Cyprus Property Action Group

No Title Deeds - Selling with Leptos

 

Lydia and Malcolm Rattue decided they wanted to sell up in Cyprus and return to the UK.  However because they had no Title Deeds, like most buyers in Cyprus, they were at the mercy of the developer.  Here is their story.

 

In 2005 we had bought a 3 bedroom townhouse from Leptos Armonia Estates, the purchase price being CY£132,000.

In April 2007 we decided to sell our property.  Unfortunately estate agents would not touch the sale as it was a Leptos property so our only option was to sell through the developer.  As Leptos effectively tell you what you will get from the sale we reluctantly accepted that we would receive CY£140,000.  This was a return of only 4.5% over more than two years when the accepted market growth was over 20% - which hardly made our property purchase in Cyprus our best ever investment.

Leptos then advertised the property at CY£165,000.  We actually heard unofficially from someone who works for the developer that the sale went through in September 2007.  On asking for our money we were told that we wouldn’t be able to have it until January 2008.  We therefore made plans to pack, move out and sail back to England in early January.

In the beginning of January we found no sale money in our account as had been promised and we were both very upset as we were packed and ready to go and needed the money to buy somewhere to live in England.

On 4th January 2008 we were given a cheque dated 31st December 2007 made out in Cyprus Pounds and we were assured it would be okay despite Cyprus changing over to the Euro.

However, when we got back to the UK the cheque could not be cleared for reasons we still don’t understand and we were forced to rent a one-bedroom flat, phoning Leptos time and time again and getting no sense.

All this went on and on until we eventually got our money in late March after Leptos reissued the cheque in Euros.  We received no supporting statements from our developer.

We would advise anyone thinking of buying in Cyprus or from Leptos to think again as the stress caused to us by this sales shambles can only be imagined.

                                                                       
                                                                                               Lydia and Malcolm Rattue

 

Note from CPAG: Because clients have no Title Deeds, in Cyprus, developers can dictate matters such as the reselling price and other arrangements to their own financial benefit, therefore eroding any potential profit that buyers can make on property investments.         

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