Q.: Good
morning Mr Loizou
I have rather an urgent question as we are trying to buy
a resale property from an englishman and the developer
is doing his utmost to block the deal. My question is
Does the developer have an obligation to give a
corporate guarantee when the bank is requesting it of
the new buyer? The developer's attitude is that he has
sold the property already and is not offering anything -
although originally the developer had offered a free
bank guarantee (withdrew the offer), a corporate
guarantee (withdrew the offer).
I would appreciate your opinion
Would you be able to reply by return as the englishman
is giving us pressure as to whether we will proceed with
the sale?
Many thanks
Helen Smythe
A.: He has no obligation unless this is so stated in the
first sales contract. In fact he may even refuse to
enter into a cancellation agreement and a resale, if
this is not stipulated in the first sales contract – Did
I meet your deadline?
A.P. Loizou
Q.: What is the
cost of a Bank guarantee Mr Loizou? We are buying a home
and because of many reasons, we have requested the
developer to provide us with a Bank guarantee,
guaranteeing the building’s stability. We have asked
around and we are told all sorts of charges, ranging
from .5% to 1.80% p.a. on the amount of the guarantee.
The seller refuses to cover this cost.
J&K Iangton
A.: The usual cost is assessed 1.0%-1.5% depending on
the contents of the guarantee. If it is an interbank
guarantee, e.g. if you are financed by a bank and the
same bank issues a bank guarantee, this could be reduced
to .25%. So it depends and your best bet is to use the
same bank as the seller has. It is fair in this case
that you pay the charges of the guarantee, since, most
likely, the developer/vendor will have to mortgage the
property in the bank’s favor, in order to cover the
Bank’s security.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: The Minister of Interior in an interview in one of
the English press has reported several measures that he
will undertake, in order to speed up the procedure for
the title issue. Any news Mr Loizou?
Helen Pavlova
A.: I have read the interview myself and I have been
trying to get in touch with one of his aids to get more
information. No success so far. If I am to go by what
the Minister said, it is a revolutionary new approach.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: Since you do not give us the chance to express our
opinion in the Greek press and having read your article
on Titles Greek style, let me say that there is no worse
system than this. Having lived in Greece for several
years, the lack of Lands Office etc, makes property
ownership difficult. You never know if the property you
bought is actually yours.
George Photiou
A.: Not having a Lands Office and the titles subject are
two difficult things. Greece has no Lands Offices,
whereas we have. So there is no question who the owner
is of a certain property. The question is now George,
whether you prefer to have a not so good (in terms of
procedures) title and no title at all. I opt for the
first.
Not having the opportunity to come into communication
with me through the Greek press is another matter. I
have been invited by one of the papers to repeat a
similar Q+A column, but as you can appreciate it is a
matter of time. I can hardly catch up with the letters I
receive through this paper. Thank you however for
reading my Greek articles as well.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: What
is a high tech office building by Cyprus standard Mr
Loizou? I have visited 3 such buildings so advertised,
only to realize that they are far from being so.
Your help will be appreciated since my request for an
office space is a high tech one.
Helen Christou
A.: Basically it refers to an office building with
all/most of the technological facilities provided.
Raised floors, structure cabling, false ceiling, hidden
lighting, fire/alarm systems, double high speed lifts,
ample parking etc. If the design is also modern, it
helps towards this classification. Bear in mind that
with all the above facilities installed, the average
price is around £1.800-£2.000/sq.m., whereas ordinary
office buildings or building with no such facilities do
not exceed £1.350/sq.mts.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: I have a title deed but the house that I have built,
it is not so recorded on it. It refers to a building
plot only. Is this a major obstacle in its selling
prospects and value?
Paul Morton
A.: Not a major issue, provided you have a building
permit and a certificate of final approval. You can
deposit both at the Lands Office to have your house so
recorded. In terms of value I will say you might be
looking towards a 5%-10% reduction in the market price
because of this.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: Are you aware of what has happened the other day at
Pissouri village? We were all charged between €5.0 and
€10/ton and we came up with a bill of €1.000 for 2
months. We objected amongst others and sure enough the
charge was reduced to €0.70 cents- €1.70/ton. Is this a
serious behavior Mr Loizou?
George Apollo
A.: Some local authorities got so scared for running out
of drinking water, they resorted to the high price
measures. I am a little to blame by suggesting through
the press to adopt this measure but after the
consumption of excess 30 tons/month. The important thing
is that the matter is now resolved.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: We follow your articles religiously both in the
Greek as well as the English press. We note what you say
bout the local property market being supported primarily
by the Russian demand, but is this a sustainable market?
