WITHOUT PREJUDICE
When buying in North Cyprus it was always advised you buy British Title or pre 74 Turkish Title. This then was legislated against and although pre 74 was still being sold to foreigners they could not longer obtain PTP, so could not own it.
“Safe” Pre-74 title deed scam, TRNC expats go to ECHR
Friday, February 4, 2011 by Anon
Worthless!”For those who have already purchased properties overlooking Military establishments and for those who have purchased pre ’74 title and not yet received your Permission to Purchase, my condolences. You are fellow victims of the Property Scam here in the TRNC.
The Agents who sold you these properties would surely have been aware of the situation and I am sure would have made you fully aware of the problems, wouldn’t they. They most certainly would not have been ‘commission’ driven, would they? Both of these questions are rhetorical.
You will not receive Permission to Purchase on land too near or overlooking Military land. Those of you who have purchased property on such land are in the unenviable position of having a very limited resale market, if indeed you can resell at all. The only people who can buy and obtain title deeds are Turkish Cypriots. I am sure this was explained to you by your trustworthy Estate Agent/seller, wasn’t it?
Before you say, why didn’t she publish this article years ago. The answer is simple, until I became a fellow victim, I too was clueless. I am trying to come to terms with the shambles that is the Property Market and all it’s twists and turns.
Land with pre ’74 title is something else. Before the law was changed and foreigners were no longer ‘allowed’ to purchase such land, many expatriates did indeed purchase and are in receipt of their title deeds. You then have to ask yourself, why was this changed? I honestly do not have a clue. I can guess however, and I am sure some of you been have thinking along the same lines. If we can no longer own pre ’74 land, which is 100% safe land, does this mean that the TRNC GOVERNMENT know that some time in the future all the land we have been allowed to purchase, i.e. Greek/ Cypriot land WILL it revert back to it’s original owners? Land that WE were assured it was SAFE to purchase, I make no accusations you understand, just asking the very relevant question??
Mr. Talat the former President and Mr. Rauf Denktaš the Founding President are reported to have advised those of you who have purchased pre ’74 title and are awaiting Permission to Purchase or have been refused Permission to Purchase on your pre ’74 title land to take your case to the ECHR at Strasbourg. Both are legally knowledgeable men, they would not have offered such advice lightly.
Mr Hasan Sungur, perhaps it is time that a directive is sent to your Members, i.e. Estate Agents, the directive to read: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL YOU SELL pre ’74 title land or land near or overlooking Military Establishments to foreigners. For those of you who have already bought, what can you do? It seems the answer is nothing as the Government cannot or will not make any law retrospective nor it seems allow the Police to take action against those that misled you.”
We also read recently in Cyprus Today that Dr Celebi from the Ministry of the Interior was taking measures to make PTP’s available on land close to Military installations sold to hapless foreign purchasers. Let us hope this information is more reliable than the information she gave to Pauline Read when she visited her office and was told ‘do not worry’. It was later revealed (although not to Ms Read) that her PTP file had been handed to (at their request) a member of the Bank family, the reason allegedly given for handing over this file was ‘Ms Read had been saying bad things about the UBP party’. An allegation Ms Read allegedly refutes.
Remember when Mr Denktas and Mr Talat joined forces in advising those who had been refused PTP to take their case to Europe.
I have just seen the comment below posted on the other stinc page and, if it is true, then the need to take you case to the ECHR is no longer necessary. As with the two tier ‘transfer fee’ this law was also open to accusations of racism and if it has been repealed then it is a good thing:
“Having owned a 1974 international Title property for 8 years I decided to go to the ministry to see how things were progressing with the PTP. We dont have the luxury of residing in North Cyprus. I was most surprised to learn that the recent change in law forbidding purchase of pre1974 property by brits had been repealed. Presumably as the Government needs some coffers. The official completed an application for me, which as far as I am aware should now be successful. Well I wont be holding my breath but there us a big downside as i will have to cough up the property taxes. ouch!”
As with every quote, the errors have not been changed.
Anon
Recent Comments