Cyprus Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos yesterday warned of a shakeup to the system of managing Turkish Cypriot properties in the government-controlled areas.
He spoke of evicting those who had fallen behind in rent, citing a figure of €4 million, a review of older rents in terms of today’s property prices, and a halt on state-paid repairs.
Hasikos also revealed that the system was riddled with irregularities including suspect deals, possibly corrupt staff members, cases where non-refugees were living on Turkish Cypriot property, and subletting of the properties by others.
Hasikos was speaking at the House refugee committee to discuss the budget for the Turkish Cypriot property fund for 2014.
He said delayed rent for the use of Turkish Cypriot properties had reached €4 million and instructions had been given to all district administrations to intensify efforts to collect the money.
“We have decided to proceed with eviction in those cases where people have refused to pay up or who have declined to come to a compromise with the relevant services. So there where there is no cooperation on their part, we will proceed with legal action,” he said.
The minister cited case of someone who owed €100,000 in rent and now claims he is unable to pay due to the financial crisis despite the amount accumulating when there was no crisis.
Referring to the rent reviews, he said Turkish Cypriot properties could not be rent out for peanuts.
A database to see who owes and who owns what was almost ready, he said, adding that this would establish who had use of the properties that might not be entitled such as non refugees.
He also said in future repairs would only be made by the state if houses were ready to collapse or were a health risk.
There would also be changes in personnel at the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Properties, which falls under his ministry because “working for many years creates relationships, bonds and dependencies”.
Hasikos said some of the irregularities were “not unrelated” to staff. Within the majority of good civil servants there are exceptions, he added.
He said the aim was the gradual redistribution of Turkish Cypriot property in the right way to correct mistakes.
There were refugees who had a lot of property in the north and had no Turkish Cypriot land, while others who not own land in the north and had a large portion of Turkish Cypriot properties.
Hasikos also said agricultural Turkish Cypriot land would be transferred from refugee father to child only if the child was a farmer and would continue to cultivate the land
