Hauled back into court – Geoff and Mary Day are facing up to a fresh legal battle with their builder. They won their two year legal battle against their builder but he appealed within the 15 days allowed – something the couple did not know about for nearly four months. Mrs Day is now set to fly back to fight the appeal case, which has already been adjourned three times in their absence. Mr Day is not well enough to fly back, something the couple blame on the fact he had to surrender his passport for the duration of his criminal case. Marian Stokes : “Why was the builder allowed to appeal? He didn’t turn up to the court on the day. They had won their civil case, had been cleared of criminal charges and were relaxed. And now here they are, having to start all over again.”Raw sewage polluting our waters – Sea water near Girne’s Dome Hotel has been found to be teeming with E coli bacteria, according to laboratory tests. Yacht Entrepreneurs Union leader Faik Gencer took a sample of water to be analysed after speaking out about what he said was raw sewage being pumped into the sea by Girne Municipality. He claimed the municipality was discharging untreated sewage every couple of days from a new underground pipe beside the Dome Hotel, close to where people swim.
Kulaksız: Court hears from loan bank boss – The boss of a bank which is trying to evict British expats from the properties they bought in Karșıyaka has said that he didn’t have any bad intentions. Mehmet Kader, a director of Akfinans Bank, said it had paid out about £450,000 – including taxes – after a mortgage on the land taken out by the builder at 250% interest was not paid. He told Girne District Court yesterday that the bank had tried to come to an arrangement with the buyers, who, he claimed, had known about the unpaid mortgage since 2007 but had done nothing to deal with the issue. Mr Kader rejected claims that the bank acted in a fraudulent manner when it gave a 100,000 TL mortgage to Abdurrahman Gũney, boss of Kulaksız Construction in November 2005, when some residents had already started living at the site. He also refused a suggestion that the 250% interest rate flouted a Central Bank set limit of mortgage interest of up to 35% on TL loans introduced in April 2005.
The mortgage classed the land as ‘bare’ and Mr Kader said that until the properties were registered, and building permits taken out, that was the case. He said a building permit was applied for in 2007, after the mortgage was taken out. Mr Kader said at the time of the mortgage, the bank was given two title deeds, both in the name of Yűksel Yılmaz and which “clearly showed the property as being bare land”. “We sent experts to draw up a report. Our experts report showed that the land was worth £300,000. We had seen that there were some buildings being constructed at the time. The valuation was done prior to November 11 2005 before the date of the loan. Once we realised that the first repayment had not taken place, we sent out a letter in January 2006 reminding them of their obligations. This was two months after the loan had been given.”
Boysan Bora, on behalf of the buyers fighting to stop the sale of the homes they bought, suggested the bank was aware of the residents existence when it gave the loan and was “legally obliged” to alert the Land Registry of any changes to immovable property. “Mr Kader, ignorance of the law is no defence,” he said. “You did not notify the Land Registry. When giving a mortgage, you are supposed to declare any changes to the property.”
There were two hearings in the case this week, much of the focus being on whether Akfinans bosses knew that the homes were being lived in when it gave the mortgage. On Tuesday Gűrkan Haksever, Korinia Estate Agents said that in December 2005 he had emailed buyers Brian and Margaret Freeman photos of their property, for which they had signed a contract of sale in May 2004. “There were people living on the site when I went there to take the photos. I know this because I ended up talking with the neighbours on the site.” The case continues.
Doctors happy at Denktaş progress – Mr Denktaş has now been moved out of the intensive care unit. He made his first statement since falling ill and thanked well wishers both in Turkey and the TRNC.
Deadline looms for claims on property – The Greek Cypriot solicitor involved in the high profile Orams case has told his countryfolk that it is their “patriotic duty” to put property claims in through the TRNC’s Immovable Property Commission. He urged them to get their applications in quickly before the current remit of IPC runs out in December.
Recent Comments