Cyprus Mail 21 February 2025 - by Iole Damaskinos
Far fewer applications have been received than anticipated for the small-scale building violations amnesty, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Friday.
The measure announced in September had been intended to run for a period of six months and resolve a number of problems.
Owners would receive withheld title deeds through a simplified process, the authorities’ bureaucratic workload would be eased, and revenue generated from fines was to go into a fund for promotion of affordable housing by the land development organisation.
However, only 550 applications have been received to date although properties with small deviations run into the thousands, the minister told CyBC radio.
Strict terms are in place for the amnesty grants which aim to free up owners and prevent future legal hassles should they decide to sell, Ioannou said.
The measure allows for scale-scale planning deviations to be legitimised after payment of fees ranging from €400-€3,000, he said, and a list of infractions which may be legalised is available on the ministry website.
Owners must provide the original planning and building permit, as well as certification from a registered architect or civil engineer for the arbitrary alterations.
It is known that in their vast majority, these concern expansion of the building’s size and distance from the plot perimeter, the minister said.
Residential properties may be eligible for amnesty for building factor deviations of 20 per cent, up to 60m² both vertically and horizontally including spaces such as enclosed verandas and pergolas.
In the case of apartments, the arbitrary constructions may be legalised only with the consensus of all unit owners.
The amnesty decree also provides for unapproved constructions in livestock operations and leisure venues.
In the case of livestock operations, the cutoff is for infractions in building coefficient of up to 20 per cent, while for leisure venues the terms are 20 per cent, up to 100m².
District administrations (EOAs) had sent out notifications with water bills in a bid to push property owners to respond by the time of the decree’s expiration at the end of March.
No renewed decrees will be issued over the exceptional measure, although a minor extension of two weeks would be considered if interest peaks, Ioannou said.
As for the issue of foreign trapped buyers who are not covered by the decree, the matter will be addressed in the near future and new legislation will be proposed, in cooperation with banking institutions and all relevant authorities, he said.
AMNESTY: [from Cyprus Property News]
Amnesty terms and conditions
The basic conditions for participation in the scheme are:
- The building must be approved, and the development must have been granted a planning permit and/or building permit before the expected decision of the Council of Ministers today (September 13, 2024.)
- The unauthorized additions must have been completed before the expected decision of the Council of Ministers today. It should be noted that, when the application is submitted, the responsible planner must provide a sworn declaration regarding the date of completion of the unauthorized additions.
- Illegal modifications, both outside and within the shell of the approved building, must comply with the building’s morphology and architecture, be constructed with high-quality and aesthetically pleasing materials, and not negatively impact the environment, neighbour’s comfort, or third-party property rights.
- In cases of exceeding the building density coefficient, the planning permit will include a requirement to pay a financial compensation, a percentage of the excess value, to the Special Funds of the Cyprus Land Development Corporation (KOAG) for Affordable Housing. Before the planning permit is issued, ten percent of the compensation will be deposited into the accounts of the Planning Authorities (District Administrative Organizations) to cover administrative costs. Where the building deviates from the building regulations, financial compensation must be paid for each deviation category before the planning permit is issued.
- The Planning Authority will instigate a process for purchasing additional parking spaces, which are required in cases where these cannot be allocated within the development property, even if the development is in an area where the ministerial decree for purchasing parking spaces does not apply. Approval of the minister’s deviation order is not required.
Key provisions
The “Urban Amnesty Plan for the Legalization of Unauthorized Constructions in Approved Developments,” expected to be approved in today’s session of the Council of Ministers, provides the following key measures:
- Introducing an obligation to pay financial compensation for residential developments with three categories of building density coefficient excess, either within the main shell of the existing building, outside the main shell (horizontal or vertical expansion), or in cases where an additional residential unit has been created through unauthorized construction. Compensation is also required for other categories of development in cases of building density excess.
- Introduction of the obligation to pay financial compensation for regulatory deviations (covered veranda/pergola, reduced distance from the property boundary, increased coverage percentage, increased height or length of an auxiliary building along a shared boundary, etc.).
The financial compensation will be calculated based on the current General Valuation Tables of the Department of Lands and Surveys. In cases of regulatory deviations from the provisions of Development Plans, a specific amount is determined for each deviation category, depending on its scale and significance, as well as the administrative region in which the property falls.
Residential developments deviations and payments
In cases where residential developments have undergone extensions without obtaining the required planning permit, resulting in an excess of the maximum allowed building density coefficient, the Planning Authority may approve an increase in the coefficient by 20% or up to 60 square meters, whichever is greater.
Unauthorized extensions may have been carried out either within the shell of the building (incorporation of auxiliary spaces, carports, and covered verandas into the interior of the unit), or outside the shell (horizontal or vertical extension).
The Planning Authority may also approve an extension for an additional unauthorized residential unit, provided it is used exclusively to meet the housing needs of the landowner’s family, as long as the legalization of the additional unit does not infringe on the comfort or property rights of co-owners.
The plan can also be applied to existing residential apartments in buildings for the purpose of legalizing constructions related to the incorporation of covered verandas, provided that written consent from all joint-owners is submitted with the application.
In cases of excess building density in residential developments, compensation will be required depending on the type and category of the development. The market value will be derived from the General Valuation of the Department of Lands and Surveys, and the compensation obligation will vary as follows:
- 20% of the value of the excess building density for applications involving an increase in buildable area within the shell of the originally approved building.
- 25% of the value of the excess building density for applications involving an increase in buildable area through vertical or horizontal extension outside the shell of the originally approved building.
- 30% of the value of the excess building density coefficient, in cases where the application concerns an increase in buildable area due to an unauthorized additional residential unit.
