Purchase Guide

1 – Finance

Do a financial calculation of how you will finance the property and your budget.

2 – Contact a sales agent

Find a sales agent and provide the agent with your criteria’s of what you’re looking for. The sales agent will send you suggestions of properties.

3 – Book your trip

When you’ve find a couple of properties that seems interesting, its time to book your trip to North Cyprus.

4 – Viewings

Attend the viewings together with your sales agent.

5 – Contact a legal representative

Find a legal representation that you trust and he/she will help you with registration no and power of attorney for the steps needed.

6 – Put an offer

When you decided for your new home, you put an offer on it. With the high demand of properties in North Cyprus, the purchase is mostly done at the asking price from the vendor.

7 – Reservation contract

When you get an accepted offer, you reserve the property by signing a reservation contract and pay a reservation cost of usually between £6,000–10,000. This transfer will be made into your lawyers client account and not to the vendor. When the transfer has been done, the property is off the market and your lawyer starts with the due diligence to make sure everything is in order with your new home. If you have applied for a mortgage, a valuation of the property will be done and the bank will finish your mortgage.

8 – Purchase contract

If everything is in order with the property, it’s time to sign the purchase contract. This is usually done about 14 days after the reservation contract. When both vendor and buyer sign the purchase contract, 10 % of the agreed price of the property (minus the reservation cost) is transferred to the lawyer’s client account, and the lawyer confirms the transfer to the vendor. The agreed date of access is written in the purchase contract.

9 – Completion of purchase and access

The day of your access to the property, everyone meet at the notary to finish the purchase. By this time, all eventual mortgage of the vendor are removed from the property and the registration in the title deed is made. The 10 % at the lawyers client account and the 90% that’s left of the agreed price is transferred to the vendor at the notary. The keys to the property are handed over and you got a new home.

At Luxury Homes we will help you find the home you are looking for, regardless budget or type of property. For us it’s important that the purchase of your new home feels right and that it’s the type of home that suits you the best. At Luxury Homes we provide all our costumers a service where we list both our own properties and our colleagues properties, which means that we have access to cover the complete property market. This way, you can use our knowledge and we can advise you on the best properties that suit your needs all at once. Our sales agents become your personal agent and you don’t have to contact several sales agents and do all the research yourself. We also help you to schedule all your viewings and show you the properties.

We recommend all our costumers who are thinking of buying a new property to set up a plan and do some calculations of how you will finance the property before you start looking. In case you will apply for a mortgage we recommend you to apply for an offer to find out your budget and what your options are. One option is to apply for a mortgage in a Cypriot bank, where you usually can get a mortgage for up to 70–75% of the property. Another option is to mortgage your existing home via your bank in your country. The construction companies in North Cyprus also provide long-term payment plans for up to 10 years.

Having a good overview of your finance gives you an idea what you can expect for the budget, what your new monthly cost will be and allow you to act in the most efficient manner when the right property comes along.

Your sales agent and financial advisor at Luxury Homes North Cyprus can provide you with our recommendations of bank options and legal representation.

A resale property is an existing property that has had previous owners, where you buy the property from the current owner. All resale properties are sold in existing conditions with respect to age, price and usage. It’s the buyer’s responsibility to check the property before signing the purchase contract. Your legal representation will help you to make a due diligence of the property to see that everything is in order and that it will be a safe purchase.

Buying a new home off-plan is a little different than buying a resale property, but your sales agent is here to help to ensure that everything goes right and that it will be a secure purchase. At all the new developments, it’s the developer of the property who becomes the vendor. The developer, together with your sales agent, will provide you with all information about the development such as when it’s going to be built, finish and when the access of the properties will take place. There are renders, site plans and floor plans of the development to give you a clear picture how the result will look like. The developer will also show you the plot of the development and show you where your property is located. You get to see materials and depending of developer and how far the building process has gone, you might be able to make some changes on the inside of the property to make it suit your needs and taste.

The payment plan of buying a new development depends of the developer but usually a reservation cost of £6,000-10,000 will be paid to take the property off the market. The deposit amount will be deducted from the sales price. The remaining amount will be paid in four or five stages during the construction, where as the first one is on contract signing and the last payment upon delivery of the property.

In Cyprus the buyer, and many times also the seller, is represented by a legal representative. The legal representative will help you throughout the affairs and will protect your interests only. As a buyer, you freely choose your legal representative, although we are happy to help recommend serious and competent alternatives. The legal representative checks so that there are no shortcomings and errors in the property register, that the property is not burdened by previous loans or mortgages and that no former bills are due for payment. The lawyer also seeks that there are no injunctions or other charges on the land/property, controls building permits, that the seller has the right to sell the property etc. If everything is in order, the lawyer draws up a contract that you need to sign or give written permission for your lawyer to sign by proxy.

When you buy a property off-plan or that is under construction, the lawyer provides a written guarantee in the agreement by both a date for completion according to building permits, drawings, etc. as well as a penalty/delay for the builder in favour of the buyer. Should the construction drag out too much time, the buyer should also be given the option to cancel the purchase, ie. get the full amount back including interest. Your lawyer will ensure that all agreements between the parties are in the contract and that the legal guarantees of the purchase of the property are in accordance with the laws of North Cyprus. The cost of hiring a lawyer varies between £1,250 and £2,000 and is paid by the buyer.

Your application to the Council of Ministers regarding your Permission to Purchase will be submitted by your lawyer. For this, the lawyer requires an unopened extract from the criminal records (in English) from your home country’s police authority, which shows that you have no criminal past. The application process may take time to be approved as there are many who are buying now but this does not affect you from moving into the property, renting it out or reselling it. When your application for a purchase permit is processed, the Council of Ministers makes searches in the land register, the military and the immigration authorities. If the result is positive, your application will be granted. In the unlikely occasion that your application is rejected, you can suggest another person to register the property in their name on your behalf. Once your application has been approved, you will be notified and preparations begin to transfer the title deed to your name. Only then will you pay the remaining 8% of the 8.5%.

Due to a law passed in 2008, it is compulsory to register the purchase agreement with the property register in the district where the purchased property is located. However, the property registry will not register a contract unless it is first stamped by the tax authority. The stamp duty cost is 0.5% of the purchase price. The contract must be stamped within 21 days of the signing of the contract. It is therefore recommended that as soon as the contracts are signed that the lawyer receives sufficient funds for stamping and registration of your agreement. Thus, it is best to transfer the money to your lawyer no later than 14 days after signing the contract. Registration of the purchase agreement with the property register serves as an important security for your purchase so that the seller cannot sell the same property to another person or to mortgage it.

In conclusion, we would like to emphasise that it is extremely important to create a will in North Cyprus for your home as it does not apply to the same testament and inheritance laws as in your home country. As in many other countries, if the owner(s) of the dwelling passes away, the dwelling accrues to the state. Therefore, you must always draw up a testament that is registered with the authorities (through your lawyer for a cost of between £300 to £500).

In addition to the purchase price, there is an additional 8.5% in taxes for a first-time buyer. The tax consists of 0.5% in stamp duty which is paid within 21 days of signing the contract, 5% in VAT and 3% in title deed tax both of which are paid upon transfer of the title deed.

On the access day, buyer and seller meet with their respective agents, or alternatively the legal representatives that are authorized to represent the buyer or seller. On this occasion, the identities of the buyer and seller are ensured as well as the condition of the home.

We make sure that the buying process becomes safe and smooth, so that you can start enjoying your new lifestyle as a property owner on the Mediterranean’s most sunny island immediately after receiving your home keys!