Cyprus property law

Cyprus was under British administration from 1878 until independence in 1960, and its courts still apply English common law and the principles of equity where Cyprus legislation does not provide otherwise. Property law is mostly written law.

The main statutes are the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224, the Immovable Property (Transfer and Mortgage) Law 9/1965, the Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law 81(I)/2011, which protects buyers, and the Acquisition of Immovable Property (Aliens) Law, Cap. 109, under which buyers from outside the EU and the EEA need permission.

Cyprus immovable property law

Cap. 224 came into force on September 1, 1946, and Parliament has amended it many times since. It is the law on the tenure, registration and valuation of immovable property, as its full title says. The transfer and mortgaging of property are governed by Law 9/1965.

The Land Registry

The Department of Lands and Surveys, usually called the Land Registry, started work in 1858, under Ottoman rule, and is the oldest government department in Cyprus. Its District Lands Offices keep the register of who owns each property and what burdens it.

Cap. 224 defines immovable property widely. It covers land, buildings fixed to it, trees and vines, springs, wells and water rights, and the easements and other rights attached to land or buildings. Rights over immovable property are recorded in the Department's registers and can be traced there.

Before buying, a purchaser can check the register through a search certificate, which shows the registered owner and any mortgage or other burden. After signing, the contract of sale is deposited at the District Lands Office, and the transfer of the title deed is recorded there when it takes place.

The buyer has six months from signing to deposit the contract of sale at the District Lands Office of the district where the property is. The deposited contract becomes a charge on the property, ranked by the date of deposit.

If neither the property nor the land it stands on is registered in a seller's name during those six months, the deadline is six months from that registration. A court can allow a late deposit of a contract still in force.

If the seller does not transfer the property once its title deed is issued, the deposit lets the buyer ask the court for specific performance: an order that the contract be carried out and the property transferred into the buyer's name.

The 2023 amendment to the Specific Performance Law

Law 132(I)/2023 amended the Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law of 2011, Law 81(I)/2011. It was published in the Official Gazette on December 12, 2023, and took effect that day.

It added two protections for buyers: a search certificate in every new contract of sale, and a set procedure for depositing a contract on a mortgaged property. It gave the Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys the power to fine sellers and lenders who do not comply.

The search certificate in every contract of sale

Under section 4(1A) of the Specific Performance Law, added in 2023, the seller must include a Land Registry search certificate as an integral part of every contract of sale. The date on the certificate may differ from the date of signing by no more than five working days.

The certificate is issued by the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS) and shows the burdens on a property, such as mortgages. It is ordered through the DLS e-services or from a District Lands Office, and the version that lists encumbrances and prohibitions costs €15 for one property.

The search certificate rule took effect with the amending law on December 12, 2023, and applies to contracts signed after that date. The procedure for a mortgaged property, below, applies to every contract deposited after that date, whenever it was signed.

Depositing a contract on a mortgaged property

Where the only burdens on the property are a mortgage or an earlier deposited contract, and the owner is not under a prohibition, the District Lands Office accepts the contract for deposit only with one of two written declarations. Their forms are set out in the Schedule to the Specific Performance Law, under section 3A added in 2023.

In the Type A declaration, the lender and the seller name a bank account of the seller for the buyer's payments. Once 95% of the contract price has been paid into it, counting any deposit the seller took at signing, the lender gives the buyer a payment certificate in the Type B form and releases the mortgage.

If the lender signs and seals the Type B certificate but does not release the mortgage, the buyer takes the certificate to the District Lands Office and the Director transfers the property into the buyer's name. If the lender will not sign it, the buyer can ask the court for specific performance once the Type A amount has been paid. Our page on title deeds explains the transfer.

In the Type C declaration, the buyer asks for the contract to be deposited without a Type A. The deposit goes ahead, but the law gives the buyer no route to the release of the mortgage, and we advise against it.

Contracts deposited before December 12, 2023

For a contract deposited at the District Lands Office before December 12, 2023, the earlier route still applies. The buyer can pay the lender the part of the mortgage debt that falls on the property bought, on the loan's repayment terms. The lender must accept it, and the deposited contract then ranks ahead of the mortgage.

For a contract signed or deposited before the 2011 law came into force, this route needs the written consent of the seller and the lender.

The search certificate rule reaches only contracts signed after December 12, 2023. The deposit rule reaches every contract: six months from signing, at the District Lands Office of the district where the property is.

Buyers still waiting for a title deed

On June 20, 2024, the Court of Appeal held, in Bank of Cyprus v Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys Paphos (Civil Appeal 285/2018), that the Director's power to delete a mortgage under the 2015 procedure for trapped buyers was unconstitutional. Applications under that procedure stopped.

Parliament answered with Law 110(I)/2025, published on July 4, 2025. It reopened the route on narrower terms. It covers a contract signed and deposited at the District Lands Office by December 31, 2014, or signed by that date and deposited later under a court order applied for by December 31, 2024.

The property needs a title deed. For an application made before the 2025 law came into force, the deed can be issued up to two years and eight months after that date. Our page on the 2025 law for buyers still waiting for a title deed sets out the conditions and the deadlines.

Fines and penalties

The Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys can fine a seller up to €10,000 for leaving the search certificate out of a contract of sale, or for attaching one dated more than five working days from the signing. The seller is told first by registered letter and has five working days to answer.

Breaking the certificate rule is a criminal offence too. On conviction the seller faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to €5,000, which the court can impose together or on their own. The same offence covers a seller who mortgages a property already sold under a contract the buyer has not deposited, without first depositing the contract, where the buyer has met the contract's terms so far.

A lender that deliberately fails to issue the Type B certificate or to release the mortgage, once it has been paid the amount set in the Type A declaration, can be fined up to €100,000.

If you need more information about the real estate law in Cyprus, please contact our Cyprus property lawyers team.