Late on Thursday, part of a balcony collapsed in the Neapolis area of Limassol , once again drawing attention to the city’s poor building conditions. Debris from a fourth-floor balcony damaged several parked cars, but fortunately no one was hurt. The incident was part of a wider problem of poorly maintained buildings.
Following the incident, the Limassol Municipality reported that 400 buildings in the city have now been issued with repair notices, of which 130 are classified as dangerous . Notably, similar incidents occurred in December 2022 and January 2023, highlighting the growing nature of the problem. The problem of untimely repairs and maintenance of buildings, according to the authorities, is only getting worse.
Of the 400 buildings marked as “in need of repair” :
- 15% took immediate action to correct the problem;
- 25% stated plans to carry out repair work;
- 60% did not respond to notifications.
Mayor of Limassol Yannis Armetis visited the scene of the latest incident and stressed the need for urgent action to correct the situation. He stressed the need to expand the legal powers of local authorities to manage and prevent such hazards. In this case, the building from which the balcony collapsed was inspected in 2019 and 2021 and warnings were issued to the owners. However, the owners did not take action due to the high repair costs, estimated at around €10,000 per apartment. It was later revealed that the building was owned by an overseas landlord .
Limassol mayor also proposed a system of regular inspections of buildings, similar to car inspections, to ensure their safety. “The problems with buildings built in the 1970s and 1980s using substandard materials will only get worse without drastic measures,” Armetis stressed .
Problems with enforcement
Under current legislation, municipalities can impose fines of up to €20,000 and daily fines of €200 for non-compliance. However, the process of obtaining court orders, evictions and repairs is often lengthy and expensive. The mayor cited an example where a municipality spent €1.5 million on repairs to a dangerous building but has yet to recover the money from the owners.
In addition, illegal changes made by owners, such as walling up basements and blocking emergency exits , pose additional risks to the safety of buildings.
The need for systemic change
At the moment, the council is limited to issuing warnings, posting notices and imposing fines. Plans to transfer responsibility for managing dangerous buildings to the EOA have been postponed twice and are now scheduled for April 2025. Public funding of between €500,000 and €1 million is also being discussed for remedial work following this move.
Kostantinnos Ioannou recently highlighted the scale of the problem, saying that 30,000 apartment buildings in Cyprus, home to almost half the population, are in poor condition and pose a threat to public safety. To address the problem, legislative changes are being proposed that would increase monitoring of the condition of buildings and give authorities more powers to take effective action.
The Mayor of Limassol noted that property owners, especially those renting out apartments at bargain prices, must take responsibility for maintaining their buildings in a safe condition. Without significant legislative reform, public safety risks will only increase.
