No.267
Q.: Dear Mr Loizou,

We have discovered that the family has land with titles, still in the name of my great grandfather. My father and his brother have passed away and my aunt is the only surviving member of that era. Can you please advise how we change the title to living relatives and also what approximate cost would be involved.

Yours sincerely,

Alexandra Timmis (Mrs)

Α.: Make an administration so that inheritance etc is sorted out. You need a solicitor’s advice. Ask the fee beforehand since the sort of legal “boys” charge anything and it can be considerable. I cannot give you an estimate of fees not knowing the circumstances. Get tenders.
Regards,
A.P. Loizou



3/29581-td
25.1.2010

No.268
Q.: Dear Sir,
I read your article with much interest and I wonder if you would give me an opinion on a set of circumstances?
I own a two bedroomed apartment in a block of nine. We are all owners and we do not have title deeds. Our building is just three years old and we were given our apartment keys on condition we signed up with a Maintenance Company. We have no quarrel with the amount we are being charged.
We do not have a Maintenance Committee because we do not have title deeds and the Famagusta Land Registry will not register a Committee without deeds. In addition the Courts will not support a Committee without deeds should they pursue non payers of maintenance payments.
None of us had any knowledge of the relevant law/regulations at the time of buying and relied on the goodwill/honesty and professional integrity of the people we were dealing with.
Part of our monthly maintenance payment deals with Public Liability Insurance in relation to the Common Areas of our building and following the experience of a friend in a totally separate building I posed our Maintenance Firm a few questions. These were-:

1. What is the name of and the business address of the Insurance Company regarding Public Liability Insurance for our building?

2. Are we covered for Fire, Earthquake and Lightning damage in the common areas?

3.How much cover is there for any one instance of personal injury sustained in the Common Areas?

I should say at this point that we (the owners) have individual insurance for buildings/contents regarding our homes.

After weeks of delay I was eventually told that we could not be given the name of the insurance company because that would contravene business protocol!!
I was also told that if we wanted Fire, Earthquake cover it would cost extra! - that meant that at the moment we do not have that cover for the common areas.

I believe that the Maintenance Firm have appointed themselves as administrators of the common fund and, as such have not complied with the 1993 Building Law in that they have not ensured that the building is covered for Fire, Earthquake and Lightning Damage.

As regards the refusal to disclose the name of the Insurance Company - I feel this is totally ridiculous! We are paying a total of over 500 euros a month to this company and I believe we are entitled to know who is receiving a portion of it.

In addition I also believe that the Administrator should provide a three monthly statement of account showing how the maintenance money has been spent.

I hope I have explained our situation in a coherent manner and, having read what I have had to say I would be grateful for an opinion on my reasoning in the preceding three paragraphs.

Regards,
Campbell Findlay.

A.: My dear friend, I am as shocked as you are. Look at your common/ administration agreement and seek solicitor’s advice. I would have had a law suit based on contract. This is a fraud of some sort, because not having transparency, it makes people wonder. We manage several large scale projects and I wonder if we are “one of the few”.
Regards,
A.P. Loizou


3/29580-td
25.1.2010

No.269
Q.: Dear Mr. Antonis,

I am in the process of applying for the Final Certificate of Approval for my house and have been told that I have to provide a large water tank (approx.4tons) in the garden which will be filled from a tanker and will cost 500-600 euro to install.

Can you tell me if this is a new law as my original building permit did not make this requirement for the swimming pool.

I have no objection to filling my pool direct from a tanker, but surely I do not have to store the water in an unsightly tank first.
I look forward to your reply, as I do all of your published answers to reader's problems.

My sincere thanks for all your excellent advice
With very best wishes
Valerie



A.: What a load of rubbish. No need to do anything.
Regards,
A.P. Loizou



3/29595-td
25.1.2010

Νο.270
Q.: Dear Mr. Loizou,

I use to live in Paphos, Cyprus but returned to the UK 3 years ago. My parents are both from Cyprus but I was born in the UK.

I have always enjoyed reading the Cyprus Weekly and now have a weekly subscription from a London agent. I read your articles every week, and
to be honest throughout my 18 years living in Cyprus you are the only person that answers questions being asked truthfully and to the point.

I still own my beautiful house which is in Mesoyi, Paphos, but throughout my stay in Cyprus of 18 years I have had to face rubbish being dumped on the empty land opposite my house for years and unfortunately it is now worse.

I have attached 3 photographs which were taken during my holidays December 2009.

Throughout my stay in Cyprus I paid to have the land cleaned personally and at other times I cleaned it myself, because all my many attempts
through the Muhtar and other authorities were met with deaf ears.

I complained to the Paphos municipality and was told it has nothing to do with them and I should refer my case to the Muhtar in Mesoyi, the
Muhtar told me that he held a meeting with other members and they came to the conclusion that they are not there to clean Maria’s rubbish
outside of her house. These were his exact words but in Greek of course.

