Press Release December 2011 | www.cyprusbuyingguide.com

NEW LAW IN CYPRUS TO HELP STIMULATE SALES OF NEW PROPERTY IS FINALLY AGREED AND PUBLISHED

Changes to Cypriot property law have finally been made to help stimulate sales of new property by abolishing and reducing property transfer fees for a period of 6 months.

These new changes came into effect on the 2nd December and will only remain in force for a period of 6 months and only apply to the first sale of a property where the contract is dated and deposited within this time frame. In effect those who pay VAT on their house purchase will now not be liable for transfer fees and for those who do not pay VAT on their purchase, property transfer fees will be reduced by 50%, as long as they are within this window of opportunity.

Richard Way Editor of www.OverseasGuidesCompany.com said “Now that a favourable decision over transfer tax has been announced, buyers who had been waiting in the wings for confirmation will now be happy to commit to a purchase, thereby injecting some life into the depressed Cyprus property market.

As for vendors, knowing that a prospective buyer of your property will be paying less, or no, transfer tax shouldn’t be a reason to suddenly increase or simply stand firm on your asking price. Be as flexible as you would have been before the tax change, otherwise the intended benefit of this initiative, namely to stimulate sales, will be lost.”

This new Cypriot tax initiative has been welcomed with open arms and hopefully as intended will kick start the Cypriot property market in the face of growing financial unrest across the European theatre. However there are also provisions in the law to prevent abuse of this tax break and to stop buyers withdrawing contracts of sale deposited at the Land Registry and then altering dates before re-submitting. Any such wrong doing is likely to be met with the full force of the Cypriot law!

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