in-cyprus 1 May 2025 -by Constantinos Tsindas
No more Interior Minister discretionary power to allocate Turkish-Cypriot properties, tailoring them to specific interests, introducing a scoring system for refugee applicants based on their income and property value in the occupied territories, as well as the abolition of subletting commercial premises, constitute the key changes in the Turkish-Cypriot property legislation, expected to go through parliament.
It has to be noted that current minister Constantinos Ioannou has supported putting an end to the discretionary power of the ‘custodian’, (the Interior Minister) to grant Turkish Cypriot properties gratuitously or as an exception.
One of the provisions that deprives hundreds of young couples of the right to claim Turkish Cypriot houses, which number around 5,000, involves the hereditary succession of their use, i.e. when the beneficiary refugee passes away. This injustice is further exacerbated by timing, as increasingly rising prices, are making housing, (rented or bought) less and less affordable, while state housing programmes have yet to yield effective results.
Essentially all young couples, regardless of refugee status or not simply cannot afford a down payment to acquire housing.
Another (long-standing) dark spot concerns the fact that those who currently hold commercial properties will continue to have control over them, regardless of whether, based on their circumstances, they were actually entitled to their management or whether they had good connections or a specific party affiliation.
The only way for the current holders to relinquish them is if they fail to pay the piecemeal rent stipulated in their initial contract.
Positive aspects of the new regulations include the prohibition of subletting (as currently happening illegally), and safety valves are being put in place ensure that this will not continue under the table.
A characteristic example of subletting concerns restaurants and other establishments at Larnaca’s Mackenzie Beach, where subleases were almost the norm.
As the Minister of Interior had stated, following the renegotiation of these specific contracts, the state will collect rent of approximately €1 million annually, which previously went to the managers who sublet them under the table to various (mainly non-refugee) entrepreneurs.
Beyond that however, the window remains open for granting prime properties to non-refugees when there is no interest from refugees, which could potentially lead to subletting them in an indirect way. That is a refugee might express interest having pre-agreed to claim a prime property, and if it’s granted to them, they would then sublet it to a non-refugee, especially if they cannot invest the necessary funds to set up a business.
Scoring system criteria
Regarding the allocation of Turkish Cypriot homes, estimated to number only a few dozen nationwide, as stated by the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Nikos Kettiros, the scoring system will take into account the number of children and dependents of each interested refugee.
An aspect being looked into is how individuals with disabilities who belong to a family will be treated in terms of scoring. There is also concern about the scoring of individuals who live alone.
Regarding the scoring related to a family’s income, Kettiros stated that the criteria applied by the Welfare Services for housing schemes will be utilised. Based on this criteria, the income limit for single individuals has been set at €30,000, for couples (two-person families) or single-parent families up to €50,000, families with one child up to €55,000, families with two children up to €60,000, and families with three or more children up to €70,000.
There is concern however about whether the applicant will be scored based on the size of the land they owned or the value of their property. While the solution of valuation by the Department of Lands and Surveys is considered more reliable, it is time-consuming, so someone who needs housing today cannot wait months or even years for their property to be valued. This aspect is pending, and Parliament awaits the government’s recommendations.
The Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service reportedly holds the position that property owners should receive the same points regardless of the value of their property. Otherwise, those with low-value property would be excluded, and those with high-value property would be favoured.
Also pending is the size of agricultural plots that will be allocated to beneficiaries. As MP Kettiros explained, the Ministry proposed allocating a maximum of 100 decares (one dekario amounts to a quarter of an acre) of irrigable land and 200 decaria of non-irrigable land, but the Department of Agriculture expressed the view that for irrigable land, the limit should be 50 decares, while for non-irrigable land, it should be 300.
In addition, there is an urgent need to revise piecemeal rents for 3,740 commercial properties, raising them to 80% of the market rent for refugees and the market rent for non-refugees.
They Cemented the Illegality
Over the years, the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service did its utmost to impose some order, after half a century of plunder however, what is happening in practice is the legitimisation of those who already hold them. Whether they were granted justifiably, or whether those who took them had friends, best men, relatives, acquaintances, or politicians backing them. And this aspect does not concern the civil servants but the government, who failed to act.
The governments that initially handled the Turkish Cypriot properties certainly bear great responsibility, but the current one, according to the Fileleftheros reporter Vasos Vasileiou, ratifying what has been done, has no less responsibility.
Of course, criteria will be applied to their allocation from now on, but the question is what is left to be distributed.
Not to mention the fact that those living in houses will hand them over to their heirs at a time when thousands of young couples still live with their parents
