Thousands of trapped property buyers in Cyprus could soon be issued with title deeds now that Parliament has almost finalised a proposed bill aiming to overcome existing obstacles.
Following District Court decisions, political parties joined forces with the parliament’s legal experts to prepare a new draft bill which appears to be both constitutionally and legally binding in bridging gaps in the existing legislation.
Debate on the amended draft bill is set to begin on Wednesday so that it goes before the plenary for approval before July 15’s summer recess.
However, Legal Service insiders told Phileleftheros that, at this stage, it would be better if legislation stays as it is because of appeals against the decisions by primary courts.
However, members of the House Legal Affairs Committee believe they should not wait further for any court decision but rather push forward procedures for adopting a law that will remove existing constitutional obstacles.
MPs told Phileleftheros that this issue should be resolved by next month the latest because if the Supreme Court rejects the appeals and accepts the decisions by primary courts, then the procedure will be further blocked. At a time when this has led to the issuing of six thousand titles to trapped property buyers.
Another reason MPs want to settle the issue as soon as possible is legal procedures that are underway abroad. Foreign property buyers in Cyprus are appealing before the European Court of Appeals since they have paid off insolvent developers who never issued them with their titles.
At the same time, insiders said that if strengthened legislation is adopted then this will help mitigate the financial penalty that may be imposed on the Republic of Cyprus. Land Registry officers have already reviewed the provisions in the draft law that will come under discussion next week.
Specifically, some 31,000 properties are without titles today with thousands expected to never secure them.
Read more:
https://in-cyprus.com/ministry-seeking-solutions-for-trapped-buyers/
