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22 November 2004
Source: The Times
Author: Michael Theodoulou
Britons face losing homes in Cyprus as refugees reclaim land
"A BRITISH couple who built a “dream” holiday home on Greek Cypriot land abandoned under force in northern Cyprus have been ordered to demolish it, return the plot and pay the original title-holder damages of nearly £10,000."
A BRITISH couple who built a “dream” holiday home on Greek Cypriot land
abandoned under force in northern Cyprus have been ordered to demolish
it, return the plot and pay the original title-holder damages of nearly
£10,000.
The ruling against David and Linda Orams was issued by a court in
the south of the island, where Greek Cypriots represent the island
internationally. The court is powerless to enforce its ruling in the
self- declared Turkish Cypriot state because of the island’s 30-year-old
division.
However, the Orams cannot ignore the test case, which, they say,
could affect thousands of Britons who have bought properties in northern
Cyprus.
Now that Cyprus is a member of the European Union, Meletis
Apostolides, the original Greek Cypriot landowner, aims to enforce the
judgment in England, which could result in a claim on the Orams’
property in Britain. It would probably be the first time that the High
Court has tested a 2001 directive from the European Council that
judgments in EU member countries can be enforced in this country.
The Orams, who spend half their time in Cyprus, moved into the
house about 18 months ago. They had bought the shell of the building
from a Turkish Cypriot and added a swimming pool.
“Many of the British who have properties in the north are now very
worried as to what will happen to them. Some of them sold up completely
in England and went to live in north Cyprus permanently,” Mrs Orams, 58,
a former museum assistant from Hove, East Sussex, said.
British buyers seeking holiday homes at highly affordable prices in
northern Cyprus are stepping into one of the most emotive issues of the
long-running Cyprus problem. The vast majority of houses are sprouting
on land that 167,000 Greek Cypriots were forced to abandon when Turkish
troops invaded northern Cyprus in 1974 after a short-lived
Greek-inspired coup in Nicosia.
Greek Cypriot refugees, longing to reclaim their properties, fear
that the frenetic building is literally cementing the island’s division.
To them, British buyers are “trespassers” attempting to profit from
their misfortune.
Mr Apostolides, who has the original title deed to the land where
the Orams have a £160,000 home in Lapithos (Lapta to the Turks), said:
“The place is very dear to me and I am very much a person who wants to
go back and to find a solution to the problem.”
Mr Apostolides, an architect with the Cyprus Tourism Organisation,
added: “The thing I will try to do is at least stop this feeling that it
(Britons buying Greek Cypriot land) is an easy thing to do without
consequences.”
He was 24 when his family had to flee their home and land in
Lapithos, a hillside village overlooking the Mediterranean a few miles
west of Kyrenia.
“The plot had lemon trees 30 years ago and Mr Apostolides wants the
land returned to plant another citrus grove. His intention is not to
take advantage of what has been built on it,” Constantine Candounas, his
lawyer, said.
The November 9 ruling by the District Court of Nicosia ordered the
Orams to “demolish immediately” the house, swimming pool and perimeter
wall and return the land at once to the original title deed-holder. They
are also required to pay damages of 7,654.83 Cyprus pounds (about
£10,000) and 294.41 pounds (about £250) a month from December until the
property is delivered to Mr Apostolides. The Orams have applied for a
stay and to have the judgment set aside so that they can defend their
case.
Experts say that, whatever the outcome, lengthy and costly
litigation, together with worry and uncertainty, could scare Britons
from buying land that Greek Cypriots claim. The Foreign and Commonwealth
Office’s website gives warning that northern Cyprus’s “non-recognition”
and the possibility of a settlement “could have implications for those
considering buying property” .
However, Minhan Sagiroglu, a Nicosia-based lawyer, said that the
constitution of northern Cyprus guaranteed the rights of expatriates who
bought property in the region. “If at some stage European law was
applied in northern Cyprus, the English owner should be able to apply
for compensation from the State.”"
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