EU Court Rules for Demolition of Northern Cypriot Property

Brace yourself if you've bought a property in Northern Cyprus - a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice means that thousands of property owners may be in danger of losing their homes in the occupied areas of Northern Cyprus, or at least being liable to pay compensation.

The court upheld a previous ruling ordering a U.K. couple, Linda and David Orams, to demolish their house in Northern Cyprus.

It is unlikely that the ruling will be enacted because the land is under Turkish Cypriot control, but it means that the plaintiff, Mr. Apostolides, can now pursue a claim for compensation from the Orams through the UK courts.

Full details of the ruling can be found on the site here. 

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AIPP Awaits Policy on Northern Cyprus

As a bit of an addendum to the previous piece on Northern Cyprus, it is interesting to see that the AIPP are formulating a strategy on how they should handle queries relating to the region. The association has sought opinion from a senior barrister in London regarding how it should position its stance on this very sensitive issue. The associations says: "The AIPP is aiming to formulate a policy on the region, which best serves the interests of all potential purchasers and the industry and is in line with the organisation’s remit to ensure its members work honestly, legally and professionally."

Now one question has to rear its head. If the AIPP, a professional body which is involved daily in the legal aspects of property sale across the globe, is unable to formulate a policy on the situation in Northern Cyprus, how can anyone in their right mind justify purchasing a property there under any circumstances. Yet they are. UK citizens are particularly attracted to the area (as they are to the neighbouring south of the island in fairness), but just because property is cheap does not make it a bargain.

If you don't know much about this issue and are considering purchasing property in Northern Cyprus then you should brush up your knowledge of the very famous Oram's case, in which a British couple were ordered by an EU court to return the property on which their villa was built to its owner prior to the Turkish invasion of 1974.

For a brief overview of the Oram's case take a look at this piece from the Telegraph. The piece is from 2006 and the Oram's are still fighting to have the ruling overturned.

The aim of this snippet is not to argue the pros and cons of what is going on in Northern Cyprus, these are matters for a court of law, it is merely to tell people considering investing in Northern Cyprus how much unwanted hassle they could well be bringing on themselves by considering the TRNC as a property destination until the issue of land title has been fully resolved there.

The AIPP decision on its stance on the TRNC is available at www.Aipp.org.uk.

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Northern Cyprus Mortgages

I'm not sure how many of you will have spotted that Global Mortgages Direct (GMD) in Kilkenny announced a few weeks ago that they would be launching mortgages for those looking to buy property in Northern Cyprus.

Now quite apart from the obvious problem with title deeds here (if you don't know much about this you should probably research it a bit, there is some stuff on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cyprus which will put you in the frame). Basically the Turkish still have a hold on the northern part of Cyprus since an invasion in 1974, in order to stop the Greeks from taking over the island. In 1984, however, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) declared independence, but is only recognised by Turkey. Hence if you wish to fly to the capital, Kyrenia, you have to go through Turkey, flights from any other country in the world don't exist. I had a slightly odd experience last year when flying from London to Ismir.

The plane landed and virtually nobody got off, so I wasn't sure if we were in Ismir or not, as no other destination appeared on the boards in London. I had to enquire from the stewardess who informed me that the flight was continuing to Kyrenia but, as TRNC isn't recognised outside of Turkey they couldn't advertise the fact in London.

In any case, this didn't strike me as the safest place in the world in which to be looking to acquire a mortgage. There are huge problems with the many forms of title deed in TRNC bar one, that issued prior to 1973 by the Cypriot government. Of course most developers will claim that they have this type of title deed just to get you to buy, but most of them are not the real thing. There will eventually be a huge fallout in property ownership in this region, particularly if Turkey is ever to join the EU, as it will be a stipulation that they give the north back to the Republic of Cyprus. It is, as they say, an accident waiting to happen.

Therefore the launch of GMD's mortgages was somewhat of a surprise, but then so was the announcement in the Sunday Tribune yesterday that they'd withdrawn them, less than three weeks after they'd been launched. Apparently the Irish government, obviously under some pressure from the Cypriot ambassador (who is renowned for being very vocal on this topic and most likely outlined the danger Irish buyers could be drawing on themselves) complained to the company and asked them to withdraw the product, so they did.

Who says the government doesn't work (at least sometimes).

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