BRS – Property Report-End of Year Review, March 2013.
We have received the following report for sharing with our readers from Malcolm Mitcheson, who leads the Property Sub-Group of the British Resident’s Society.
BRS – Property Report-End of Year Review, March 2013
At last year’s AGM it was reported that BRS had moved to more actively support property victims. The Property Sub-Group was led by Malcolm Mitcheson and the resulting changes required has made it a very challenging year for those on the BRS committee involved in property support.
BRS property support is positioned between, the Marian Stokes HBPG who do a big job assisting all house buyers and the various protest groups. BRS concentrate on issues of principle normally associated with systemic procedural problems. The group have also picked up the odd orphaned cause. The BRS sub-committee supported by MNCB have been encouraged by this new approach which has resulted in opening doors previously closed to expatriates.
BRS in association with MNCB and Lawyers Boyralaw have been prime movers in the objective of persuading Government Departments & the Appeal Court to consider simplifying the house buying process in TRNC and move towards unequivocal recognition of full expatriate rights in house buying procedures and disputes.
As a result of a range of activities over the year, the administrative and legal climate has moved significantly more in favour of expatriate house buyers. Buying property in the TRNC is considerably safer than it was providing buyers follow the buying guidelines suggested by BRS. On disputes, the Appeal Court Judgements relating to Harmony Villas and Kulaksiz 5 are encouraging.
However, there is still a long way to go and some critical lower Court Judgements relating to cases on historical property disputes and problems are awaited. Advocates fighting vital cases for expatriates include the law firms of Boysan Boyra, Peyman Erginel & Mustafa Sener.
Specifically, BRS members have been actively supported in the following areas:
1) Dispossession or blackmail of members through various TRNC Bank’s Stealth Mortgages on land.
2) Dispossession or blackmail of members due to Landlords’ post sales charges on land.
3) Dispute with Lawyers in alleged corrupt practice.
4) Raising with the Interior Ministry unexplained reasons for Permission to Purchase (PTP) rejection and recommending rationalisation or re-appraisal.
5) Outside of the property brief the BRS sub-group have also supported the introduction of new procedures by the Health Ministry aimed at improving expatriates dignity in medical testing for the under 60’s and eliminating the high cost of test referrals.
All areas can be considered to be work in progress and require much further effort. We have made progress but by no means achieved our objective. Gul Ozsan’s co-option to the BRS committee in January has meant that BRS can tackle more issues of concern to the membership and move faster towards solutions in areas that were previously seen as intractable or no go areas for BRS.
For further enquiries and information please contact mmitcheson@aol.com or:
British Residents Society (BRS) website click here
Making North Cyprus Better (MNCB) website click here
For those readers who would like to become a member of BRS and attend their AGM on 13th April at the Dome Hotel, Girne starting at 11.00am, you may enrol for membership before the AGM starts from 10.00am.
