Filenews 7 August 2025
The long-standing nakedness of the system of licensing and on-site control of the construction of buildings was revealed by the fire in mountainous Limassol, in the sense that several buildings have been erected either without any permit or without a planning permit or a building permit and of course no one carried out an inspection at the stage of their construction.
The Limassol District Organization (EOA) is looking for fleas in the haystack considering that it is looking for the 700 cases of houses/buildings that were damaged during the last fire in mountainous Limassol among the 200,000 files that had been delivered to the Organization after the reform of the Local Government.
As the president of the Limassol HOA, Yiannis Tsouloftas, initially reported on state radio, a list of about 630 premises, which are damaged, and another 70 cases are expected to be received.
The identification of the relevant files is necessary because the legality status of each building will determine whether the owner will be compensated in full or by 25% etc.
It is noted that ways to legalize illegal constructions are now being sought, which according to initial estimates range from 20-30% of the total. It is noted that as the Minister of the Interior mentioned, citing the Limassol district administration, which recorded the damages, a total of 440 houses were affected, of which 211 were completely destroyed. In terms of building facilities, 81 warehouses were also destroyed.
The Limassol EDA is still looking for legal residences, in order to determine both the percentage and the amount of compensation that will be paid to those affected.
Mr. Tsouloftas said that it is difficult to determine whether a building is licensed because there are several houses, mainly in community centers, that pre-existed, while the geometric data are not always accurate. He also said that it will take time to identify all the cases. Mr. Tsouloftas confirmed that if the files had been computerized, a check could have been carried out at the click of a button instead of searching for folders in warehouses.
Mr. Tsouloftas said that suggestions have been submitted for simplifying the procedure and as it emerges from what he said on state radio, it is proposed that buildings that existed before, especially in the nuclei of communities, (perhaps for decades) be baptized as licensed. These are residences, which do not have a building permit but are existing. The same can apply to residences, which have obtained a planning permit but not a building permit. It is possible that where a house is recorded in the title deed instead of a field or plot, the buildings can be considered as licensed, said Mr. Tsouloftas.
He clarified that the above refers to recommendations of the EDA, which will be submitted to the government, which will pay the compensations.
The president of ETEK, Konstantinos Konstantis, advocated the creation of an electronic identity of the building stock, so that at the click of a button we can know which ones are licensed and which are not. In fact, as he said, the Chamber submitted a relevant recommendation five years ago, but the issue did not progress.
