Court of appeal overthrows Turkish Cypriot property case

A court of appeal has annulled a decision of the administrative court in a case concerning Turkish Cypriot property where the Guardian, the interior ministry, first gave permission for the land to be sold but subsequently retracted it, which was illegal, the judges ruled.

The appeal decision, announced on Tuesday, was unanimous. The Turkish Cypriot property owner has been living in the government-controlled areas since 2006 and wanted to sell part of his property in Yermasoyia to two local companies.

Initially the Guardian’s office refused to consent to the sale of the property due to the fact that the proposed sale price was much lower than its value. However, it eventually relented when the current market value was taken into consideration after which the Turkish Cypriot owner entered into a contract with each of the two companies.

However, when it came to the sale, the land registry raised the issue with the Guardian, suggesting the interior ministry retract the permission, which it subsequently did. The permission had been granted under a former government.

The ministry then informed the two companies which requested a review and restoration of the previous permission but were rejected.

In the meantime, they both filed a case to be heard but the court of first instance rejected the request, prompting a case to the appeals court.

The court of first instance had dismissed the case on the grounds that it should have been brought by the Turkish Cypriot landowner and not the buyers as he had a legitimate reason to bring a case.

However the appeals court ruled that the legal interests of the companies had been legitimately impacted due to the Guardian’s initial consent for the sale.

The appeal court said the Guardian’s office should also have granted them the right to be heard when they questioned the retraction of the permission.

“We consider the above grounds of appeal to be valid and accept them,” the ruling said.

It was also revealed on Tuesday that in the period until the end of October 2023, an audit was carried out on a total of 841 Turkish Cypriot real estate lease contracts granted for commercial use across Cyprus. It was found that in 81 cases the terms of the contract were violated while another 91 cases require further investigation.

The interior ministry said it was determined to implement measures to ensure the proper management of Turkish Cypriot properties in the government-controlled areas.

The aim of such audits is to evaluate all existing contracts to establish that the terms of the contracts are being properly observed.