How to buy property in Cyprus

• Reservation of the property
• Opening a bank account to a Cyprus bank
• Signing the Contract of Sale
• Stamp Duty
• Deposit the contract of sale to the office of land registry

Legal Safeguards to buy property in Cyprus

The following 6 questions and answers are very important for every real estate buyer in Cyprus.

1) The property has any memo to the land registry office?

• If the property has memo to the land registry office, the seller cannot transfer the title deeds to the buyer name

2) The property has mortgage? If yes, what is the amount of mortgage?

• If the property has mortgaged the mortgage must to be lower than the selling price. With the signing the contract of sale the seller must clear the property from any amount of mortgage

3) The property has building permission from Cyprus authorities?

• Without building permission from the Cyprus authorities the property (Home, flat) is not legal, because the Cyprus authorities can do any changes to the architecture plans according to the law.

4) Has title deed?

• If the property is over 5 years old and there no title deeds, then is high risk to buy such a property without title deeds. Usually, the title deeds are issued within 3 years from the delivery day of the property.

5) The title deed is available for transfer to the buyer name?

• Another very important element is if the seller can transfer the title deeds to the buyer’s name, because the seller he must to pay all taxes (Tax authorities) for the specific property and to have up to date tax clearance document ready to deposit to the office of land registry.

6) If the property doesn’t have title deeds why and when will be issued?

• If the properties are under construction don’t have title deeds. The properties must to be ready for delivery and the Cyprus authorities to check the property (Block of Flats or Homes) if it was everything according to the building permissions and to the law. If everything it was according to the building permissions the seller must to have from the Cyprus authorities the writing final approval for the property.

How to be secure for buying a property in Cyprus

The Cyprus legal system safeguards the buyers rights in many ways. For the buyer’s protection, once the contract of sale has been signed and the first agreement amount % has be paid (Usually is 40% from agreement price), the Land Registry offices in Cyprus offers a simple and effective legal instrument called the Specific Performance. With this procedure the buyers protect the ownership rights until the title deed to be issue from Land Registry Office and to be transferred to their names. Usually for the Land Registry Office to issue the title deeds, the procedure is taken up to 2 years from delivery day of the property. After deposit the contract of sale in the Land Registry Office no one cannot withdrawn the contract of sale except from the buyer (New owner) and therefore, the property cannot be rented, sold, transferred or mortgaged to someone else. The only person that can change this status is the buyer!!!!

Summarizing, after signing, the contract of sale must to be deposit to the Land Registry Office. For the contract of sale to be officially for deposit in the Land Registry office needed

• Signing the contract of sale from both parties (Seller and buyer)
• Stamp Duty

Our office Andreas Efthimiou Real Estates Agents Ltd offers step by step the procedure to our clients.

What taxes i have to pay for buying a property in Cyprus?

STAMP DUTY

Stamp duty is one time paid and is always responsibility of the buyer to pay the stamp duty which levied on the purchase of property in Cyprus. The rates are dependent on the contract of sale purchase price and the payment is due and must be paid within 30 days of signing the contract of sale. The amount is always payable to the Cyprus tax authorities.

Please note, by the Cyprus law the maximum Stamp Duty amount is €20,000.

TRANSFER FEES - For resale properties in Cyprus

Please note: No transfer fees on new properties with V.A.T

The buyer will be liable to pay the bellow transfer fees to the Land registry Office for the property acquired, when this is registered in his/her or company name at the Land Registry Office. The transfer fees are charged, on the property market value at the year which is writing on the contract of sale. Sometimes the Land Registry Office they estimate on different higher price the properties if the property value (The day of signing the contract of sale) is lower than the value of the estimate valuation of the real estate market at the day of signed.

The rates above apply per person. If the property has more than one name (Owners) the transfer fees are estimated with the price divided by two.

Important Note regarding a new law of Cyprus: The legislation provides for an exemption of 50% of the Land Registry transfer fees.

CYPRUS IMMOVABLE PROPERTY TAX

Immovable Property Tax is €0 as from 1 January 2017 until today.

CAPITAL GAINS TAX - Selling Property in Cyprus

Capital Gains Tax on a selling is approximately 20% on gains arising from the disposal of property by each individual person. The amount of € 17,000 is tax-free only for the first sale of real estate in Cyprus.

LOCAL AUTHORITY TAX

Property taxes are payable annually for the property on the municipality which is located the property. The tax covers the cost of garbage disposal, street lighting, etc. Approximately the cost is €190 a year!

COMMUNAL EXPENSES (Maintenance)

Are payable if the property is in a complex or is an apartment on a building with common expenses with lift, cleaning of the building, lights etc. If the Cyprus property is a private property such as home, villa and is not in a real estate complex, the owner don't have to pay for maintenance. They have to pay for the government fees as mentioned above about local authority tax.

Communal expenses (Maintenance) cover the cost of cleaning and maintaining the project or the building communal areas such as gardens, swimming pool, management fees and repairs. These are payable at fixed amount intervals throughout the year and vary from development to development and from building to building.

Properties in Cyprus

If you would like to buy property in Cyprus, you can visit the below webpages and to choose the ideal property for you.

Properties in Limassol

Properties for sale in Limassol, Apartments for sale in Limassol, Houses for sale in Limassol

Properties in Larnaca

Properties for sale in Larnaca, Apartments for sale in Larnaca, Houses for sale in Larnaca

Properties in Paphos

Properties for sale in Paphos, Apartments for sale in Paphos, Houses for sale in Paphos