A bill providing for the visual inspection of Turkish Cypriot properties by a civil engineer before being allocated to eligible refugees received mixed reactions from MPs on Tuesday.

The bill was proposed by MPs Christos Senekis, Nikos Kettiros and Michalis Yiakoumis and was discussed in principle at the House refugee committee.

Speaking after the meeting, MPs expressed differing views, from being “well-balanced” to causing “great concern”.

Turkish Cypriot houses are, according to the law, rented out to refugees who meet specific criteria although questions that the right people get to use them have been repeated at previous committee meetings.

Akel MP and committee chairman Kettiros said the bill, which could be submitted to the House plenum in a fortnight, was “well-balanced” and guaranteed the safety of the buildings.

He said that many problems had accumulated over the past ten years and that “we have been trying for a very long time to unlock this process,” which can be achieved through the bill so that the houses can be given to people who need them.

Kettiros said director of the service managing Turkish Cypriot properties Anthi Lakkotrypi, who attended the meeting, agreed with the bill.

He added that there were about 25 empty houses and others that had not been recorded.

The empty houses included those that had been allocated but remained unused, he said.

The total number, he added, would become known through the visual inspection.

Disy MP Rita Superman expressed “great concern”, saying that the safety of displaced eligible people was not to be played with “just because the government is unable or refuses to implement the legislation and is does not appear ready to find permanent and effective solutions to the housing problem of displaced people.”