Parliamentary parties reached Tuesday consensus on the main aspects of a bill for property buyers trapped without title deeds set to be voted next Thursday in the parliament’s plenary session. The bill is a prerequisite by Troika for Cyprus` next tranche of international help.
The bill covers around 48000 people who paid for their property but didn`t get a title deed because the property was mortgaged by the developer, or other system malfunctions in the past.
Along with the bill some of the parties will submit an amendment initiated by centrist DIKO, to allow owners to pay the transfer duties in installments, while leftist AKEL said it intended to submit a draft law for the protection from foreclosures of buyers who have paid more than 80% of their mortgage but stopped paying due to economic hardships.
The parties expressed their satisfaction particularly for the provision of the bill that protects from foreclosures buyers who have repaid in full their property or are consistent with their obligations, but have not gotten title deeds.
As pointed out by the Land Registry during the joint session of the parliamentary Committees for Finance and Interior, for the majority of the 48 000 cases for which title deeds have not yet been issued there are ongoing procedures to solve the problem as soon as possible with the exception, of around 2000 land developments, that have been licensed but never completed.
Following today`s joint session, Chairman of the Finance Committee Nicolas Papadopoulos welcomed the bill saying that the big issue of trapped owners will be solved next Thursday.