RoC Legal lifeline for property buyers

wanderer


Joined: 05/02/2009
Posts: 1653

Message Posted:
01/11/2010 09:20

Under a 2005 European Union directive on consumer protection that became Cyprus law in 2007, property buyers whose purchase was encumbered by a developer’s mortgage or other charge without their knowledge, can make a claim for misselling. If upheld, that claim would see the original purchase agreement declared void.The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 29/2005/EC, which was introduced into Cyprus law as Law 103(I)/2007 on July 18, 2007, states that it is a violation for a business to omit or hide material facts from buyers, which if had been made known, would have influenced the buyer’s purchasing decision.

A question to the European Commission tabled in the European Parliament (EP) last week by British MEP Daniel Hannan says that “it is clearly a material fact that the property being purchased has a developer’s mortgage on it, and that in the event of the developer being forced into liquidation, buyers could potentially lose their homes.

wanderer


Joined: 05/02/2009
Posts: 1653

Message Posted:
01/11/2010 09:21

The property market in Cyprus, which practically stagnated when the economic crisis hit home, has noticeably failed to recover in areas such as Paphos that have previously relied on British nationals buying holiday or retirement homes.

A major factor in this absence of recovery is a growing awareness of the long-standing legal and bureaucratic mess surrounding the issuing of title deeds, compounded by an increasing number of reports of sharp practice by developers, lawyers, estate agents and banks.

The British High Commission in Cyprus and a number of British MPs have been inundated with complaints from British nationals relating to the purchase of property in Cyprus. The current UK government is aware of those problems, and recently recommended to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that it investigates the question of misselling in relation to EU directive 29/2005/EC.

Full article

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/legal-lifeline-property-buyers/20101031