Sellers have a habit in stating that "The Property Comes with Title Deeds" as if not having title deeds is a bad position.
This is not so in Cyprus and many more property transactions take place without title deeds than with them.
If not then the Cyprus Property Market would grind to a halt.
If title deeds are issued then the Land Transfer Tax will have been paid and this will be factored into the asking price, you pay more.
If There are "No Title Deeds" then the Cancellation Fee for the existing contract between the original purchaser of the property and the developer is a cost of selling which is borne by the Seller.
At 2% of the original purchase price it will be more or less the same amount as land transfer tax.
The Buyer pays the land transfer tax if he is in possession at the time of registration of Title.
Nobody gains or loses between the Buyer and Seller - only the developer gains.
But original purchasers might like to get this capped at CYP500 in their contract when they purchase.
Much is said about Title Deeds which ends up worrying people.
Phrases like "you do not own your property" and that "you have not completed the purchase" are bound to send people running to their lawyers in panic.
Provided you use a registered independent lawyer all the procedures and necessary clauses will protect you in purchasing and your right to sell as well.
Section 40 of the 'Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law' (1946) provides that ownership of immovable property or rights in immovable property can only be acquired by registration at the Land Registry, through the procedure described in the law and that such registration may only be effected by the registered owner of the property.
Section 40 relates to the transfer of registered title from one to another.
The procedure requires that the current registered owner is present, or the representative of the current registered owner is present to effect the transfer at the Land Registry.
Specific Performance has been enacted in the Laws of the Republic of Cyprus to protect your interests completely during a period of deferred completion or rather until the Title is registered in your name.
Provided that a separate title exists (as determined by the Land Registry by splitting) the whole basis of Specific Performance is that if the registered owner then refuses the rights of the person who has registered their contract of sale at the Land Registry in compliance with all requirements, basically within 60 days,then the prescence of the registered owner is not required if the registrant of the contract for sale has an Order of Court for Specific Performance.
So as you can see Specific Performance protects anyone who becomes the registrant of a contract for sale in deferred completion.
There is no problem here if the searches are done by the lawyer and after cancellation of the "sellers" contract and deletion of the entry the buyer just registers his new contract at the land registry with no prior encumbrances.
There are always potential risks in everything we do but all the potential risks of purchasing without Title Deeds or selling without Title Deeds can easily be dealt with by a competent lawyer.
Notably one registered at the Cyprus Bar.