The ideal property to own may be found in Cyprus because every apartment, villa or plot of land can be found at reasonable prices. However, the purchase process needs to be understood by every potential buyer, and guides ought to be considered, in order to buy property in this particular country. For instance, if you are interested in buying a property in Southern Cyprus, you might consider signing the so-called Reservation Deposit Agreement because this agreement will take the chosen property off the real estate market to make it a reserved one. The reservation will last for a month and the buyer will have to purchase the property within this particular period of time in order not to lose it.



Within the specified reservation period, a lawyer will carry out all the required investigations in order to make sure that the property is owned by its vendor. The lawyer has to make sure that the Cyprus property and its purchase will provide the buyer with the necessary good title to the purchased property. The reservation amount will reach almost 1% of the entire property price; the reservation deposit is likely to be subject to the main contract ant it will be non-refundable. But this reservation deposit is returnable if the searches are not profitable and successful enough to satisfy the potential buyer's needs for a particular apartment, villa or plot of land.

The required searches must be made before exchanging the real estate contracts; the department search must be planned because this process will ensure the building permit. This permit has to exist in order to allow the buyer to build or even sell the property on a legal basis. The company search has to be detailed enough to demonstrate all the legal aspects; the developer must have the legal capacity to enter all the contracts for sale. Signing the transaction contract involves both the vendor and the purchaser and the buyer will have to pay an installment to the Cyprus property vendor within a period of 6 weeks. If the purchaser does not make this payment, the contract will become void and null.

The possession of every apartment, villa or plot of land will be completed when the property is delivered to the buyer. The purchaser will pay for all the utilities to be connected; he will also have to establish his own right in this country and all the legal aspects need to be fulfilled in order to establish things such as duty-free, residence, driving, tax and domicile rights. The transfer of the title deeds is mainly related to the existence of this title; both parties will proceed in order to transfer the property rights. During the entire process, the purchaser will be provided with legal security because the contract will be valid as soon as it is signed, registered and stamped with the country's land registry.

There are some taxes to be paid as well; the taxes will be related to the real estate transfer and they will be paid to the country's land registry. They are highly necessary to ensure that the freehold ownership is transferred to the purchaser's name. The transferee will be the one to be considered responsible for the entire tax payment. Another piece of important information resides in the fact that non Cypriot citizens are likely to need permission to buy a property in this country. The Council of Ministers will give this permission, normally taking at least 8 months. In the meantime, every potential buyer who is interested in a Cyprus property can buy that property and he can also live in the apartment, villa or other property he has bought while waiting for the necessary permission. The application must be approved in order for the buyer to stay in the country.

Every potential purchaser should keep in mind that the properties that are to be found in this country are secured by a legal system that is largely based on Britain's legal system. For instance, the Cypriot system will provide many safeguards when it comes to the rights of every person who is interested in purchasing an apartment, villa or land in this country. Therefore, all properties are likely to be sold freehold but the buyer has to pay attention to the fact that many properties are likely to be grossly overpriced. So, a personal budget needs to be established in order to decide whether you afford to own a property in this country or not.