The Cyprus Title Deeds Problem Makes it Onto the UK Prime Minister’s E-petition Website

Whether you’re a Cypriot or an ex-pat yourrecently in the Cyprus Press and questions have been
property in Cyprus might be at risk in this recession -tabled in the UK House of Lords.
even if you’ve paid for it in full! 
Why? Because many thousands of Cyprus residentsThe petition reads:
don’t yet have their title deeds.We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to exert
So, what’s the problem? Many propertypressure on the Government of Cyprus to protect
developers don’t start the process of getting titleproperty rights in Cyprus in compliance with Article 17
deeds issued because they can still use the landof the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
they’ve been paid for as security for loans. In theCyprus is mis-described as having a property
current economic situation, if they went bust, the bankregistration and ownership system based on the British
they borrowed from has legal title to the land – andLegal System. In fact it’s based on archaic Turkish
all of the property standing on it. So, if you owned alaw which allows the removal property ownership
property, you might find yourself having to pay off therights from both Cyrus and foreign nationals.
developer’s loan – if you could afford it – inIt works like this: The developer builds a property, sells
order to get back into your own house.it, is paid in full and releases the property without
To try to get the problem solved there’s a petitionproviding final title deeds. They are only issued by the
on the No. 10 e-petitions website asking the Primelocal authority if the developer applies for completion
Minister, Gordon Brown, to get the Cyprusand has met all of the planning requirements for the
Government to solve the problem.project. Until they are issued the developer can use
If you want to sign it go to:the land as collateral for further loans!
There has been a lot of publicity about this issue