I then wrote a letter to the Eparho of Paphos, who wrote back to me advising they sent my letter with the photographs to the Muhtar in Mesoyi, so
I went to see the Muhtar again and he just threw the photographs on the desk, laughed at them, and said they only clean the streets during
spring time. I told him that I have been living in my house for 18 years and the road and empty land was never ever cleaned during spring, summer,
autumn or winter.

Every time I return to Cyprus for holidays, I am faced with this rubbish, I clean it and then go back and find it the same.

The empty land opposite my house is owned by a lady who lives in Limassol.

Two years ago there was a leak to a pipe underground, so the pavements were lifted and the pipe replaced. A 6 foot drop was left bare with no
barrier for over a year, bearing mind there are also young children living in the same street that could have easily fallen in. After 18 months of
going back and forth to Cyprus and complaining to the Muhtar, the hole and pavement was finally fixed. However, to my horror, I arrived at my house
to find the Mesoyi municipality employees who repaired the hole and pavement throwing the broken pipes and broken pavement on the empty land
opposite my house and when I confronted them, they said they always throw their waste on empty land when they finish where ever they may be.

Since Cyprus is now in the EEC, I’m sure that dumping of rubbish on empty land is against the law and also I assume streets and pavements
should be cleaned by the Mesoyi municipality regularly.

I would really appreciate it, if you could inform me any responsible authority I could write to to have the land cleaned and maybe wired off to stop
people throwing rubbish and any advice on how this problem can be solved, you will save me from a lot of suffering and stress because this situation
is becoming unbearable.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Maria Kelpis


A.: My dear Madam, I think you are taken for a ride. The responsibility of cleaning private land rests on the land owner, but the Muhtar can clean and charge the owner accordingly. The placing of rubbish by the village authority is inexcusable and the reason given is a provocative joke to say the least. Damping rubbish is illegal, so if you get names/car numbers etc, you can report them to the police. It is understood however that the village authority cannot have a team running around along private land (done once a year at the land owner’s cost), but the streets etc cleaning it is their constant responsibility. One option is to have the site fenced, but you must appreciate that this is slightly irregular, unless you get the permission of the owner. Even for fencing you need a permit (applied by the registered owner and not you). Noticing however what is going on and if I was you and after obtaining the owner’s consent, I would have fenced the site, place a “placing of rubbish is not allowed” and send a letter both to the Municipality/Eparhos and the owner of the land through a solicitor, warning them of not meeting their obligations. A similar letter to be sent to the Ombudswoman who can investigate the situation. If this bears no success, write a letter to the Minister of the Interior, copying to the Municipality+Eparhos (what an embarrassment for them). If nothing happens, take legal action against the village authority/Eparhos/land owner, claiming damages and danger to your health under the public health laws. This last drastic action independently of the outcome success, it will get all involved worried. But it will cost you in terms of legal fees and bad feeling with the village authority (from what you say they do not care anyway). Many thanks for your positive comments on the column.
Regards,
A.P. Loizou


P.S. I have no objection if you are to send this letter to the local authority and Eparhos.



3/29587-td
27.1.2010

No.271
Q.: I am shocked as all the world is with the earthquake that happened in Haiti and I wonder since you have in Cyprus an anti-earthquake code of building, are the buildings in Cyprus safe for such an event?
Mrs L. Carol

A.: The code you say covers all buildings after 1986 and it is a very strict one. I will say that buildings with a reinforced concrete frame as a whole they are much safer than those with solid (e.g. brick) structures without a frame. I can say that the quality/type of buildings is Haiti from what I saw in the t.v.. bears no relation to ours. But this it will depend on the extent of a quake. If it is more than 7.0 Richter, it will be difficult not to have damage, be it not to the same extent. But then it happens, see Greece, Turkey and more recently in Italy. Even in these countries buildings on frame did not suffer considerable damage. In Cyprus our “normal” quakes are around 5.58 Richter scale. I will not worry particularly dear Carol, since we seem to have for the more modern buildings safety.
Regards,
A.P. Loizou

No.272
Q.: Carnival is here I understand. Do you know when it will start and when it will finish and where to go?
Sorry for not being a real estate question, but I follow the general behaviour of us foreign people – “Ask Loizou”.
N. Garry

A.: You are quite right not a real estate question, but it helps towards the entertainment of home buyers from abroad in addition. The place to be is Limassol. Get in touch with Limassol Municipality to get their programme. The duration is 4/2/2010 to 14/2/2010.
Regards,
A.P. Loizou

No.273
Q.: We noted what you say regarding the tax benefits on pensions if we become permanent residents of Cyprus. Do you just declare that we are such and thats it?
Mrs A. Irish

A.: No. You must live in the country more than 183 days per year. It is a matter of fact. I suggest to say at least for 183 continuous days first (for at least one year) and then you can apply for a permanent residency status.
Regards,
A.P. Loizou



3/29558-td
27.1.2010

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