Welcome to another Lincguide Legal advice surgery, as ever our legal expert Naomi Memhet is on hand to offer advice on all your Northern Cyprus legal problems.

You can also read her answers to a wide range of previous problems by following the links below
Legal questions 1
Legal questions 2
North Cyprus FAQ’s
Scroll down to read the answers or click the link to go directly to the question below.

1 Selling your house privately >
2 Changing Lawyers in North Cyprus >
3 Property Developer problems >
4 Conficting interests >
5 Leaky roof >

1Selling your house privately
Regarding selling your house privately, I have heard that there is a limit of £200,000 to be able to do this. Is this true? And if so, why?

“Under the Estate Agents Law, any sale where the sale price exceeds 200,000EUROS must be processed through a registered and licensed TRNC estate agent. It cannot be concluded between the vendor and the purchaser privately without an estate agent. On transfer of title to the new purchaser, the Land Registry will require an invoice from the estate agent for the commission paid to the estate agent on the sale.

By law, the minimum commission amount which an estate agent is allowed to charge is 1% of the sale price. You can find a list of registered and licensed estate agents on the website of the TRNC Property Information Office.
The relevant page can be accessed by clicking here (opens new window)

2 Changing Lawyers in North Cyprus.
If one – for one reason or another – wants to change lawyers in TRNC, is it possible? What are the (financial) consequences? Any other problems to consider?

“It is possible to change advocates in any type of case, whether it is litigation or conveyancing.
The usual procedure would be for you to formally write to your current advocate terminating his or her services and requesting the release of your file and any other documents belonging to you which your lawyer has in his or her possession so that these can all be passed on to your new advocate.

Generally, the new advocate will not take over the file unless you have formally terminated your relationship with your former advocate in this way and your former advocate has given you possession of your file.
Your current advocate will have the right to retain your file and any other documents belonging to you if there are any outstanding fees owed to him or her for the work carried out by him or her on your file.

For conveyancing, if your application for permission to purchase is still pending, your new advocate will need to write to the Ministry of the Interior to inform them of the change in advocate in relation to the application.
For litigation, your new advocate will need to file an official ‘change of advocate’ form with the Court.

In terms of costs, if you have paid your current advocate in full for services which have only partly been completed, you will need to discuss the return of any part of the fees for the work which has not been carried out. You will also need to obtain a quote from the new advocate to carry out the remaining work.

If the costs of the new advocate for carrying out the remaining work are significantly more than any amount which may be returned to you by your existing advocate, you will have to consider whether it is worth spending this extra money to change to a new advocate. This will really depend on the reasons for changing from one advocate to another and the stage at which the matter is.

If you feel that your current advocate is not protecting your interests properly or that you cannot continue with the services of your existing advocate, then it may be in your interests to incur this extra cost. This obviously depends on the facts of each individual case and the personal circumstances of the parties involved.”

3Property Developer problems
My friend who bought a villa, has paid everything except the full amount for the snagging (has paid 50% of the snagging) and the cost of the transformer. The builder gave her a set of keys in January 09 but has since changed the locks on the villa so no-one has been able to access the property since. She won’t be out to North Cyprus until November so is worried the builder might try to sell the villa in the meantime to someone else! Also, if the cost of the transformer is one price in the contract and the builder is trying to get 7 times that amount from her now (and all the other owners on the complex) what can she do about it from a legal standpoint? Her lawyer also says the price is extortionate!!?

“It is difficult and dangerous for me to go into specific advice without being in possession of the full facts of the case as crucial information can be overlooked. However, in general, I would comment as follows:
Once a person has taken possession of a property, the builder does not have the right to enter the property without that person’s consent. If your friend was given a set of keys by the builder and thereby took possession of the property i.e. if your friend can prove that she was in possession of the property, then the changing of the locks by the builder is a criminal offence and a complaint can be made to the police for criminal trespass.

From the facts and information you have given, it would appear that your friend has fully complied with her obligations under the Contract of Sale. I assume that the remaining 50% of the snagging money which your friend still owes is being held back by your friend because this work is not complete and your friend therefore feels that she is not obliged, under the Contract, to make this payment?

You state that you are concerned that the builder might sell the property to someone else. I assume what you mean is that the builder might purport to claim that your friend is in breach of Contract for not paying the final snagging money and then try to claim that he is entitled to terminate the Contract for breach. If your friend has evidence to prove that the snagging work has not been completed in accordance with the terms of the Contract and in accordance with the general standards of practice in the construction industry in the TRNC and that she is not withholding the snagging payment unlawfully, then the builder has no legal right to claim that she is in breach of Contract and terminate the Contract. If, however, he does this, your friend’s only remedy would be to take legal action against the builder for breach of Contract and unlawful termination of the Contract.

Litigation of this type would usually take around 1 ½ years or possibly longer to reach full trial. The claim would be for a return of all sums paid under the Contract plus compensation for all losses and damages suffered as a result of the breach of Contract, including for example, lost interest, legal fees, the difference between the price agreed for the property and the market value of a similar property, stamp duty and other expenses.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to claim for an order compelling the builder to transfer the title deeds to the property to you. The first step in the litigation process would be to draft a simple statement of claim and simultaneously submit an ex-parte application for an injunction over the property to prevent the builder from selling, transferring or otherwise encumbering it and to provide security for the claims. The next stage will then be for the detailed particulars of claim to be filed setting out the full facts of the case.

