PRE74 DEED
This is deemed to be the best deed available as, simply put, the ownership of the property was defined by law before the troubles began in 1974, therefore there is no doubt about the legal history.
EXCHANGE (ESDEGER) TITLE DEED
This is also commonly known now as a TRNC deed. Any historical Greek Cypriot rights over the land has been dealt with by the Immovable Property Commission. Invariably this means that they have been compensated through the gifting of land on the South of the island, meaning the title is now clean.
TMD (TAHSIS) LAND
After 1974, there were pieces of surplus land remaining which had no legal ownership attached to them. These were gifted to Military personnel and Turkish mainlanders in order to boost the population. Again, there are no perceived problems with this type of title, but you need to be aware that some banks will not allow bank credit for these particular properties.
Within each of these 3 main types of deed you also then have a choice of:
INDIVIDUAL TITLE
This means that your deed will have the individual land plot PLUS the property registered on the deed itself.
SHARED TITLE
This will crop up if the developer hasn’t parcelised the land and you are then left with a share of the land with no property registered on the deed. Shared title is good title – it does not constitute an encumbrance and does not, in any way, affect the ownership of the property. However, there is a key legal difference between having separate individual title deeds and shared title deeds which are is defined as follows:
- In legal theory, with shared title deeds, you own an undefined share rather than a particular part of the site. That means that you own a share of the whole site and cannot point to a particular part of it and say that is yours or that is your neighbours as you each own a share of the whole. In legal practice, this rarely causes problems and there are many instances of shared title deeds in Cyprus. However, it is a legal point which you should be aware of.
This is deemed to be the best deed available as, simply put, the ownership of the property was defined by law before the troubles began in 1974, therefore there is no doubt about the legal history.
EXCHANGE (ESDEGER) TITLE DEED
This is also commonly known now as a TRNC deed. Any historical Greek Cypriot rights over the land has been dealt with by the Immovable Property Commission. Invariably this means that they have been compensated through the gifting of land on the South of the island, meaning the title is now clean.
TMD (TAHSIS) LAND
After 1974, there were pieces of surplus land remaining which had no legal ownership attached to them. These were gifted to Military personnel and Turkish mainlanders in order to boost the population. Again, there are no perceived problems with this type of title, but you need to be aware that some banks will not allow bank credit for these particular properties.
Within each of these 3 main types of deed you also then have a choice of:
INDIVIDUAL TITLE
This means that your deed will have the individual land plot PLUS the property registered on the deed itself.
SHARED TITLE
This will crop up if the developer hasn’t parcelised the land and you are then left with a share of the land with no property registered on the deed. Shared title is good title – it does not constitute an encumbrance and does not, in any way, affect the ownership of the property. However, there is a key legal difference between having separate individual title deeds and shared title deeds which are is defined as follows:
- In legal theory, with shared title deeds, you own an undefined share rather than a particular part of the site. That means that you own a share of the whole site and cannot point to a particular part of it and say that is yours or that is your neighbours as you each own a share of the whole. In legal practice, this rarely causes problems and there are many instances of shared title deeds in Cyprus. However, it is a legal point which you should be aware of.