For many of us, buying a property in Cyprus allows us to escape poor weather, high taxes, a stressful life and general discontent in return for the warm sun, lower cost of living and an easier pace of life.

It makes sense to analyse our situation and determine that buying a property in Cyprus has a huge potential to improve our quality of life!

What doesn’t make sense, however, is that many buyers set themselves up for a rocky road and some ultimately fail to realise their dreams. Rather than taking the time to understand what is truly involved in buying a property in Cyprus, many fail to take responsibility for their journey and find themselves with a problem purchase.

Common Cyprus ‘problem purchases’ include:

• Paying a hugely over-inflated price for the property
• Getting a home that doesn’t match the specification of what you purchased
• Taking possession of your house to find that there’s no electricity supply
• Discovering that planning permission was never granted
• The realisation that your contract of sale protects the developer not you
• Losing your deposit or full purchase amount due to the developer going bust
• Failing to understand that the cost of your property today changes (and perhaps increases) until you actually pay for it (due to currency exchange rate fluctuations)

Buying a property in Cyprus can be fun, exciting and fulfilling. Alternatively it can be a journey fraught with complications, massive stress and the unfortunate loss of time, energy and money.

Which category will you fall into?

As with buying a property in any unfamiliar territory there are things unique to the culture and the overall buying process that you need to know to give yourself the best possible chance for success.

One of the biggest mistakes that Brits make when buying in Cyprus is to think that buying in Cyprus is similar to buying in the UK.

For the most part, when you buy a property in the UK you’re quite clear about the process: you know which estate agents are reputable and are aware of a list of developers that have a long history of providing solid properties. You know that your solicitor follows the letter of the law and you’re paying him or her to protect YOUR interests. You understand when the contract becomes binding and when you have time to change your mind. You also have confidence that although it may take time, everyone along the process will do what they say they’re going to do – this includes the mortgage broker, solicitor, developer, agents and so forth.

In the UK you will get the odd rogue trader or a situation that is problematic due to someone involved in the process, however for the most part the buying and selling process is set up in a manner that protects both parties and works towards proving a good level of customer service.

Brits believe (or are led to believe) that the buying process in Cyprus is similar. That it is safe, risk free, and handled by professionals with good intentions. Quite often this is definitely not the case! The Cyprus property market is riddled with dodgy developers, agents and solicitors. And giving the current economic situation, I only predict that the poor practices in Cyprus will get even worse.

I write this not to scare you off the idea of buying in Cyprus. It’s an excellent idea and the rewards of buying a home can be enormous! But I urge you to really do your homework and take every possible precaution to ensure you’re getting what you want, when you want it in return for a fair payment and good service.

So…what can you do to avoid a ‘problem purchase’? Some top tips:

1. Realise that the culture, ethics and business practices in Cyprus are very dissimilar to what you find in the UK. Don’t take anyone’s word (from a Cypriot, Brit or other) – research the facts yourself and get your information from a wide variety of sources. And just because the local property agent invites you to their family house for dinner or takes you to a traditional Cypriot taverna it doesn’t mean that they’re trustworthy or honest!

2. Understand that it’s a huge task trying to find an ‘independent’ solicitor in Cyprus. The developers/agents that supply solicitors with clients (i.e. the buyer) have leverage over the solicitors. If the solicitor doesn’t make things ‘easy’ for the developer/agent, they’ll recommend an alternative solicitor that will.

My best suggestion is to realise that YOU have the choice of what solicitor you use and the power to ask for clauses in the contract that benefit you – you can stipulate that the developer pays you if they don’t finish the property on time or various other requests. Vary rarely have I found a solicitor that produces a contract in favour of the buyer.

3. Keep in mind at all times that you are the buyer and you are the one that decides what to buy and when. Don’t let anyone pressure you.

A common sales tactic used in Cyprus is called ‘Bait and Switch’. What happens is the agent will show you a property and you’ll fall in love with it – it will be the right price, the right location and tick all the boxes. You’ll get very emotionally attached to it and start to think what furniture you’ll get, how the family will love it and so on.

You’ll then spend time with the solicitor, banker and anyone else involved in the process only to find out at the very last minute (right before you’re about to fly home), that the house was mistakenly sold 5 minutes before you decided to purchase.

You will then be offered another property for a substantially increased price in a location that you really don’t like. Due to the fact that you’re emotionally drained and have spent so much time, you take the new offer. Sadly – this type of situation happens frequently – don’t get caught by it! Always be prepared to walk away.

As I’ve stated before – buying in Cyprus can be an excellent journey. Just make sure that you do your homework, research the facts and take responsibility for the whole journey! The process and business practices are very different from the UK so proceed with extreme caution!

Kim Brown is the author of the Cyprus Buying Guide. The guide is a publication dedicated to exposing poor practice, property buying pitfalls and providing an educational instruction manual to buying and/or investing in Cyprus property.

Obtain your free mini version of the guide here.

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