Applicants for land through a state programme intended for low-income families were found to have relatives with immovable assets which should have been taken into consideration and the application dismissed, the Audit Office said on Wednesday.

In a report made public on Wednesday, the Audit Office said the land worth over €1 million, belonging to the applicant’s relatives, could have been used to build a house, meaning the applicant was not eligible for land.

In another case brought to light by the Audit Office, a relative of an applicant owned 6,355 square metres of land, which again could have been used to build a house.

The relatives mentioned were first-degree, the office said, adding that there were other similar cases.
Other applicants were found to possess property worth over €500,000 each.

A total of 12 communities were checked across Cyprus, which included 13 notifications of plans and 138 application dossiers, submitted from 2020 to 2022.

The land applied for was given at a special price and with special arrangements for paying it off.
During the time of the investigation, district administrations were still owed over €10 million from previous programmes.

The auditor-general sounded the alarm over a significant amount of borrowed money being demanded by the banks from the state, which guaranteed the loans.

Furthermore, the Audit Office found that eligible applicants had been given plots unsuitable for building on, as they were too narrow, an odd shape, rocky or sloping.

It also found delays in examining applications, with some taking up to four years.

In its report, the Audit Office said in many cases the public had not shown an interest in applying for plots, while district administrations were proceeding to mark out new ones.

Also, a list prioritising eligible applicants had not been drafted, specifications for the size of the plots had not been observed leading so some being twice the set size, proper minutes had not been kept for the evaluation of applications, there were long delays, the family income was unclear, applications had not been stamped when received or had been accepted after the deadline expired.