NORTH CYPRUS AGENTS 'COULD FACE LEGAL ACTION'

NORTH CYPRUS AGENTS 'COULD FACE LEGAL ACTION'

Agents who have sold property in northern Cyprus could face legal action following a landmark ruling in the UK Court of Appeal.

Last week’s judgement against British couple David and Linda Orams established that the legal claim of Greek Cypriots to land in the north that had been illegally sold on to foreign citizens would be enforced in the UK.

The case is expected to pave the way for hundreds of similar claims against British citizens who bought property in the Turkish-controlled part of the country. Some of the blame could be placed on those agents and developers involved in the sale, particularly if the Brits bought in good faith.

“It leaves agents potentially in the firing line depending on what they’ve said and how they said it,” Stefano Lucatello, senior partner at The International Property Law Centre, told OPP.

“Agents are in a very precarious situation and could be brought into the picture and attacked for misselling or misrepresentation and acting either negligently or fraudulently. We would need a test case against an agent to resolve the question and I’m sure there will be one.”

Many Greek Cypriots fled when the Turkish army took control of the north in 1974 and much of their land was then sold on by the Turkish-Cypriot administration that now controls the area.

“If the seller owned the land before 1974, no problem,” said Lucatello. “But if it was registered post-1974 in some form under the Turkish administration then you’ve got a problem.”

Market collapse
UK press coverage of the Orams ruling, which forces the couple to vacate the land and demolish their property, is likely to discourage further purchases to Brits in the north.

“This rule will totally finish the sector,” Enver Karakaya of developer NorthernLand Construction told OPP. “We were already expecting this ruling. Because of that we build all our projects on Turkish title deed lands. [But] villas in the Kyrenia area were generally built on exchange title deeds and customers were all foreigners.”

However, the Republic of Cyprus has no de facto control over the north and the Turkish-Cypriot administration has said it will not carry out the Orams’ demolition, raising the possibility that some companies may attempt to continue overseas sales to other international buyers.

“Those left with all the unsold property may reduce prices to tempt buyers, taking even more chances, and they will also look at markets outside Europe as I am sure they already have done,” said Chris Christides, a UK-based IFA and Greek Cypriot property owner.

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