How can foreigners living in North Cyprus buy a property in North Cyprus?
After you choose the property you would like to buy, and agree on the price, a contract (sales agreement) which includes things like the price, timescale, conditions of payment, the agreement between the buyer and the seller is signed with a lawyer acting as a mediator.
Following this, Stamp Duty has to the paid to the Tax Office. According to the current law Stamp Duty is 0.5% of the price stated in the contract, and this has to be paid within 21 days of the sales agreement being signed. Thereafter, the contract/sales agreement becomes legal in financial terms.
For non – TRNC citizens to be able to buy property in North Cyprus they need to obtain Permission to Buy from the TRNC State. This can take 8-12 months.
Foreigners can buy one house per person, and can purchase a maximum of one dönüm of land. Married couples count as one person. However, if their surnames are different then they can buy two different properties. For foreign companies the procedures are different.
As foreigners cannot facilitate the title deeds transfer without getting Permission to Buy, the sales contract, on approval by the Tax Office, is submitted to the Land Registry Office and the buyer’s legal title to the property comes into effect.
Also, the buyer registers an undertaking at the Land Registry Office that he or she will not sell the property on to a third person.
When all the above is completed, the title is registered with the Local Land Registry Office relevant to the property’s location.
The buyer is obliged to pay the costs of transferring the title deeds, which are paid to the Land Registry Office at the time of the transfer. If this is the first property that the buyer is purchasing, then the buyer pays 3% of the sales price as a transfer fee - and this is the discounted price. For those who have already used their right to a discount, the rate is 6%.
In North Cyprus dönüms, evlek, ayak (feet) and metres are used in land measurement.
1 Donum: 4 Evlek
1 Donum: 1.338 m²
1 Donum: 14.400 ft²
1 Evlek: 334.5 m²
1 Evlek: 3600 ft²
1 m²: 10.76 ft²
The TRNC has such unspoiled natural beauties and a very extensive coastline which is bathed in sunshine throughout the year. The island’s history stretches back 9.000 years. On a practical level, the country offers considerably lower prices for property compared to South Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia and Crete. This is in part because North Cyprus in unable to play its part in the world economy.
North Cyprus is seen as a good investment opportunity for mainly British, Russian, Israeli and Arab property investors, and the value of high quality properties in the country is regularly and constantly increasing.
The political development of the Annan Plan – seen positively in the wider world but not put into practice - caused an enormous property boom in the TRNC. Especially many British people sold the properties they had bought in South Cyprus for high prices and started buying property in the North. Turkish investors did not buy much property over this period, leading us to conclude that short term residents and military personnel are not of great interest to property investors.
Although we have said that property prices and rental incomes are less than half that of South Cyprus and other Mediterranean countries, they are nevertheless nearly double the going rate in Turkey. An apartment with the value of £40.000 – £50.000stg brings in annually £3.500– £4.000 stg. With the income from the rent it is possible to buy that property within 10-12 years. This period of time in Turkey is16.18 years.
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