https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates Dated, sourced record of laws, decrees, court decisions and official positions affecting foreigners in Northern Cyprus. en https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-08-07-decree-89-2026 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-08-07-decree-89-2026 Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Gazetted on 7 August 2026 after the ninety-day validity of decree 63/2026 ended, this decree carries the current limits (three apartments or six for recognising-state citizens; land up to 1,338 m²; house on up to 3,300 m²; two villas in an estate), the one-month contract registration rule, the one-year transfer and seventy-five-business-day fee deadlines, the eighty per cent project cap, the ten-million-euro investment threshold, the licensed intermediary investor, transfers to close relatives, and the transitional rules for pre-2024 contracts including the ten-year usage certificate. Its explanatory note records that a bill amending Law 52/2008 is before the Assembly’s committee. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-amendment-bill-before-assembly https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-amendment-bill-before-assembly Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT The explanatory note of decree 89/2026 records that amendments to Law 52/2008 are on the agenda of the Assembly’s Committee on Legal, Political, Foreign Affairs and Defence and were not enacted before the recess. A bill (Y.T. No. 399/5/2026) appeared in the Official Gazette bills supplement in May 2026. If enacted, it would replace the decree cycle with statutory rules. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-06-25-law-44-2026-immigration-fees https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-06-25-law-44-2026-immigration-fees Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT Adopted by the Assembly on 22 June 2026, the amendment replaced the residence-permit fee schedule and allowed the Council of Ministers to raise those fees by regulation, in line with annual inflation, by up to fifteen times. Recorded for the LIVE vertical; no residence rules have yet been encoded on this site. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-05-11-decree-63-2026 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-05-11-decree-63-2026 Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Re-issue of the decree, adding the licensed intermediary investor category (new Articles 8A and 8B). Reported in the press as taking effect on 11 May 2026. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-02-12-decree-11-2026 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2026-02-12-decree-11-2026 Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Re-issue of the decree, now providing a ten-year usage certificate (indefinite under the holiday-homes regime) for over-limit pre-2024 contracts. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-11-14-decree-42-2025 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-11-14-decree-42-2025 Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Re-issue of the August 2025 decree on expiry of its ninety-day validity. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-09-11-ep-resolution https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-09-11-ep-resolution Thu, 11 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT The European Parliament adopted, by 597 votes to 0 with 5 abstentions, a resolution condemning the detention on 19 July 2025 of five Greek Cypriot EU citizens who were visiting property in the north, and calling for their release. eu https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-08-14-decree-30-2025 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-08-14-decree-30-2025 Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT The first comprehensive decree regulating foreigners’ acquisition rules: acquisition limits widened (three apartments, six for recognising-state citizens, villas in estates), one-year transfer and seventy-five-business-day fee deadlines, eighty per cent cap per project, ten-million-euro investment threshold, two-year window for applications with a construction permit or planning approval, thirty-six months for completed delivered dwellings, share transfers with the Land Registry Director’s approval, and transfer of investment property. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-05-09-roc-convictions-303a https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-05-09-roc-convictions-303a Fri, 09 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT According to the High Commission of Cyprus in the UK, on 9 May 2025 the Nicosia Assize Court convicted two European citizens under Article 303A of the Criminal Code, one for advertising property sales on a website and one for promoting properties on social media, with sentences of two and a half years and fifteen months. republic-of-cyprus https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-04-03-decree-13-2025 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-04-03-decree-13-2025 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT Introduced a seven-year usage certificate for over-limit pre-2024 contracts for dwellings (ownership remaining with the seller) and allowed build-and-sell partnerships between registered contractors and citizens of recognising states with a foreign share of up to forty-nine per cent. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-02-21-decree-7-2025 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-02-21-decree-7-2025 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT Further regulation of pre-2024 contracts under transitional Article 1 and extension of the six-month deadlines that would otherwise have expired. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-02-21-roc-law-18-2025 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-02-21-roc-law-18-2025 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT Law 18(I)/2025 amended section 281 of the Criminal Code: the offence of possessing, cultivating, occupying or using land registered to another without the registered owner’s consent became punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to ten thousand euros, instead of two years or five thousand pounds. republic-of-cyprus https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-02-07-decree-8-2025 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2025-02-07-decree-8-2025 Fri, 07 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT Extension of the period in transitional Article 1(4) of Law 39/2024 for paying taxes and fees on properties without final approval or unit titles. