08 | INDUSTRY
NEWS By Amit Katwala
CYPRUS’ new title deed legislation can only be “good news” for everyone, according to the managing director of developers Alpha Panareti, Andreas Ioannou. Speaking exclusively to OPP, Ioannou
said: “Many UK buyers have been caught in a trap, where their builder used the land deeds as a security against loans for the property being constructed. It’s vital that buyers understand that, provided their Contract of Sale for a property has been properly registered at the Land Registry, they have the absolute right of ‘First Call’ on the property. He added: “This is a great advance in
client protection and I hope that it will reassure future buyers.’’ Another benefi t to the purchaser is
increased freedom in fi nancing, according to Ioannou. He said: “In the past, where a buyer took out a local mortgage loan, he could not easily change this to a different bank at a later date, if concerned about interest rates or better deals. Now, the borrower is entitled to manage and change his funding arrangements as he wishes, provided all outstanding debts are settled.” However, some have argued that the
new legislation does not go far enough, and leaves loopholes that unscrupulous
www.opp.org.uk | JUNE 2011 New Cyprus rules ‘good news for all’
Sale. The second area is an old situation where a developer has taken out a loan with a third party, using the Title Deeds as security and then failed to complete the building and the bank then refuses to release the Title Deed to the owners. Again, the buyer now comes fi rst.” “And the third area of delay to
receiving the fi nal, individual Title Deeds is the most common one, caused simply by government bureaucracy.
Following Shoddy construction | has been just one issue facing property buyers in Cyprus
developers could exploit. Nigel Howarth, the editor of Cyprus Property News, doesn’t believe the rulings will make much difference. Speaking exclusively to OPP, he said: “Some parts are good, but other parts are no good at all.” One permanent provision allows
for the issuing of a certifi cate of non- authorised works for properties with planning irregularities, which eventually allows the owner to get title deeds, but with a note prohibiting the voluntary transferring or burdening of the property. Howarth believes this means that the property will not be able to be legally bought or sold, and thus that this provision is of “no real benefi t”. However, Ioannou disagrees. He told OPP: “The ‘Title Deeds Problem’ fell
into three distinct categories, all of which have been resolved by the new law. Area number one was with the ‘rogue’ development companies themselves. It was found that many of these were building poor quality properties that did not conform to the planning permission given, or properties that had been extended far beyond the original registered plans, thus not qualifying to receive the Title Deeds. Or they used those Deeds illegally as collateral for a loan, lodging them with the bank as security. Or even went bankrupt or disappeared halfway through the building process, having taken money from the buyer. That buyer now comes fi rst and is entitled to receive his property, provided he has a registered Contract of
the property boom in recent years, a bad bottleneck was created at the Land Registry itself, which had wonderfully modern technology to record everything, but no staff to make it happen. This resulted in delays of 4 to 5 years from completion of a property to the issuing of the individual Title Deed.” “As a part of the new legislation,
the government has taken measures to resolve this and speed up the administrative process, by cutting the old bureaucracy, as well as re-organising staffi ng.” “As a result, Title Deeds are already
being issued faster, after 12 to 18 months from completion and we expect this to improve still further.” “It’s taken several years to get to this
point, but we hope that we can now stop seeing headlines about Cyprus’ Title Deed Fiasco and encourage buyers to return to our beautiful island.’’
Quarterly price data from Europe’s markets
EU member states will be required to publish comparable national residential property price indices on a quarterly basis from Q2 2012, if draft legislation is passed. This new requirement will come as part of efforts by the EU to harmonise
consumer price indices across all the member states, in order to have an accurate measure of inflation. Some member states are already preparing for the change. Ireland’s Central Statistics Office last week launched a new monthly residential
property price index to comply with the new EU data requirement. Paul Crowley, press offi cer at CSO, told OPP that the consumer price indices across the member states were about 90% harmonised, and that this move would bring everything a step closer. The
SINGAPORE ACTION ON UP
SINGAPORE recorded 1,788 home sales in April, as property activity in the city rocketed 29% year-on- year to reach a fi ve-month high. With an annual growth rate projected at 23.5% for Q1, local rules to calm down the market have failed, mainly because they are too short term says local agents. 2,049 units were launched, a 64% rise on March.
draft is still at a very early stage in the process required for it to become law, and is yet to receive a code. It is currently known by its unoffi cial
name, Technical manual on owner- occupied housing for Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices.
LONDON RENT RISE AGAIN
RENT in London went up by 0.4% in April, the 20th consecutive month of increases, according to Knight Frank research. The annual growth rate now stands at 16.3%, and there are fears that people could be priced out of the rental market. According to the report, it costs 25% more to become a tenant in London than it did in June 2009.
NEWS
TICKER
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