TRNC North Cyprus property law

The Cyprus property issue, a brief summary of the new TRNC property laws

Any Greek Cypriot who left property / land in the North is now able to apply to the North Cyprus TRNC courts for either compensation, exchange or the return of the property / land.

Former Greek Cypriot properties / land, which have TRNC title deeds would be eligible for a return to the original owner only after a solution to the Cyprus problem is found. These would only be properties / land where the current value of the property / land, through investment or a project does not exceed its value when it was abandoned in 1974. Anyone who had to leave such a property / land would be compensated with a similar property / land of the same value.

Any compensation would be paid out of a fund provided by Turkey set up for this purpose and a legal expert says that no current owner of a North Cyprus Property would be expected to pay the compensation. Clearly the number of properties, owned by foreigners where the investment made was less than the value of the original property / land in 1974 would be very small compared to the increased value.

The new law was set up with the intention of it being accepted by the European Court of Human Rights because of a recent decision that highlighted the fact that the TRNC Immovable Properties Compensation Commission did not provide for the "possibility of restitution".

Any property / land purchased by anyone whether they are foreigners or TRNC Nationals since 1974, will have increased the value of the property / land and therefore all properties purchased are 100% safe and any compensation due will be paid out of the fund from the TRNC government only after a solution to the Cyprus problem is found.