Greatstone property buyers on tenterhooks in Northern Cyprus
Expats in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus demand ‘no quick fix’ to property disputes
By Salman Siddiqui
Expat buyers of the Greatstone property dispute saga are on tenterhooks as they await the outcome of a government-appointed committee that is expected to meet next week to find an amicable solution, the Cyprus Today has learnt.
The Greatstone saga refers to a legal dispute involving the landowners, building contractors and expat residents over a set of properties in Lapta. There are 13 homes of expats at stake which were auctioned off last month for 3,445,000TL following a legal dispute between the landowner and the building contractor. The landowner, who bought the properties in the auction, previously said he would give the buyers up to three months to reach a deal with him before taking legal action to evict them.
Prime Minister Ersin Tatar had earlier announced the establishment of an ad hoc committee to examine the Greatstone-2 issue, which has been tasked with speaking to all parties concerned. The committee is headed by Mr Tatar’s undersecretary Ömer Aydın Köseoğlu and includes a member of the Prime Ministry Regulatory Board, a Central Bank inspector, a representative from the Tax Department and the Prime Ministry Legal and Political Affairs director.
Charles Callaghan, one of the British expats affected by the Greatstone saga, told the paper that he and other mainly British buyers were anxiously awaiting the outcome of the committee, and he was hopeful that a solution would be found that would not end up evicting them. The committee meeting, which comes after the premier had met the expat buyers earlier this month, would not include the affected Greatstone expats, Callaghan said.
While the government committee that will meet next week is going to focus on just the Greatstone issue, it is not the only property issue affecting expats in the country. Several other expats have told the Cyprus Today that there is a need to resolve all property-related issues in the island.
Need for holistic view
The government and all other stakeholders must take a holistic view of the problems with the country’s property laws, instead of making some quick fixes, to address the decades-long grievances of the expat community, British residents in Nothern Cyrpus have told the Cyprus Today.
The ongoing Greatstone saga, which threatens to evict expat residents from their homes, is the “straw that broke the camel’s back” of the expat community in Northern Cyprus, a British resident in North Cyprus said. However, while the latest incident puts a spotlight on some of the issues in the TRNC’s property laws and judicial system, it is only the tip of the iceberg of the serious issues that confront all expat investors.
Many expats often end up investing all their hard-earned, life savings in the country, and then get stuck in limbo in the lengthy legal processes to get the title deeds of properties that theoretically belongs to them, she added.
The long-time resident of the island told the paper that “tens of thousands” of expats had been discriminated against under the prevailing laws and bureaucratic hurdles over the decades, with some British expat victims even dying in the midst as legal processes concerning their properties dragged on for years.
And it’s not just the victims, but those who champion the voice of the victims of such unfair deals have also passed away over the years. British expats in Northern Cyprus often cite the name of Marion Stokes, who was the founding leader of the North Cyprus Home Buyers’ Pressure Group; she is known for taking up the causes of many expat Britons who had been cheated by the prevailing property system in place in the TRNC. She died in late 2015.
While a big part of the blame lies at the government’s doorsteps for failing to resolve the longstanding issues of the expat community, the collusion of the banks, developers and lawyers involved in the property disputes is often ignored, a resident said, adding: “There are so many horror stories”.
There is a general sense among the expats in Northern Cyprus that the government is simply not doing enough to address their concerns regarding the property laws and processes in the country, and it must immediately involve all stakeholders to resolve the systemic issues.
Need for reforms
Among the myriad of issues highlighted by the British expats, one is concerned with the Northern Cyprus’ Specific Performance Law, which many people complain has not been revisited by the government with the intention of improving its various inadequacies.
For example, while the law on paper supposedly protects the interests of the buyer when an expat’s lawyer deposits the sale contract with Land Registry’s Office within six months of signing it – an act known as Specific Performance – there is no condition that binds the vendor of the property to clear the mortgage on it prior to submission of the sale contract at the registry; also vendors often retain the right to extend/reschedule existing mortgage etc., which leaves expat buyers at a severe disadvantage.
Also, under the law, there is no way one can force a property owner to give up the title deed; often even when people resort to the TRNC courts for this, they return empty handed since under the current law “people can’t do much about it”, an expat resident said.
Apart from not getting any relief from the law and judicial system, at times even the lawyers that one engages to resolve the dispute with the owners leaves expats at a disadvantage since some lawyers work on both sides, with big developers/builders and the victims, without any regard for the obvious conflict of interest.
The Greatstone saga
Those who paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for the homes but who never received their titles deeds in the Greatstone issue are: Kathleen Harrison, Bridget Tuxworth, Graeme and Carolyn Beattie, Barrie John Price, Charles and Agnes Callaghan, John McDonald, Peter Green, Jack Geddes, Ian Anderson, Pamela and Trevor Seiles, Mike Chippendale, Barbara and Louis Lombert and Maurice Howe.
Previously, Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay told Cyrpus Today that he was looking into ways to effectively nationalise the 13 homes in questions and save the residents from the threat of eviction. Dr Özersay had said the state could “expropriate” the properties and then lease them back to residents on a “long-term” basis as a solution to their situation.
However, Prime Minister Ersin Tatar later appeared to pour cold water on his coalition partner’s plans to purchase the properties. Mr Tatar said earlier this month following a meeting with the Greatstone-2 homebuyers, that the government was “cash-strapped” and therefore unable to buy the properties.
