Buying Property/Land Over 1 donum

robbie c


Joined: 07/07/2008
Posts: 176

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 13:22

Just been told by a solicitor via our estate agents that foreigners can now buy 5 donums of land.



We bought 2.2 donums over 5 years ago and was told 1.1 each would be fine, but turns out that the land size has been holding our Kocan up (supposedly). This law changed last week, although our own solicitor is unaware and is looking into!



Also, if we were ever to sell, we wont be restricted by who can buy size wise.



Thats one positive thing out of many negatives.

sparta


Joined: 24/10/2008
Posts: 226

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 13:33

foreigners can now buy up to 5 donums of land each, providing you only build one house on the plot!

cronos


Joined: 26/10/2008
Posts: 2093

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 13:51

Call me a cynic...but why would the TRNC be so keen to quickly offload even more land to foreigners?

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 14:39

chronos,



you really don't need to be a cynic...

remember that 40% of the north's income was from tourism, expats

and land purchases, and badly needs a boost



in order to escape howls of anguish both from the genuine trnc brigade

as well as infiltrators "from down mexico way",

I'd accept that you could lose your shirt, or even lose your pants like brian rix

in the event of an "unfavourable" re-unification agreement should it ever occur

and as well as the increasingly long-winded peace talks,

there are the muddy waters surround the orams claimant and other hopefuls



then again, was it not warren buffet who once said:

"a good investor sells when others are brave, buys when others are fearful"



arnold hammer was in a lift two weeks before the 1929 wall street crash when the attendant told him certain shares were a "safe bet",

and "sure to increase in value"

hammer decided, correctly, that when the bell hop is giving investment advice

it is time to sell up



andre

cronos


Joined: 26/10/2008
Posts: 2093

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 15:33

How about stimulating that badly needed boost by processing Permission To Purchase in 2-3 months instead of 2-3 years ?



This would also speed up all manner of associated tax collection.

joandjelly


Joined: 24/02/2008
Posts: 2953

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 15:39

So is that 5 donums in one go or could you make up 5 donums by buying various properties/land?

I was looking on the internet at land the other day and I'm amazed at how much Turkish Title land is for sale.

cronos


Joined: 26/10/2008
Posts: 2093

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 15:47

joandjelly....is the Turkish Title land still ridiculously expensive?



And do you know if it is for sale by TC's , or Brits who still haven't got PTP?

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 16:16

msg 5



yes you would think so:



the usual story is they are waiting on the army or they haven't the staff



msg 6



yes if it's really original turkish title, or they may well be fibbing their heads off:



and there are numerous cases of turkish republic of northern cyprus title,



well that is "sort of turkish" isn't it?!?



msg 7



sadly, and it probably applies elsewhere, you usually get what you pay for:



so a more apt phrase than "ridiculousy expensive" is "impossibly expensive"





phew! at this rate of knots I'll be joining forces with nice cop turned nasty cop





andre

joandjelly


Joined: 24/02/2008
Posts: 2953

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 17:53

Land that is advertised as original pre-1974 Turkish Title is approx £40-100k per donum depending on where it is located. Large tracts of land are much cheaper but you have to be able to buy all of it. Esquare is one agent that seems to have a lot of land for sale.

sparta


Joined: 24/10/2008
Posts: 226

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 17:56

you can buy up to 5 Donums, but it can only be one plot and one house on that plot, not lots of smaller plots, to make up the 5 Donums

CJtill


Joined: 02/05/2008
Posts: 836

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 19:36

This will of course change under a new government, but whatever happens you still wont get your Kocan.

With the current situation in Cyprus I would suggest anyone buying property at present has more money than sense or, believes that it is a safer bet than keeping it in a UK bank.

