Potential Pitfalls You Need to Avoid When Buying Property in Cyprus

It can be exciting buying property and moving to a foreign country like Cyprus. However, like any property markets, there are pitfalls that can lead to costly mistakes that you’ll want to avoid. That’s what we’re going to look at in the following blog post. You’d be surprised how many people have made the mistakes outlined below in the past. Make sure you don’t by keeping all of these in mind when you’re looking for that dream Cyprus villa. Newington Estates will help you throughout the process to ensure you have an excellent experience and keep you informed at each step.

Beyond the price of the property itself, there’s also a few other costs that you need to remember to factor in when calculating your budget. This includes the VAT, immovable property taxes, disbursements, legal fees, stamp duty and transfer fees.

You may also find that many advisers and developers either misunderstand or misrepresent VAT. So, make sure you don’t get caught out.

Perhaps the costliest of all pitfalls involved with buying property in Cyprus are hidden commissions that have often been negotiated between an intermediary or agent and the vendor/developer. These can range from just 5% to as much as 50%. These can be avoided however, if you make sure you work with a reputable property lawyer who can provide you with clients who have references.

We may as well expand on that last part of the point above and express how important it is to hire a lawyer who has extensive experience in Cyprus property. One mistake that a property lawyer can help you to avoid is signing on the dotted line in a purchase contract that has been put forward by the developer of a property. These often do not provide any protection for you, the buyer, and are always work very much in favour of the developer.

You also need to be careful when working with lawyers who are working on the behalf of builders or vendors as they’re not acting as an independent agent. Using that type of lawyer would be as useful as not hiring one at all.

Ideally, then, you want to find a lawyer who speaks your own language fluently and is not tied to any of the parties that are involved in the property.

You often find that there are ownership disputes over properties that are involved in divorce proceedings. It’s important to avoid these at all cost. The best way to do that is by only buying property from a developer with a good reputation.

One thing that some developers may try to encourage you to do is to pay the required reservation fee without there being anything in writing. This is obviously a very risky thing to do and should be avoided at all costs. If you’re asked to pay a reservation fee, you need to make sure that your lawyer has received something in writing from the developer that outlines and confirms exactly the amount that was paid, the accepted circumstances of any refunds and the property’s full purchase price.

It is important that you ensure that everything connected to the purchasing of a property in Cyprus are written out in a detailed contract of the sale. This especially includes any extras that have been agreed upon, as well as an inventory of any damages and repairs that are required.
The team at Newington Estates has vast experience with property buying in Cyprus, please contact on 020 7724 2233 or email us on info@newingtonestates.com