Northern Cyprus Property Buying Procedure
We appreciate that buying a property overseas can be a nerve-wracking experience for anyone so that’s why we’re here to reassure you that buying a property in Northern Cyprus is really much the same as buying one in the UK. The only real difference being that if you are a non-national, you will have to apply for a non-resident purchase permit.
So how do you buy a property in North Cyprus?
Simply put, there are just a few steps in the property buying procedure:
First you find your dream property, which shouldn’t be difficult in North Cyprus! You will then need to make sure that you can secure the property and have it taken off the market, by paying a deposit. The deposit is commonly agreed as being 10% of the purchase price and can be paid by cash or credit card or you can arrange to have a wire transfer sent over from your British bank.
Secondly you will need to hire a Northern Cyprus solicitor. The majority of solicitors in North Cyprus are bi-lingual in Turkish and English, so you shouldn’t have any problems communicating with each other. There’s also the advantage that all legal documents are produced in English so you don’t have to worry about costly fees to have documents translated either, and the legal system is based on the same model as in the UK so you should find a lot of similarities.
Third, apply for a purchase permit. Once you’ve found a good solicitor, the first thing that he or she should do is start the process to apply for a non-national purchase permit. These permits can come through quite quickly, though you should be prepared for a lengthy wait of anything between 4 and 12 months. In the meantime your solicitor will be preparing everything ready for when the permit comes through, and checking that everything is in order with the title deeds.
Fourth you exchange contracts. When your solicitor is happy with the contracts, you are ready to sign and exchange. To save you having to fly backwards and forwards to North Cyprus, give your solicitor power of attorney and then he or she can sign on your behalf.
Fifth is completion! As soon as your purchase permit comes through you need to pay the balance on your Northern Cyprus property. The title deeds are then put into your name and you get the keys and move in!
So you can see that the North Cyprus property buying procedure is really quite straight forward and simple, and similar in many ways to the UK.