Howmuchlonger


Joined: 08/11/2008
Posts: 61

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 20:49

I was told that the amount of land a foreigner could buy had been increased as well so I asked Tugce at the Property Information office and this is her reply:

"UPON YOUR REQUEST WE HAVE INVESTIGATED THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE APPLICATION NUMBERED xx/xx. THE RELEVANT CORRESPONDENCE HAS BEEN COMPLETED AND IT IS WAITING REPLY FROM BOTH MILITARY AND LAND REGISTRY AUTHORITIES AT THE MOMENT. ACCORDING TO THE PTP OFFICE, THERE IS NOT SUCH INFORMATION GIVEN TO PTP OFFICE REGADING THE CHANGE IN LAW ALLOWING FOREIGNERS PURCHASE MORE THAN 1 DONUM". So even it it's true, they haven't told the Permissions office so you'll not be able to get permission to purchase any more than 1 donum! You've gotta love 'em !

cooper


Joined: 23/10/2007
Posts: 3386

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 21:06

Hi robbie c, explained here - http://nmplegal.com/news.php



Cooper

juliet


Joined: 11/01/2009
Posts: 612

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 21:41

considering there is only a small minority of tcs with original kochans surely by now there land has all been sold in the last 34yrs, so what does that tell you.. & who`s land is being sold now.......................... was amazed on sunday to see sooo many houses only half built & the remainder empty! again whos land.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
17/02/2009 23:07

did you go to southern spain juliet? huge expanses of abandoned developments

a lady in our office lost her £130,000 "upfront" money

when the builder went bust or at least that is their story

tens of thousands suffered this way in southern and in eastern europe



in the uk, emigration has fallen from 400,000 to 300,000 each year

but only because people are finding their perfectly legal homes unsaleable



as regards getting something paid out for all the cypriots who lost houses

why don't you petition your authorities to compromise and stop play-acting?

otherwise the suspiciously long drawn-out talks are absolutely sure to fail

your lot was offered guzelyurt and varosha in 2004, now this offer's cancelled



what you see as your people's natural right will become less and less credible

with each succeeding generation: not very nice for you

but I am reliably informed that the real world has always operated this way



andre

juliet


Joined: 11/01/2009
Posts: 612

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 14:48

andre 514



What on earth has Spain got to do with North Cyprus & the Cyprus land issue??



"Our lot" your words! were offered varosha & famagusta! how can you offer something to some one that is already theres............

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 16:32

thanks for your reply juliet



one way to "get back" former gc property is to hobble the trnc economy

by the isolations as well as by scaring off british buyers

I think such a "plan" amounts to self-deception, but I could be wrong



in spain there is the parallel problem of "when good holiday homes go bad"

but again will deliver precious little redress for those who claim to have lost out



I would say two things about guzelyurt and varosha:



the trnc made this generous offer in 2004 as part of the annan proposals

which as you know were rejected by one side...

we have moved on but now the north is unwilling to put these territories on the table while southern politicians want them handed over at once, irrespective of any general settlement that may be signed later



greek cypriots have ownership in a particular legal sense:

I do respect your beliefs and viewpoint concerning these rights,

but this ownership is in reality unuseable



compromise is one way forward



andre

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 21:03

oh and my colleague mentioned in msg 15 above is half spanish,

has family in spain, was planning to retire to spain and STILL got ripped off



and having paid all that money still doesn't own anything at all even on paper



andre

WAZ-24-7



Joined: 18/10/2008
Posts: 695

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 21:15

andre Msg 17



Valid point.

The Anan deal of 2004 offered significant hand over of land to ROC.

The deal was rejected by ROC. This in my view was a grave mistake.

The international community, after Anan, offered more sympathy with TRNC because they gave the plan the YES vote.



Consequently the TRNC experienced a boom, particularly property.

The ROC, having now recognised this have since 2005 attempted to attack the TRNC via civil litigations in their own District Courts.



The ROC hand continues to be erroded. There is currently another chance to settle. Will they display prudence, accept reality and negotiate and settle accordingly?

