Purchasers can feel safer as long as their lawyer acts as follows;

That the contract of sale is stamped by the tax office and lodged with the land registry for specific performance purposes, (law cap 232 as amended by the laws 50/70, 96/72, and 51(1)/95).

The lodging of the contract with the land registry office (fee CY£1.00) is very important because the property is then blocked and the vendor cannot sell it or transfer it to anyone else. Neither can the property really be mortgaged by the vendor as the banks are not in favour of waiting in line.

In the unforeseen event that a Developer should suffer financial problems, the purchasers must be satisfied first, then the banks. Hence it is in general, the policy of the banks to avoid the mortgage of the property by the vendor.

If the contract is not lodged with the land registry, the purchaser (s) cannot sue the vendor requesting the specific property. He/she can only sue for the market value of the property at the date of the breach. The lodging of the contract with the land registry office secures and restricts the amount payable for transfer fees (stamp duty) which are payable when the purchaser (s) acquire their title deed.

By lodging the contract, the land registry is bound to take as the value of the property, the value as at the date of the contract. In this way, the purchaser (s) do not pay heavy transfer fees based on a valuation much after the date the property was purchased.

Contracts must be stamped within 30 days of signing otherwise a penalty is charged and added to the cost of the stamps. The contract must also be lodged with the land registry office within 60 days of signing, failure to do so results in the right to lodge being lost, and the contract can then never be lodged.