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2024-12-14-decree-57-2024 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2024-12-14-decree-57-2024 Sat, 14 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT A decree of 14 December 2024 regulated the position of pre-2024 sales contracts exceeding the acquisition limits. We know it from the recital of the later decree 13/2025; its text has not been read. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2024-05-21-law-39-2024 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2024-05-21-law-39-2024 Tue, 21 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT Adopted on 20 May 2024 and gazetted on 21 May 2024, the amendment redefined "foreigner" to include companies with any foreign shareholding and trustees, limited foreigners to one property (three apartments for citizens of recognising states), required unit titles before application, created the online application with a fee of half the gross minimum wage, set six-month transfer and sixty-business-day tax deadlines, capped same-nationality ownership within a parcel, banned trustee agreements used to exceed limits, set a twenty-million-euro investment threshold, and imposed transitional deadlines on existing contracts. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2018-08-29-council-decree-relaxation https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2018-08-29-council-decree-relaxation Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT According to the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association, a Council of Ministers decision of 29 August 2018 relaxed some limitations under Law 52/2008, including allowing up to three flats. We have not read the decision itself. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2010-03-01-echr-demopoulos https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2010-03-01-echr-demopoulos Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT The Grand Chamber declared inadmissible eight applications by displaced Greek Cypriot owners for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, holding that Law 67/2005 provides an accessible and effective framework of redress, while stressing that owners have not lost ownership in any formal sense and are not obliged to use the Commission. echr https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2010-01-19-ewca-apostolides-orams https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2010-01-19-ewca-apostolides-orams Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Following the CJEU ruling, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales allowed Mr Apostolides’ appeal and reinstated the orders registering the Cypriot judgments for enforcement in England. uk https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2009-04-28-cjeu-apostolides-orams https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2009-04-28-cjeu-apostolides-orams Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT The Court of Justice ruled that the suspension of EU law in the areas not controlled by the Republic of Cyprus does not prevent recognition and enforcement, under Regulation 44/2001, of a Cypriot court judgment concerning land in those areas. cjeu https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2008-11-10-law-52-2008 https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2008-11-10-law-52-2008 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT The Assembly adopted the Immovable Property Acquisition and Long-Term Lease (Aliens) Law unanimously on 10 November 2008, repealing the earlier Acquisition of Immovable Property (Aliens) Law. It requires Council of Ministers permission for purchases and long-term leases by foreigners. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2005-12-22-echr-xenides-arestis https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2005-12-22-echr-xenides-arestis Thu, 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT The Court found violations of Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and held that Turkey must introduce, within three months, a remedy securing effective protection of those rights for the applicant and all similar pending applications. Law 67/2005 and the Immovable Property Commission followed. echr https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2005-law-67-2005-ipc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2005-law-67-2005-ipc Thu, 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT The TRNC law providing for compensation, exchange and restitution of immovable properties within Article 159(1)(b) of the TRNC Constitution, and establishing the Immovable Property Commission to decide claims. The exact gazette date has not been verified; the date shown is the date of the Xenides-Arestis judgment that the Commission’s own materials cite as the trigger. trnc https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2001-05-10-echr-cyprus-v-turkey https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-2001-05-10-echr-cyprus-v-turkey Thu, 10 May 2001 00:00:00 GMT In the inter-state case the Grand Chamber found a continuing violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 because Greek Cypriot owners of property in northern Cyprus were denied access to, control of and enjoyment of their property without compensation. echr https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-1996-12-18-echr-loizidou https://northcyprusreference.com/en/legal-updates/event-1996-12-18-echr-loizidou Wed, 18 Dec 1996 00:00:00 GMT The European Court of Human Rights held that the denial of access to Ms Loizidou’s property in northern Cyprus and the loss of control over it were imputable to Turkey and breached Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, and that she must be regarded as having remained the legal owner of the land. echr