Estate Agents. Friend or Foe?
Cyprus Real Estate Agents Association
Contact Information
CREAA
17 Hadjiloizi Michaelides Street
P.O. Box 50563
Limassol
CY-3041
Cyprus
Phone : +357 25 367467
Fax : +357 25 365188
e-mail : solo@cytanet.com.cy
The President of the Cyprus Real Estate Agents Registration Council strongly advises you for your own protection to use a Registered and Licensed Real Estate Agent for your property sale and purchase.
He says that you should be particularly careful with companies, which appear as advertising companies **, while in essence operating as Real Estate Agents. He also says that the law offers you no protection if you make a purchase through such companies.
Certainly if the Registered and Licensed Real Estate Agent does everything that the law requires him to then the property seller or purchaser is well served and protected. But in our experience Registered and Licensed Real Estate Agents do not all do everything they are required to. First hand experience I am afraid.
Cyprus has passed the real estate Law 273 (1) 2004, which legally guarantees all the rights of the buyer, obliging the Real Estate Agent to supply all legitimate safeguards before proceeding to conclude any property deal.
The law obliges the Registered Real Estate Agent to take out a professional liability insurance for the minimum sum of CY£ 100,000.00 before being issued with a professional license by the Council.
When visiting a Real Estate Agency, make sure that the Real Estate Agent’s registration certificate is prominently displayed, showing the registration number and the annual occupational license.
A Real Estates Agent’s license is issued only to individuals and never to companies.
If case of default by the Real Estate Agent, the law provides for disciplinary penalties that may be enforced by the council, such as reprimand, suspension of the Real Estate Agent’s license for a period of up to five years or/and being struck off the Real Estate Agents’ register.
The Licensed Estate Agent by law has the DUTY himself to carry out the LEGAL SEARCHES of the properties he is selling and to make sure that they have a CLEAN TITTLE with NO hidden LEGAL or PHYSICAL defects or faults.The Agent himself has to find out whether there are any encumbrances,memos or any other Legal Charges or obstacles of the selling property.
DISCLOSURE of CORRECT information to the BUYER by the Real Estate Agent.
It is also the Real Estate Agent’s legal duty to CORRECTLY inform and DISCLOSE to the BUYER all the LEGAL and all the PHYSICAL characteristics of the property he is buying.In this way the Buyer will KNOW IN ADVANCE if there are any HIDDEN LEGAL or PHYSICAL defects or faults of the property he is buying.
Only if you have paid commission as a seller to a Registered and Licensed Real Estate Agent can you offset that payment against any Capital Gains Tax liability you might have.
VICTORY OF BUYSELL
AGAINST THE COUNCIL FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ESTATE AGENTS
BUYSELL seeks more than one million pounds in damages
All charges brought about by the Council for the Registration of Estate Agents in Cyprus to obtain an order against BUYSELL were judged as invalid and unsubstantiated after a decision by the Paphos District Court on October 24, 2005. After several hearings, the Pafos District Court decided that BUYSELL and its personnel act as independent advertisers and not as Estate Agents.
During the Pafos District Court hearing regarding BUYSELL’s application to lift charges brought against it by the Council for the Registration of Estate Agents, BUYSELL also asserted that the recently passed legislation concerning real estate agents in Cyprus is unconstitutional.
In the meantime, BUYSELL and its lawyers have already initiated the relevant procedures to obtain legal compensation resulting from defamation of the company’s name and its personnel and from damages brought about during the legal proceedings. Compensation is expected to exceed one million pounds.
Compensation is specifically demanded from a) The Council for the Registration of Estate Agents which deceitfully pressed charges against BUYSELL that were completely unfounded, b) Nikos Lemonaris who was the sole witness in the case and was acting, without proper authorization, on behalf of the Council for the Registration of Estate Agents and c) The Paphos District Court’s Registrar who issued the order without acquiring all required documents.
BUYSELL invites all associates and customers to immediately report any malicious accusations or defamation of the company by calling +357.26.200.000.
BUYSELL has been and will continue to operate as usual, and always in accordance to all applicable laws and requirements of Cyprus.
**About BUYSELL
Founded in 2001, BUYSELL is the industry’s leading interactive real estate advertising company and employs more than 200 people in 16 offices across the island. Its activities also include evaluating and recommending standards and practices, fielding research to document the effectiveness of the interactive medium and educating the real estate industry about the use of interactive and multi-channel advertising.
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