Two English retired couples, Mr. and Mrs. D and their neighbors Mr. and Mrs. P had purchased detached villas, part of a larger project, on the seafront in Paphos from a small developer. At the time, they had used another law firm and 9 years later, despite their attempts, the project was not completed, their separate title deeds weren’t issued and communication had ceased entirely with the Developer.
At the heart of the problems were disagreements over outstanding balances from the purchase price and illegal structures made by the Developer. As a result, the title deeds of their properties were not issued which made it very difficult to sell their properties a situation that caused them constant stress as they intended to return to the United Kingdom.
At the first appointment with the clients, we understood that we had to conduct an in-depth investigation as they did not have a clear picture of the problems and the legal challenges they faced were confusing them. We proceeded with conducting several visits to the Land Registry and other government departments to establish the legality of the construction as well as re-establishing communication with the Developer and his architect. As a result, we uncovered a number of problems, including planning issues, which together with the developer’s lack of cooperation had resulted in the freezing of the process for issuance of separate title deeds.
We then devised possible solutions to the issues uncovered, which we discussed with Mr. and Mrs. D and P so that they could choose the solution most appropriate to them. After they chose a solution, we coordinated the necessary actions, having numerous meetings and liaising with the Land Registry departments concerned, and with the assistance of an architect and persistent chasing, the separate title deeds for the two properties were issued a few months later.
While the separate title deeds for the properties were issued and all other issues were legalized, the Developer changed his mind at the last minute and objected their transfer to Mr and Mrs P and Mr and Mrs D. Following the Developer’s objection to the transfer we lodged an application under the law 139(I)/2015 (often referred to as a “Blocked Title Deeds” application or an application for “Trapped Buyers”) to enable the transfer and registration of the title deeds into their names. The title deeds for the properties were successfully registered in the names of our clients in approximately 14 months from when we were instructed.
10 years after their purchase of the properties, Mr. and Mrs. D and Mr. and Mrs. P had finally left their problems behind. Subsequently, one of the couples, Mr. and Mrs. P, proceeded to sell their property and return to the United Kingdom.