North Cyprus plans to tighten the rules for the sale of real estate to foreigners. The Prime Minister of the TRNC, Unal Ustel, in his speech at the session of the Assembly of the Republic announced that new legal regulations are being adopted in this area.
The reason for the amendments was the increase in the number of land sales in Northern Cyprus to Israeli citizens. Interior Minister Dursun Oguz said that two bills are being prepared for the purchase of real estate by foreigners.
Over the past 5 years, 14.6 thousand permits were issued to foreigners to buy real estate. Only 5,375 of them were directed to formalize the title deeds. Thus, the Council of Ministers does not know who owns land plots and residential properties.
“In the law we have prepared, foreigners will be given a period of 6 months. If they do not make the ownership document, the Council of Ministers’ permits will be canceled,” Oguz said.
The permits will take into account the nationality of the foreigner, the area of the plot and its location.
In addition, it is planned to prohibit developers from selling housing to foreigners who have not obtained a permit. In practice, a foreign citizen applies for a permit and signs a sales contract before receiving a response. The new law will help to protect the interests of the buyer, because when receiving approval, facts may be discovered that do not allow the foreigner to formalize the ownership of real estate. But such a solution has disadvantages, because the terms of issuance of authorization are up to one and a half years. Realtors ask to reduce this period to 2 months.
