Janna Fachiridou LLC deals with any matter concerning property in Cyprus, specifically it deals with property acquired by foreign and EU citizens, sale and lease agreements, state administration and planning as well as wills, and preparation of all the nessesary documents for these activites, like contracts and Power of Attorneys.

A contract is an agreement creating obligations enforceable by law. For a contract to be valid some basic principles have to be present, which are, an agreement (offer and acceptance), intention to create legal relations, be in a written form (most of the time but not compulsory in some situations), consideration, mental capacity to form a contract and consent to the agreement which is not given under influence or by force.

Janna Fachiridou law firm has the necessary experience to draft, negotiate and review contracts on your behalf like for example:

     Contracts of Sale. Assignment Contracts

     Rental Agreements

     Appointment of an agent agreements

     Commercial agreements

     Partnership agreements

     Business Agreements

     Confidentiality Agreements

     Work contracts

     Immovable property

a.       Real estate for Eu Citizens

In accordance with the Immovable Land Acquisition Law of 2003, which came into force on the day Cyprus became an EU member on the 1st of May 2004, any EU member State citizen, who has his or her permanent residence in the Republic of Cyprus, as well as any legal entity which was formed according to the legislation of an EU member state and which has its central offices or establishments in the Republic, can acquire any immovable property in Cyprus without the previous approval from the Council of Ministers.

b.      Real estate for non Eu Citizens

The law governing the acquisition of immovable property in Cyprus by foreigners is the Cypriot Acquisition of Immovable Property (Foreigners) Law, Cap. 109 of the Laws of Cyprus (hereinafter referred to as “the Law”), as amended from time to time. 

In regard to non EU citizens, applies the same as the law previously adopted for the acquisition of real estate in, which includes the granting of permission for the acquisition of immovable land by the Council of Ministers, for which all the prefects of each region of Cyprus were vested relevant law.

Non-EU citizens have the right purchase an apartment, or a house or villa which is under construction or built on an area not exceeding 4.014 square meters. Note that such citizens have the right to a limited purchase of real estate per family, only two real estate objects.

According to the Law in Section 2 a foreigner is: “…. Not a citizen of the Republic and includes a company that is controlled from foreigners, a foreign company and a trust in benefit of a foreigner but does not include the following:

1.       Subject to a recent amendment of the above Law a Cyprus Company, regardless of who the shareholder is, does not fall within the above definition and can buy any property in Cyprus. For example a Cyprus Company with a foreigner shareholder can buy any kind and as many immovable properties in Cyprus without the need of the permission of the Council of Ministers.  

Specifically article 2 of the Law now states that a legal entity which is registered according to the Law of a member state of the European Economic Community and has its registered office in a member state, is not considered a foreigner under the Law and thus is not subject to the restrictions of the above Law.

The procedure for purchase of real estate/buying real estate in Cyprus

Either before they have selected a property or right after that, they should to appoint a lawyer. The lawyer will undertake to do the relevant searches of controlling the property for mortgages or other charges, collecting the necessary information, necessary documents, drafting and / or revising the contract.

It is a usual practice in Cyprus to give a reservation deposit on the property so as to remove the property  from the real estate market.

Following is the drafting and signing of the contracts of sale.

After signing the contract of sale, the lawyer of the Purchaser takes the signed contract to the Inland Revenue Department for payment of the stamp duty. Stamp duties depend on the purchase price.

Simultaneously, foreigners, non EU citizens, submit an application to the Council of Ministers for obtaining permission to purchase a real estate.

After paying the stamp duty, contracts of sale must be given by the lawyer of the Purchaser to the Land Registry Department for registration and further actual execution for Specific Performance purposes.

This procedure creates ownership of the acquired property in favor of the purchase for the benefit of the Purchaser until the title deed is transferred onto his name. It is very important to submit a contract of sale for specific performance, especially in the case of the purchase of real estate for which the title has not been issued yet.

If the Immovable property already has Title deed then it is simultaneously transferable onto a Purchaser on the completion of the transaction provided that all obligations and tax payments established by the contract were made/settled by the parties.

The transfer fees depends on the amount of real estate purchase and it should be noted that there is now a 50% discount.

The final steps are the transfer of utility bills to the Purchaser 's name.