Buildings’ amnesty approved, thousands to receive title deeds

Cabinet on Friday approved a planning-permit amnesty plan that is expected to allow thousands of ‘trapped buyers’ to obtain a title deed, after they were unable to do so due to “minor unauthorised constructions” on their property.

Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou made the announcement after the cabinet session, specifying that the revenue generated by the plan will be used to strengthen the government’s housing policy.

“Today’s decision is particularly important for thousands of our fellow citizens who have remained stranded for years without the right to issue property titles due to small-scale unauthorised constructions on their premises.”

The amnesty plan is seen as a way out for these property owners, who will now have a way out of their ‘trapped’ status by paying anywhere from €300 to €3,000 for a title deed, depending on a number of factors including the area in which the property falls.

A number of strict safeguards are being in put in place to reduce abuses of the scheme, Ioannou said. The plan goes into effect immediately and is valid for six months – until March 2025. It will also apply in cases where the unauthorised constructions were carried out on a building that has its permits in order.

The constructions should have been finished before Friday’s date, September 13, and any arbitrary additions to the property should be certified in a sworn statement from a professional surveyor.

Ioannou specified the limited timeframe with which individuals can seek out this ‘amnesty’ serves to ensure that only cases where arbitrary constructions that have already been completed will be examined.

It limits the possibility of individuals building things now that the scheme has been announced in the hopes of benefiting from the ‘amnesty’, he underlined.

Ioannou noted that the scheme would deal with cases such as exceeding the building coefficient, planning deviations, and includes a wide range of construction projects, including residential, industrial, office, livestock and other developments.

According to the minister, the most important aspect of the scheme lies in its link to the housing policy implemented by the government in the past 10 months. This is because any payments made by individuals for the amnesty process will be paid into a special fund to the Cyprus Land Development Corporation (Koag).

This will be chanelled towards building affordable housing. “This means that the revenue will be recouped, will reinforce the state’s efforts to increase affordable housing options and by extension will help meet the housing needs of our socio-economically vulnerable citizens, strengthening the social policy of the government.”

Details of the plan will be posted on the town planning department’s website on Monday and applications will be possible to all district governance authorities.

“I urge our fellow citizens who are affected to study the plan and make use of it within the six-month timeframe, so that they can secure title deeds and free themselves from the deadlock they are in.”