The defendant would then file his defence and eventually a date for trial will be given. In terms of legal costs, for this type of work, legal fees could be in the region of £2000 upwards. If the case is successful, the court will usually order the other party to pay the costs, however, the amount awarded does not always cover the total bill. It is possible, of course, that once the litigation case has been filed, the parties may reach an out of court settlement which is acceptable to them both and which can be implemented without the need to proceed to full trial. If, on the other hand, the snagging work has been completed, your friend must make payment of the remaining balance to avoid being in breach of Contract.

Further, your friend needs to find out whether her acting advocate has registered her Contract of Sale at the Land Registry. If her Contract of Sale has been registered at the Land Registry, the builder will not be able to transfer the title deeds to the property to a third party without your friend’s knowledge and consent.

On the issue of the electricity transformer payment, this is something which, unfortunately, we are seeing more and more often. Many builders are claiming that they are in a position where they have to pay amounts which are either unexpectedly high or quite unforeseen. They claim that the problem is that the Electricity Board does not make its requirements with regards to infrastructure or the costs for this known at the outset. Many builders argue that they were expecting the cost to be lower and had budgeted accordingly and that they are now facing higher amounts which they cannot pay.

If your friend’s contract does not include an obligation on her to pay a transformer contribution or limits it at a maximum figure which is less than the amount being requested by the builder, she is not obliged to pay this additional amount and is perfectly entitled to refuse to do so. Whether or not she chooses to assist the builder under these circumstances is a decision that she will have to make. She may decide to make the payment, or she may decide to negotiate with the builder to try to reach a mutually acceptable solution or she may refuse to make the payment. If she decides to make payment she should, in any case, ask to see invoices and costings from the relevant authorities to verify the amount being requested by the builder. If she decides not to make payment and the builder fails to complete the infrastructure work for the electricity connection, she may be able to take legal action against the builder for breach of contract.

Most contracts will include a clause putting an obligation on the builder to complete the infrastructure work or this can be implied into the contract and therefore failure to do so will constitute a breach of contract. The process and cost of litigation will be as outlined above.”
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4 Conficting interests
Is it legal in Northern Cyprus for the solicitor to be owner and developer and seller of a property?

“In the TRNC, members of the legal profession are referred to as ‘Advocates’. This is different to the UK where there are two separate bodies of legal professionals – solicitors, who tend to do client based work and have limited rights of audience in the courts, and Barristers, who have little contact with clients and are instructed by solicitors to carry out court proceedings and who have full rights of audience in the courts. Advocates carry out both client based work and also have full rights of audience in all of the TRNC courts and advocates therefore perform the functions which both solicitors and barristers perform in the UK.

Advocates in the TRNC are regulated by the Advocates Law and the 1981 Advocates Regulations. These provide the requirements for registration as an advocate in the TRNC and regulate the conduct of advocates.

The Advocates Regulations state that an advocate must not carry out any other work which is not incompatible with the legal profession. The Regulations state that it is for the Bar Council to decide on what is or is incompatible with the legal profession. I am not aware of any previous case in which the Bar Council has considered whether or not being a property developer is incompatible with the legal profession.

There is also the question of ‘conflict of interest’. Clearly, if the advocate is representing the purchaser and is, at the same time, the seller and developer, there is a conflict of interest. Under the Advocates Regulations, an advocate’s duty is to protect his or her client’s rights to the best of his capability and an advocate who is instructed in a case must inform his client of any interest which he may have in the matter.

Only the Bar Council and the Disciplinary Committee have the right to investigate and comment on the conduct of a particular lawyer and whether his or her conduct contravenes the relevant laws and regulations. Any complaints must be submitted to the Bar Council in writing by the complainant.” 
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5 Leaky roof
I own a penthouse apartment at Chelsey Village and have had problems with my roof leaking water when it rains heavily. Have asked the builder for the past 2 years to fix, they have come 3 times not once went up on the roof. I had to get an outside firm in to check the roof and they found broken roof tiles, which they fixed, they have been back to put felt down but the water is still getting under the tiles. As the building is supposed to be guaranteed have I any come back with the builder as many times I have had to stay in as they said they would come and never appeared that is why I had to contact another firm as it was like a waterfall on my balcony when the rain was heavy and I was scared the inside would get damp.

“Typically, your Contract of Sale would include an obligation on the vendor to carry out the construction work using good quality materials and labour and reasonable care and skill. It should also include a guarantee period for rectifying defects which come to light after possession has been delivered to the purchaser. If the vendor has failed to comply with these terms, the vendor may be in breach of contract.
I would recommend that, as an initial step, you ask your advocate to write a letter to the vendor requesting that this matter is attended to and/or possibly to attend a site meeting with the builder to discuss this issue.

You would need to check with your advocate what the costs associated with this would be as this would probably not be included within the terms of your conveyancing fees. If, as a result of this, the builder still fails to comply with his obligations under the contract, your only remedy would be to take legal action against the builder for breach of contract.

You would need to have an expert’s report on the roof to show that it is defective and once you have had this report carried out, if you have the roof repaired at your own expense you would need to have official invoices and receipts from the contractor as proof of the expense incurred in repairing the roof so that these can be produced in evidence at court to substantiate your claim for compensation.

It would, ideally,, have been advisable to have the expert’s report on the roof carried out before you instructed the outside company to start the repair work as the builder might try to argue that the problem was caused by the outside company which may make any future litigation case more difficult to prove.”
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Unfortunately Naomi cannot reply to any comments made on this website.
Lincguide thanks Naomi for giving her time free of charge to offer this advice.
If you have a question for Naomi click here >

She can be contacted via email info@nmplegal.com,
Alternatively additional information is on NMP legal’s excellent website www.nmplegal.com

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