This story was first published in the Cyprus Today paper on Feb. 29, 2020.
By Salman Siddiqui
Expat buyers of the Greatstone property dispute saga are on tenterhooks as they await the outcome of a government-appointed committee that is expected to meet next week to find an amicable solution, the Cyprus Today has learnt.
The Greatstone saga refers to a legal dispute involving the landowners, building contractors and expat residents over a set of properties in Lapta. There are 13 homes of expats at stake which were auctioned off last month for 3,445,000TL following a legal dispute between the landowner and the building contractor. The landowner, who bought the properties in the auction, previously said he would give the buyers up to three months to reach a deal with him before taking legal action to evict them.
Prime Minister Ersin Tatar had earlier announced the establishment of an ad hoc committee to examine the Greatstone-2 issue, which has been tasked with speaking to all parties concerned. The committee is headed by Mr Tatar’s undersecretary Ömer Aydın Köseoğlu and includes a member of the Prime Ministry Regulatory Board, a Central Bank inspector, a representative from the Tax Department and the Prime Ministry Legal and Political Affairs director.
Charles Callaghan, one of the British expats affected by the Greatstone saga, told the paper that he and other mainly British buyers were anxiously awaiting the outcome of the committee, and he was hopeful that a solution would be found that would not end up evicting them. The committee meeting, which comes after the premier had met the expat buyers earlier this month, would not include the affected Greatstone expats, Callaghan said.
While the government committee that will meet next week is going to focus on just the Greatstone issue, it is not the only property issue affecting expats in the country. Several other expats have told the Cyprus Today that there is a need to resolve all property-related issues in the island.
Need for holistic view
The government and all other stakeholders must take a holistic view of the problems with the country’s property laws, instead of making some quick fixes, to address the decades-long grievances of the expat community, British residents in Nothern Cyrpus have told the Cyprus Today.
The ongoing Greatstone saga, which threatens to evict expat residents from their homes, is the “straw that broke the camel’s back” of the expat community in Northern Cyprus, a British resident in North Cyprus said. However, while the latest incident puts a spotlight on some of the issues in the TRNC’s property laws and judicial system, it is only the tip of the iceberg of the serious issues that confront all expat investors.
Many expats often end up investing all their hard-earned, life savings in the country, and then get stuck in limbo in the lengthy legal processes to get the title deeds of properties that theoretically belongs to them, she added.
The long-time resident of the island told the paper that “tens of thousands” of expats had been discriminated against under the prevailing laws and bureaucratic hurdles over the decades, with some British expat victims even dying in the midst as legal processes concerning their properties dragged on for years.
And it’s not just the victims, but those who champion the voice of the victims of such unfair deals have also passed away over the years. British expats in Northern Cyprus often cite the name of Marion Stokes, who was the founding leader of the North Cyprus Home Buyers’ Pressure Group; she is known for taking up the causes of many expat Britons who had been cheated by the prevailing property system in place in the TRNC. She died in late 2015.
While a big part of the blame lies at the government’s doorsteps for failing to resolve the longstanding issues of the expat community, the collusion of the banks, developers and lawyers involved in the property disputes is often ignored, a resident said, adding: “There are so many horror stories”.
There is a general sense among the expats in Northern Cyprus that the government is simply not doing enough to address their concerns regarding the property laws and processes in the country, and it must immediately involve all stakeholders to resolve the systemic issues.
Need for reforms
Among the myriad of issues highlighted by the British expats, one is concerned with the Northern Cyprus’ Specific Performance Law, which many people complain has not been revisited by the government with the intention of improving its various inadequacies.
For example, while the law on paper supposedly protects the interests of the buyer when an expat’s lawyer deposits the sale contract with Land Registry’s Office within six months of signing it – an act known as Specific Performance – there is no condition that binds the vendor of the property to clear the mortgage on it prior to submission of the sale contract at the registry; also vendors often retain the right to extend/reschedule existing mortgage etc., which leaves expat buyers at a severe disadvantage.
Also, under the law, there is no way one can force a property owner to give up the title deed; often even when people resort to the TRNC courts for this, they return empty handed since under the current law “people can’t do much about it”, an expat resident said.
Apart from not getting any relief from the law and judicial system, at times even the lawyers that one engages to resolve the dispute with the owners leaves expats at a disadvantage since some lawyers work on both sides, with big developers/builders and the victims, without any regard for the obvious conflict of interest.
The Greatstone saga
Those who paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for the homes but who never received their titles deeds in the Greatstone issue are: Kathleen Harrison, Bridget Tuxworth, Graeme and Carolyn Beattie, Barrie John Price, Charles and Agnes Callaghan, John McDonald, Peter Green, Jack Geddes, Ian Anderson, Pamela and Trevor Seiles, Mike Chippendale, Barbara and Louis Lombert and Maurice Howe.
Previously, Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay told Cyrpus Today that he was looking into ways to effectively nationalise the 13 homes in questions and save the residents from the threat of eviction. Dr Özersay had said the state could “expropriate” the properties and then lease them back to residents on a “long-term” basis as a solution to their situation.
However, Prime Minister Ersin Tatar later appeared to pour cold water on his coalition partner’s plans to purchase the properties. Mr Tatar said earlier this month following a meeting with the Greatstone-2 homebuyers, that the government was “cash-strapped” and therefore unable to buy the properties.
This story was first published in the Cyprus Today paper on Feb. 29, 2020.
Comments
Post a Comment