20.12.2023
Paphos has seen significant changes in the property buying and selling process over the past year. Real estate lawyers are forced to advise frustrated clients and manage situations where deals drag on for unreasonably long periods of time.
Previously, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the buying or selling process took about three months. But now the average time to complete a deal has increased to 10-12 months. This is due to various delays at each stage, even despite the good faith of the parties to the transaction.
The main difficulties are caused by delays in the Paphos government agencies: the Tax Service, the District Office and the Land Registry. In particular, it takes on average 4 to 6 months to obtain permission from the Council of Ministers for non-EU buyers, and about three months to obtain a tax clearance certificate from the Tax Office.
In addition, before the parties can apply to the Land Registry to complete the transaction, they must submit all documents in advance for “preliminary consideration,” which also takes about six weeks. These delays cause significant inconvenience to buyers and sellers, their lawyers, developers and real estate agents.
Real estate lawyers offer solutions to improve the situation. For example, hiring more government employees to process applications and speed up the contract review process at the Internal Revenue Service, as well as digitizing these procedures. Such measures can significantly speed up the acquisition process and reduce the burden on all participants in the real estate market.
