Filenews 1 June 2024 - by Adamos Adamou
The window that opened for the licensing of hotel units on the island was formalized yesterday, in order not to be in fact illegal, with the publication in the Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus of a relevant amendment to the legislation.
The amendment gives a new grace period to hotels and tourist accommodation establishments to secure the necessary permits, provided that by the end of the year they will have forwarded architectural plans (as built) to the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, notifying them to the competent building authorities. The amendment to the Regulation of the Establishment and Operation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation Law is the second this year and attempts to address the issue caused by the previous one, which entered into force in mid-March. With it, as we wrote again, about 93% of the hotels in the place became practically illegal and without a license, causing a number of other problems, for example regarding hotel contracts with insurance companies and with tour operators.
To address the above problems, the new amendment has retroactive effect from March 15, 2024.
The new legislation amends Article 18 of the Regulation of the Establishment and Operation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation Law, which concerns the transitional period during which hotels and tourist accommodation may operate without meeting the requirements of the Basic Law. The entire article has been changed with the addition of new verses in order to make it easier to legalize hotels and tourist accommodation without problems.
Now, this article of the legislation provides, inter alia, for the following:
A person who operates or will operate a hotel or tourist accommodation is obliged to obtain, by 31 December 2024, a license to operate a hotel or tourist accommodation, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and the Regulations issued pursuant thereto: It is understood that a person who submits, by 31 December 2024, is exempted from the above obligation: to the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, with notification to the competent authority for issuing a building permit, architectural drawings (as built) which depict the building layout of the hotel or tourist accommodation on the ground, accompanied by a certificate of a designer registered in the register of members of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber, in accordance with the provisions of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber Law, that these architectural plans reflect the actual layout on the ground of the hotel or tourist accommodation.
It is further understood that the architectural plans referred to in the above reservation are accompanied by a study stating the means of escape and fire protection measures which are submitted for opinions to the Fire Service through the Deputy Ministry of Tourism: It is further understood that the provisions of the above reservations apply only if a building permit has already been issued for the hotel or tourist accommodation, for use as a hotel or tourist accommodation, as the case may be, even if the approved plans of the building permit do not reflect the actual building layout of the hotel or tourist accommodation on the ground.
