Filenews 13 January 2024
As the Minister of Interior, Mr. Constantinos Ioannou, explains to philenews, in order to facilitate citizens, they must also take steps so that their applications are mature to be examined and processed as soon as possible. For this purpose, the necessary demarcations must be preceded and the required data/documents must be submitted. In other words, as the competent minister observes, applications must be 'complete and correctly completed'. In this way, citizens will avoid the unnecessary "come and go" in the Land Registry, while time will be given to the officers to deal with the substance of each application and not with the shortcomings / omissions etc., for which time is usually spent unnecessarily.
One of the problems that will be solved is the quarrels between owners regarding the boundaries of their adjacent properties, since the Land Registry is out of the way and now this role is taken over by "competent surveyors". At the same time, provisions are taken to avoid the possibility of buying, without his knowledge, a mortgaged property or a property with other commitments, since prospective buyers will now have electronic access to the data relating to the property they are interested in. A relevant bill is already being promoted in this direction.
On the above issues, which are important for the citizen, we asked for the positions of the Minister of Interior, Mr. Constantinos Ioannou, who had announced the adoption of measures to solve a series of problems that concern citizens in their dealings with the Department of Lands and Lands. It is noted that as of January 2, new procedures apply regarding the issuance of title deeds.
Asked about this, Mr. Ioannou told philenews that some commitments had been made with the ultimate aim of serving the citizen, simplifying and speeding up procedures, safeguarding his interests from any cunning etc.
«We had announced in June 2023 that we would try to eliminate the long-term delays and this is what we are implementing, he said. At the same time, the Ministry of Interior, through legislation that has been completed or even launched, safeguards the interests of buyers, facilitates the transfer of real estate, which is burdened with mortgages, and strengthens the transparency framework in transactions between citizens, the minister adds.
Regarding the delays, Mr. Ioannou says: "We recognized that in many cases there was a long delay in the completion of the procedures for issuing title deeds, which caused unnecessary inconvenience to citizens during the transfer of properties. Our goal, with the modifications we are implementing and/or implementing, is for the services offered by both the Department of Town Planning and the Department of Lands to respond to the greatest possible extent to the ever-changing requirements and modern needs of citizens".
Improvement/Acceleration of the process of issuing title deeds
The new procedure, which entered into force on 2 January 2024, aims to speed up the procedures concerning applications for separations of plots (horizontal and vertical), for the creation of new title deeds of land or other units (apartments, houses). In particular, before submitting the application for separation, the external delimitation, the spatial work of the development must have been preceded and all the required documents must have been submitted (certificate of approval of the division permit, any consents of mortgage lenders, spatial work, etc.). In this way, all applications are now fully and correctly completed, which allows them to be assessed more quickly without the constant need to submit new documents. Furthermore, the completion of the external delimitation before the separation of the plots ensures that the future development will take place within the actual boundaries of the plot, thus limiting the possibility of interventions in neighbouring properties, which is currently a frequent point of friction between neighbouring owners.
In addition, in order to further accelerate the process, the Department of Lands and Surveys has recently implemented the institution of the private surveyor, as the only option now to carry out the required spatial work of separation. This enables citizens to contact themselves a private surveyor of their choice for the completion of the surveying works, without the need for these works to be carried out centrally by the Land Registry Department, which caused significant delays.
Through the above regulations, a substantial reduction in the total time of completion of the application and the issuance of titles by the Department of Lands and Surveys is ensured, which, as a rule, will be limited, on average, to 3 months.
Improving and simplifying the procedure for providing information to citizens
In addition to the above, in order to facilitate the procedures for the transfer of immovable property, the Department of Lands and Surveys proceeded to the preparation of a Bill, with the aim of improving and simplifying the process of providing information to citizens, while reducing bureaucracy. Specifically, according to the provisions of the Bill, at the request of the interested person, the details of the registered property owner, as well as the liens that burden the property, will be given to the prospective buyer, who will be able to be informed of any charges or other commitments on the plot, before the completion of any purchase.
The procedure will be carried out at the request of a person either by electronic application through the online platform of the Department, DLS PORTAL, or by application by e-mail.
The ultimate aim of the new procedure is to improve the transparency of transactions for the benefit of buyers, tenants and generally those who deal with landowners and to protect them from any concealment of important information that would otherwise affect their decision. This arrangement will contribute to the creation of more appropriate conditions for the development of real estate, but also of the wider economy of the place.
The draft law is currently under consultation with the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection so that the amendments proposed provide sufficient guarantees for effective data protection against the risks of misuse.
Safeguarding the interests of buyers of immovable property
On December 12, 2023, it became possible to enact the Sale of Real Estate (Special Execution) Law, which aims to create a mechanism to safeguard the interests of buyers of immovable property, ensuring in advance that the transfer of immovable property will be executed immediately and as soon as the buyer fulfils his contractual obligations in accordance with the Contract of Sale/Sale Document.
This ensures that the purchase and sale document will be executed immediately after the completion of the purchase to prevent the risk of deception of the buyer.
In addition to the above, under the same legislation, the seller is obliged to include as an integral part of the sale/sale document, a certificate of research of the affected immovable property with the encumbrances, so that the buyer is informed about them before signing the contract. In case of non-compliance by the seller, the Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys is given the opportunity to impose an administrative fine of up to €10,000 on the seller.
Mortgage waiver of immovable property
Also, if at the time of filing the sales contract there is already a mortgage on the property, the buyer is given the opportunity to pay the amount of the mortgage directly to the banking institution as part of the total purchase amount of the property. Thus, upon payment of the amount, and in accordance with a statutory agreement between the bank/mortgagee and the seller/mortgage debtor, the bank undertakes to release the property from the mortgage. At the same time, it has the obligation to issue a "Certificate of payment", which the buyer submits to the Department of Lands for the completion of the transfer of the property in the name of the buyer.
Penalties up to €100,000 and in banks
In case of non-compliance of the bank with the above obligations provided by law, the Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys is given the opportunity to impose an administrative fine of up to €100,000.
The new regulations ensure the immediate transfer of immovable property once the buyer fulfils his remaining contractual obligations and shield the interests of the buyer, eliminating the existing labyrinthine procedures.
