Amendment Of The Laws Governing Property Purchase Of Foreigners In North Cyprus

As of 21st May 2024, a new law has passed governing the property purchase of foreigners, affecting the past, present and prospective purchasers. The law imposes multiple requirements upon property owners as to how many properties they can own and what actions they need to take with respect to their status.

If a foreign buyer purchased only one property or plans to purchase a property;

• The purchase Contract of the said property must be registered at the Land Registry.
• Permit to Purchase Application must be made for the property
• Once the Permit to Purchase is granted, title deed transfer tax must be paid within 60 days and title deed transfer must take place within 6 months. Title deed transfers are no longer optional.
• The PTP applications now have an application fee of half the minimum wage.

If a foreign buyer already purchased multiple  properties;

• The buyer needs to choose one property to keep ( & register that property at the Land Registry if not already registered) and declare all others as ‘extra’
• The declaration costs 1% of the sale price
• The declared properties must be transferred or sold within 24 months from declaration.
• The declared properties can have 7 years of ‘usage right’ (optional) if 12% transfer tax is paid on declaration.

If a foreign buyer owns multiple properties, all registered on trust, their properties must be declared by paying 1% declaration fee (1% of the trust deed price) and then transferred within 24 months.

The key points of the change can be summarized as follows:

• Foreigners are now strictly limited to one property per person.
• A trustee relationship for the purpose of exceeding this limit cannot be established, existing ones must be dissolved.
• Contract registration is mandatory.
• Title deed transfer is mandatory.

The new law also introduced penalties for failing to comply with the requirements. If the above rules and regulations are not complied with, the defualting party will be deemed as comitting an offence with a fine of up to 500 x minimum wage. Furthermore, the buyer risks their Contract to be voided.

For further detail please, contact with us.