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 21:38

msg 19



typically sensible contribution from warren



in all fairness though we are yet to learn the final "outcome" of litigation

that could to drag on for far far longer than my time on this planet

just like the abu katada case it may go on and on

but end in results result that neither side was really hoping for...



in a cyprus context the wiser alternative is a compromise settlement

but this seems totally beyond reach:

in international talks it is usual for backroom officials to map out an agreement, statesmen only arriving fora photo-call and signing at the end

I'd like to misquote harold pinter's character "spooner" in "no man's land":

"it wasn't what he said so much as the way he sat"

as

"it wasn't what they said so much as the time they sat"



ah but then again we outsiders are told it is all very complicated and difficult



andre

juliet


Joined: 11/01/2009
Posts: 612

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 21:41

waz



The majority of people said no to the Annan mainly due to the land problem, ie, most of the refugees would not have been able to go back to there villages as most of the gc villages are now occupied by settlers! Annan is the past hopefully the new talks will be fair to both tcs & gcs....

WAZ-24-7



Joined: 18/10/2008
Posts: 695

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 22:47

Juliet msg 21.



I am afraid that fairness will not be a subject discussed by either side accross the negotiation table.

Both sides have a specific agenda and a number of cards to play.

It is my view that the ROC hand is somewhat weaker than it was in 2004.

Time is the ROC nemesis . If current talks fail this time then I dare say there will be no winners. I predict that it would be many years before a resumption of fresh talks. The ROC will gain nothing and TRNC will capitalise and progress slowly towards acceptance.

rowlo



Joined: 12/10/2008
Posts: 4796

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 23:05

good point waz, but would be better if turkey side step the ec for the time being ,the euro is no good for tourism at the moment,and turkey has a strong tourism industry,cyprus will suffer tourism cash this summer south more than north me thinks ??

WAZ-24-7



Joined: 18/10/2008
Posts: 695

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 23:28

Rowlo msg 23,

Thank you for your comment.



Turkey is already somewhat linked to the European community. Much of their GDP is provided by exports into Europe.

I have been doing buisness in Turkey for several years and the preffred buisness currency has, for several years been the Euro. The tenuous links are there.

The economic conections are omnipresent and both Europe and Turkey have a great deal to gain by pursuing the road to union.

rowlo



Joined: 12/10/2008
Posts: 4796

Message Posted:
18/02/2009 23:57

waz youre obviously better informed than most on this subject please keep us informed??

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 01:00

you may believe turkey into the eu, is a shoe-in

but a lot of commentators see the present barriers as insurmountable,

in turkey the well-informed are saying 15-20 years at least



a lot of the eu-talk is bolstered by the illusion that turkey's

has as good as joined the eu:

and the cyprus issue therefore must be close to a resolution

am I really the only person on '44 who thinks the facts suggest otherwise?

south cyprus joined ok even though the island was still partitioned



turkey has had an association agreement with the eu for twenty years, and

there's a so-called accession process...inching on with much recrimination,

and IMHO unlikely to hit pay dirt any time soon



andre

fire starter


Joined: 19/06/2008
Posts: 3401

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 08:32

which agent said you could now buy 5 donums?

andre 514


Joined: 31/03/2008
Posts: 1163

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 08:53

fs,



you will find links to a reference about a trnc change of regulations

which the property office are stll unaware of



with all due respect to estate agents who are fine fellows,

if they said white was white and black was black I wouldn't believe them



somewhere in the statement it says it is because larger houses may have

bigger pieces of land around them their sales prospects were harmed



andre

fire starter


Joined: 19/06/2008
Posts: 3401

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 09:00

their sales prospects were harmed.

please don't make me laugh.

i think a combination of this goverment and gary rob did that!

i guess all those innocent agents didn't do anything?

robbie c


Joined: 07/07/2008
Posts: 176

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 12:14

Msg 27



The Estate Agents that told me are Ian Smiths. They were told by Naomi Mehmets office (don't know who they are) who said it has been published in the official gazette and she sent a newsletter out about it. Our own solicitor Okray Law Firm, rang the ministry of interior who said there is such a law but it hasnt been enforced yet.



What chance do we have if even the solicitors cant agree on whats law!

fire starter


Joined: 19/06/2008
Posts: 3401

Message Posted:
20/02/2009 08:19

robbie

a tc friend recently told me that all new laws are published in some sort of journal /news paper,which is only for sale to advocates.

maybe this is correct then?