Anna + George Habib
A.: Oil prices are going down and the Russian stock
market is not doing so well. The Russian Government has
also taken similar support measures as the “West”.
Difficult to say, but, if I am to adopt international
analyst reports, this global situation will last for
another 12-18 months. During our last Moscow
international exhibition there was very little interest
for worldwide property. So we might find a reduction in
the demand from Russia over the next say 12 months for
the average price property (around £200.000-£450.000)
with the top end not being so affected (it is only an
expectation on my part).
A.P. Loizou
Q.: Can we build on a plot of land which has access from
an earth proposed road?
Sandy Bird
A.: Notwithstanding that the road has been constructed
you cannot secure a building planning permit until the
road is registered as being a public road and the road
must have a width of at least 4 meters, in order to be
allowed to build even if it is registered as being a
public road. There is one exception to this general
statement that in case the road was constructed under a
compulsory purchase order, then most likely you are
eligible for the permit.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: I have noted that the Minister of Interior is
preparing a Bill to submit to the House in order for
buildings with a building permit, but without a
certificate of approval/division permit, to have a
“temporary” title issue. But is the certificate of
approval not very important, so that the occupier knows
that the building is structurally sound?
Dion Murray
A.: I have no more information that what you have,
although I will try and get informed on this. I am not
so much worried about the structural stability of a
home, since this certificate could be issued by the
supervising engineer, who will bear the responsibility.
If I have to choose between no title and this
“temporary” title, I will opt for the second. I am
afraid unless I have more information, I cannot be of
more help to you.
A.P. Loizou
Q.: Dear
Mr Loizou,
I hope you can help me with my enquiry as to whether to
proceed or just give up.
I asked a concrete company that specialise in concrete
finishes to concrete around my pool area. (I had been
recommended this company by the builder of my house and
had had the area around the house done with the finish
when I moved in (That work was done in September 2006.)
In May 2007 we decided to concrete the area around the
pool and this was done on 03/05/07. What did surprise me
was that the work (200sq mtrs) was being done by 3
people instead of the 6 or more that we had when the
area around the house was done and was one of the
hottest days of the year.
In the Spring of this year cracks appearing in the
concrete and one side that goes up to the retaining wall
had moved and dropped considerably. I contacted the
builder and the concrete specialist to ask them to come
and have a look. The concrete man phoned me to say that
he was aware of the cracks and would call round in the
week. (That never happened) The builder of our house did
come round and had a look and understood my concerns for
a) the retaining wall and b) for the swimming pool. I
have since called the concrete man most months and every
time he tells me he will call around but never does.
The last time we called, my husband spoke to him and he
said it was due to poor soil and according to him this
is what the builder had told him when he spoke to him. I
have to say our builder is exceptionally kind and will
come out frequently when I have a problem but this is
not down to him but I do feel that he should not have
made that comment to the concrete contractor.
We are not soil experts and as far as we were concerned
he undertook to do the job and the necessary preparation
of the land as this is what we were paying for. The
concrete that was attached to the swimming pool has now
dropped by about 4 inches and has moved away from the
pool surround completely. Larger cracks are appearing
all the time in other areas now. We have noticed that
there was no pinning into the original concrete pool
surround and so it has just moved.
My problem is that we paid this man CY£5300 for the pool
area and the driveway down to the pool but we did not
get a receipt. I do have pictures of the concrete being
poured on the said date.
Is it our responsibility to repair the concrete or
should I get my lawyer to send him a letter requesting
he makes good the cracked areas. I do not want to get
into an argument over all of this but I do not like
spending that amount of money for a job badly done and I
feel very let down that as far as I was concerned we
were using the right company for the job through
recommendation. Now it seems that his phone doesn’t ring
because he will not speak to us at all.
What can you recommend we do in this instance?
Thanking you in advance for your time and any advice you
may be able to give us.
Yours ever,
B Veitch
Finikaria
A.: I am sad to read about your problem. What you need
is a structural engineer to visit the property and
ascertain the cause of this problem. (Perhaps our office
could help out). Based on this report you can then take
the appropriate action.
A.P. Loizou
www.aloizou.com.cy
www.aloizou.ro
www.aloizou.ru
ala-HQ@aloizou.com.cy
