13.07.2022
Putting public safety first, the Municipality of Paphos continues to take measures within its legal mandate to eliminate the risk of buildings and create an effective and functional legal framework to test the suitability of buildings in terms of static adequacy.
At yesterday’s meeting, the Municipal Council carried out a thorough study of the situation in the city regarding dangerous buildings in the light of cases of collapse of parts of private buildings on Nikou Antoniadis Street and Posidonos Avenue, despite the municipal baths. . After evaluating the technical data presented to it and relying on the advice of the municipality’s legal partners, the Council decided to take specific action as a matter of urgency on nine cases of buildings that have shown signs of danger and/or uninhabitability over the past three years or so.
Measures have been taken in relation to these cases, falling under the provisions of the Law on Municipalities and the Law on the Regulation of Streets and Buildings, which provide, inter alia, in case of non-compliance of the owners involved, the imposition of a one-time administrative fine of up to 10,000 euros and a fine of up to 200 euros for each subsequent day of violation. In three of the cases mentioned above, the issuance of a building evacuation order is progressing, and in five of them, the risk elimination process has been ongoing for the last 3-18 months in accordance with the provisions of the Roads and Buildings Regulation Law.
In addition, the Council decided that the municipality asks the Association of Municipalities of Cyprus to make an effort to amend the incomplete and de facto ineffective legislation governing the control of public buildings in order to institutionalize regular and strict control over the suitability of buildings . after a certain period of time (for example, 30 years or more) with the requirement to obtain a certificate of fitness at regular intervals.
In order to accelerate and intensify the suitability control of old buildings with obvious external problems, it was decided to strengthen the Maintenance Department with a maintenance officer in the status of a fixed-term worker for a period of 24 months in the specialty of Civil Engineering. To this end, appropriate approval has been requested as a matter of urgency from the jointly competent Ministries of Interior and Finance.
The Municipality of Paphos calls on the owners of buildings within its administrative boundaries to rise to the occasion and, acting with a sense of responsibility, independently carry out the technical inspection of their buildings and the necessary maintenance and repair work, as public opinion dictates . safety , as well as the image and reputation of the city. Owners should be aware that for accidents that may occur in their buildings, they may be asked to pay tens of thousands of euros in damages.
The municipality is also calling on the owners of such buildings to end the rampant exploitation of immigrants (asylum seekers, foreign workers) and others by renting unsuitable properties in many ways, which leads to overcrowding and a real public health and safety issue.
At the same time, the municipality calls on the state to urgently create a new mechanism by which to end rent subsidies in buildings deemed unfit and/or dangerous for human habitation and/or without a license in accordance with the law.
