Cyprus Business Sectors
Property and Construction
Building construction plays a major role in Cyprus’ economy. The service sector (which includes tourism) accounts for 79% of GDP and 71% of the labour force are employed in these sectors.
British buyers comprised around 70% of all foreign buyers in Cyprus, but with the UK / World Wide recession, and the weakening of the pound against the euro, as well as lack of legislation to guarantee title deeds to property owners, the number of British property buyers has decreased somewhat, however more Russian and middle eastern buyers recently started seeking cyprus investment property, however the Cyprus Land Registry recently released the information that property sales dropped in the first half of 2009 to 842 properties, whilst the previous year’s equivalent period saw more than 3,800 properties sold.
The submission to parliament of a set of five amending bills on title deeds by Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis in November 2009, if passed by parliament in 2010, may go some way encouraging people to look at property for sale in cyprus. The five draft bills will work with the property amnesty legislation, and will also deal with many other issues, such as adding to the safety of property transactions and solving chronic problems inherited over several decades. The property amnesty legistive aims to ease the bottle-neck of an estimated 130,000 units (houses, flats, hotels) that are currently without title deeds, by providing a town-planning amnesty and strengthening the position of property-buyers when applying for title deeds.
Whilst a few Cyprus property developers and constructors have reported an increase in property sales both to Cypriots and foreigners, many more have seen a huge decrease during 2009.
Potential Cyprus property buyers should also note the following;
On 20th October 2006, the government of the Republic of Cyprus passed Article 303A of the Criminal Code which makes it a felony to buy, rent or sell property in Cyprus without the consent of the registered owner. Cypriot courts have used the law to prosecute people involved in the sale or purchase of property in the area administered by the Turkish Cypriots. The government of Cyprus has also attempted to enforce Cypriot legal judgments in property matters in other EU countries. Cypriot customs authorities routinely detain anyone arriving in Cyprus or crossing the buffer zone found to be in possession of documents relating to property purchases in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. The court ruling in January 2010 that ordered British couple Linda and David Orams to demolosh the villa they had built on land in Lapithos belonging to Greek Cypriot refugee Meletis Apostolides, should serve as a strong warning in this matter.
The Ministry of Communications and Works (Public Works Department) has completed many upgrades of road networks and constructions of new roads, with many other major projects planned such as the construction of a new Nicosia ring road. This is a major infrastructure project aimed at easing the current traffic congestion. A four-lane, 32 km, ring road will connect the Nicosia-Limassol highway to the Nicosia-Troodos motorway, as well as serving as an outlet for the secondary road network.
The Department is responsible for;
• Designing and management of designs that are carried out by the private sector, supervision of construction and maintenance of road works, including motorways and other primary and secondary roads.
• Designing and management of designs that are carried out by the private sector, construction and/or supervision of construction, improvement and maintenance of government buildings.
• Development, improvement, extension and maintenance works of Larnaca and Paphos airports.
• Designing and supervision of construction works for coastline defences and fishing shelters.
• Preparation of traffic studies in urban and rural regions in collaboration with other Government Departments, Local Authorities and Consulting Engineers.
• Design and construction of flood-prevention measures.
• Design, construction and/or supervision of construction of road projects in industrial zones and social housing schemes.
• Maintenance of residences and other buildings in refugee housing schemes as well as supervision of construction of residences that are built as part of the Plan for Self built shelter and issuing of relevant progress certificates.
• Construction and maintenance of defence works and other projects within the Military Camps, as well as repair and maintenance of installations of UN Peace Force in Cyprus.
• Laboratory testing (investigations, trials etc.) of construction materials both for public work and for private projects, in accordance with the relevant specifications.
• Checking of public buildings and of facilities for storing petroleum products, according to the relevant Legislation.
• Review of applications for planning and building permits for land division purposes.
• Examination and resolution of problems / demands of local communities or private individuals resulting from the implementation of road projects.
• Provision of technical advice to other Ministries, Departments, Services, Organisations as well as to private individuals.
• Participation and representation of the Department in various Technical Committees such as the Committee of Cypriot Standards, the Central Committee for Variations and Claims, the Rent Committee, Judging Committees for Architectural Competitions etc.