MPs urge property purchase restrictions to cover companies as well as individuals

Nicosia, Cyprus. MPs called on Thursday for stronger restrictions on foreigners buying property, warning that controls aimed only at individuals could be ineffective without also covering companies and other corporate arrangements.

Committee awaits government proposal

The House interior committee carried on its review of amendments to the law on foreign property purchases. Further discussions are expected in two weeks.

Related: House refugee committee flags distorted rents on Turkish Cypriot properties

RelatedHouse refugee committee flags distorted rents on Turkish Cypriot properties

The committee is waiting for the government to take the next steps in preparing a comprehensive legislative proposal to regulate such acquisitions.

Aristos Damianou, the committee chairman and an Akel MP, said work on the legislation was gaining momentum. He expressed hope that the process would finish before the year ended.

According to Damianou, consolidated drafts were ready in April, but parliamentary elections held in May interrupted the work.

Concerns over corporate purchases

Damianou raised concerns about transactions involving contracts that he said frequently remained undisclosed. He said these arrangements enabled foreign interests to obtain property through companies and other intermediaries.

He warned that regulating individual buyers alone would not be enough unless the legislation also addressed companies, funds and anyone acquiring property in Cyprus through concealed arrangements.

Security and economic implications

Damianou characterised the matter as especially serious, saying it affected national security, the economy and Cyprus’s future.

He said Cyprus remained partly occupied, with Turkey occupying some of its territory and another portion under British bases’ control. Against that background, he stressed that property purchases needed to be subject to clearly defined criteria and restrictions.