The House legal committee and Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou agreed on Wednesday to prepare a final bill that would address problems faced by around 8,000 trapped property buyers.

Ioannou said provisions had been included so that trapped buyers could now, under certain circumstances, receive title deeds for their property.

He added that there had been convergences and that the final proposal would be sent to the banks association for their views

“It is a matter of time before it is brought to the plenum for approval,” he added.

Wednesday’s legal committee meeting was the third after a broad meeting at the interior ministry, which included representatives from the banks’ association and credit acquisition companies.

Ioannou said the meetings had been held to avoid those involved from appealing the proposal.

The proposal, he added, concerned both those with previous and subsequent guarantees.

Provisions have been added to the bill concerning the issuance of title deeds by district organisations, timeframes for doing so and some other measures so that the trapped buyers would be able to obtain title deeds under certain conditions.

Particularly for those trapped due to town planning reasons, Ioannou expressed hope that “by September we will be in a position, after consultation with the parliamentary parties, to submit” a bill.

He added, however, that the town planning amnesty was set to expire on June 15, which gave many trapped buyers the opportunity to legalise arbitrary modifications.

This amnesty, he explained, did not only concern residential units, but also commercial, industrial and livestock properties, as well as catering establishments.

“Those who have not done so still have a few days left in which they can proceed,” he added.