New North Cyprus Property Law Explained

The new draft law on property compensation and reinstatement adopted by the TRNC government in December 2005 has already been misinterpreted, misunderstood and misreported by the media.

This article attempts to explain the new North Cyprus property law in layman’s terms, to remove the media hype, to give home owners in Northern Cyprus the facts they need and to allay any fears that property investors considering the Northern Cyprus property market may have.

The first point to note is that TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat has already stated that the draft law known as the ‘Property Compensation, Exchange and Reinstatement Law’ may be put to a referendum in Northern Cyprus if deemed necessary.

At its most basic level the new property law has simply been created to bring TRNC policies in line with international policies; however because of the political situation in Cyprus it is actually highly likely that Greek Cypriots will fail to recognize or accept the law and that this will render it relatively ineffective.

The law effectively allows those Greek Cypriot home and land owners who were forced to flee their properties prior to February 1975 to claim reinstatement of their home or exchange for their immovable property or compensation for the loss of other property left behind if they so choose.

The new North Cyprus property law does not apply to descendants of former property owners; it only applies to those owners still alive today who physically hold original title deeds in their name and who have not already received compensation for forsaken property.

The new TRNC property law does not automatically give former property owners the right to reinstatement of their immovable property nor does it automatically give them the right to compensation. It simply allows for the hearing of property dispute cases brought by Greek Cypriots by a yet to be formed ‘Committee on Immovable Properties’ in the TRNC.

The government of the TRNC actually decided that such a law was required back in July 2004 and have been discussing and debating the creation of the law ever since. Prior to the creation of the new property law there was no procedure in place in Northern Cyprus to allow for the legal handling of TRNC property disputes brought by Greek Cypriots which is why cases like the Orams’ case has been dragged through Cypriot and British court systems.

Please note that the law has not been created in an attempt to resolve the entire Cyprus property issue. President Mehmet Ali Talat has already stated that resolving the overall property issue can only come as part of a complete political solution to the entire Cyprus problem.

And finally, according to certain independent media sources the Greek Cypriot authorities have submitted a draft law in response to the creation of the ‘Property Compensation, Exchange and Reinstatement Law’ in TRNC that, if passed, could result in up to four years imprisonment for any Greek Cypriot who actually applies for settlement to the TRNC based ‘Committee on Immovable Properties’.