Application process  for buildings’ amnesty open next week

‘Trapped buyers’ with unauthorised constructions who are eligible for the building amnesty will be able to apply from next week, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Monday.

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

Speaking to CyBC, Ioannou said that the administrative decree approved by the cabinet would go into immediate effect, without going to parliament as it is not a law.

“This was a decision by the ministry, and we brought it up to the cabinet, it is an administrative decree,” he said.

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.

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 Friday, September 13, and any arbitrary additions to the property should be certified in a sworn statement from a professional surveyor.

The plan covers residential, industrial, office developments, and some recreational centres (bars, restaurants, etc).

He added that the goal is that after the six months, the district governance authorities, with their surveillance sectors in a developed stage, will begin inspections of sub-structures and, where there are illegalities, proceed with complaints.