North Cyprus Property Consultants Buyer's Guide

North Cyprus Property Consultants offers a one to one service with all their clients, from the moment of initial contact until long after the property for sale in North Cyprus has been completed.
Our aim is to offer our customers the most profitable return on there investment here in North Cyprus, by getting them the best deal possible.

We have hand selected Properties in North Cyprus from the top developers who all make sure that
Walk through of the purchasing procedure,

Land Title deeds

a) Freehold title - Foreign ownership pre-1974, with title deed (kocan), clearly stating that this is the case. These are internationally recognised deeds.

b) Turkish freehold title - Turkish Cypriot owned pre-1974 also know as pre-74 title. These deeds are also 100% safe.

c) TRNC title deed. This is property or land which was owned by  Greek Cypriots before the division of the island. When the Turkish Cypriot refugees imigrated to the North in 1974 due ti leaving all possesions in the South they were rightfully allocated land by the goverment.
TRNC title deeds can be categorized as either Exchange (Esdeger) or points based (TMD)

Exchange land

Esedger Title (exchange title) is land originally owned by a Greek Cypriot prior to 1974, with title deeds issued by the North Cyprus government post 1974 to a Turkish Cypriot refugee from the south on a points basis in compensation for land left in the south. It is widely known as exchange land - as the Turkish Cypriot refugee had effectively swapped his land left in the south for equivalent value land a Greek Cypriot abandoned Northern Cyprus.

Under the Annan Plan there is almost complete protection for an owner of Esedger / exchange Title.
 An individual whom owns or purchases exchange land now is considered to be in exactly the same position as the original Turkish Cypriot refugee who swapped his land post-1974, the Annan Plan expressly acknowledges there can be legitimate dealings in such title. 

Levels of protection

The first level of protection is, that the a current owner, including a foreigner, cannot lose Esedger land to the former Greek Cypriot who owned it prior to 1974 if its value does not exceed the value of the land the Turkish Cypriot left in the south by more than 50%.

The second protection is that a current owner cannot lose Esedger land if it has been ‘substantially improved’ or in other words developed since 1974. As this includes the construction of a building the purchase of a house built on such land since 1974 is therefore automatically protected and rightfully belongs to the current owner.

Although the Annan Plan has not been implemented due to the Greek Cypriots voting against it at the eleventh hour the island remains divided, the TRNC has now established a Property Commission under the guidence of the ECHR in order to settle Greek claims and to provide an internal remedy and thus prevent dispossessed Greeks from making applications to this court. ( European Court of Human Rights). The ECHR has acknowledged this as an acceptable remedy. Under the property compensation law Exchange land cannot be made a claim against for it to be returned. Also the current goverment has also cleared all indentification of deeds and has currently classified them all as T.R.N.C title

TMD
This is where a Turkish Cypriot refugee could take a relinquished Greek Cypriot house or land based on a number of criteria, usually military service, this land is usualy owned by mainland Turks rather then Cypriots. Under the Annan Plan, this type of land may be eligible for return to dispossessed Greeks, provided it has not been 'improved'. This means that if a property has been built on TMD land after 1974, then it is immune from any claim for restitution. However, there may be a claim for compensation.
The TRNC government has started a policy of blurring the distinction between Exchange and TMD land. It used to be possible to identify the status of land by examining the title deeds or kocan. However, when land now changes hands, this distinction is not identified.

The government has guaranteed all TRNC issued title deeds

Lease Hold
There is also the method of leasing land or property from the Government. These are usually derelict houses, which the Government will lease out for periods which vary between up to 49 - 99years.
Foreigners who renovate the property at their own expense, and who pay a nominal ground rent for the lease period. An excellent example of the manner in which this scheme has been operated can be seen in Karaman (Karmi) Village, which is a credit to the Minister of Tourism and his staff. Other land, such as plots adjacent to beaches fall into this category.