Nicosia, Cyprus. The waiting time for site or cadastral surveys from the land registry averages 17 months and can reach 16 years, the auditor-general said in a report published on Tuesday.
Audit Office findings on surveys and disputes
In a special report on the department of lands and surveys, the Audit Office said that for boundary disputes between neighbours, the average waiting time for a decision is 125 months. In some cases, the on-site survey for such disputes was carried out six to 10 years after the application was filed, with the final decision notified to the interested parties 15 years later.
Backlog and annual processing capacity
At the end of 2023, pending site surveys numbered approximately 25,000. Around 15,000 applications are received each year, while the land registry processes 13,000.
Expropriated land cases
The report said the processing of cases involving expropriated land takes 90 months on average.
Workload, staffing and calls for change
According to the Audit Office, the land registry continues to face excessive workload and manpower shortages. In the report’s preface, auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou called for a “deep change in mindset and approach,” saying delays are evident across the department’s functions and result in inconvenience for the public and loss of revenue for the state. The report said that acknowledging chronic delays is not enough and called for changes to achieve “an effective, transparent and modern public administration.”
How have land registry delays affected you directly?
