trapped buyers

The Finance Ministry is in contact with banks and land developers as it seeks a final solution to the problem of trapped property buyers.

Previous efforts have stumbled in the courts which ruled the law unconstitutional, forcing the government to draft a new bill so that trapped buyers — whose property is mortgaged by land developers even though they have paid for it — can finally get their title deeds.

The basic philosophy of the new bill is that there should be consensus among all parties from the beginning of the procedure so that an owner who bought a property in good faith and paid should obtain the title deed.

Affected parties are expected to submit their proposals on the draft bill after the summer holidays with the government aiming to exhaust all possibilities of dialogue before it is tabled in the House with the hope that it can then secure a quick passage.

The target is for the bill to be approved before the end of the year. Bills submitted by AKEL on the same issue are already pending before the House which is also looking for ways to resolve the problem.

Political parties want the issue closed before the end of the year as thousands of property owners are affected and have indicated that they will press ahead with their own proposal if there is further delay.

According to  statistics from the Department of  Land and Surveys about 28,000 properties are affected.