Kurallar

While the decree is in force, a foreigner may transfer property held in their name or leased by them to relatives of the first and second degree by blood or marriage, with the knowledge and approval of the Ministry, regardless of the restrictions in Article 4 of the law.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, contractors registered with the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association who hold a valid annual contractor class certificate may form partnerships with citizens of states that recognise the TRNC and grant reciprocal rights, solely to build and sell housing; the foreign share of such a partnership may not exceed forty-nine per cent, and the partnership may apply for Council of Ministers approval to buy land for that purpose.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, for dwellings bought within the limits under a sales contract before the decree, completed and delivered to the buyer, the parties or the seller must complete the transfer at the District Land Registry within thirty-six months of the decree’s entry into force and pay all taxes and transfer fees on the same date. A person with a reasonable excuse who notifies it in writing within thirty-four months, and pays the taxes and fees, may transfer later; the Land Registry must decide on the excuse within fifteen days.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, where a step within the transitional periods could not be completed because of fault on the administration’s side, the Council of Ministers may extend the period by up to six months to allow it to be completed.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, a foreign natural or legal person may, with Council of Ministers permission, buy: land of up to 1,338 m² suitable for a building permit with only one dwelling; or up to three apartments (up to six for citizens of states that recognise the TRNC and grant reciprocal rights); or a detached house on land of up to 3,300 m² with no second dwelling; or, in a housing estate or site, two two-storey detached villas (three for citizens of recognising states).

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, more than half of the properties on the same parcel may not be bought by foreigners who are first-degree relatives or relatives by marriage of each other, or of the same nationality; and in any case at most eighty per cent of housing projects in development areas may be sold to foreigners.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force: where no mortgage is created in favour of the seller, the one-year transfer period runs from the date the full price is paid; a contractor who has been paid in full but fails to transfer title must compensate the buyer for the loss caused; the buyer and seller must pay the title transfer fees within seventy-five business days of publication of the permission or the permission is automatically cancelled; and until all taxes and fees are paid no permanent or temporary water or electricity connection may be made to the property (construction-site connections excepted).

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, the transfer must be executed at the District Land Registry within one year of the publication in the Official Gazette of the Council of Ministers decision granting permission; otherwise the decision is automatically cancelled and void.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, an investment in tourism, education, health, industry, agriculture, technology or research qualifies for an investment-purpose purchase if at least ten million euros is deposited in a bank operating in the TRNC and used within two years for the investment stated in the Council of Ministers decision (land purchase excluded). Build-and-sell housing is not an investment.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, for two years from its entry into force a foreigner may apply to the Ministry for purchase permission with a construction permit or a planning approval from the Town Planning Department where condominium ownership or a construction servitude cannot be established for the property.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, property bought for investment with Council permission under the law, whether or not the investment is complete, may with a new Council permission be bought by a foreign person or entity; if the investment is incomplete the buyer must complete it within two years under the supervision of the responsible Ministry and the Tax Office.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, a foreign natural or legal person may obtain an annual licence from the Ministry’s Undersecretariat to take at least ten dwellings a year (excluding land and plots) into its disposal by written agreement, at project stage or after final approval, without acquiring ownership, in order to market and transfer them to foreign buyers. The licence fee is twice the monthly gross minimum wage; agreements must be registered at the District Land Registry within one month; transfers to buyers must be completed within two years of final approval; the applicant must produce an apostilled criminal-record certificate no more than three months old; and breaches lead to cancellation of the licence.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, pre-2024 contracts that exceed the limits must be transferred, in line with the decree, within twenty-four months from the end of the six-month registration window; contracts not transferred must instead use the usage-certificate route, and contracts not brought into line within the period are void.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, a foreigner whose pre-2024 contracts exceed the acquisition limits and were not registered must notify the Ministry within the same six months, paying a fee of one per cent of the contract price; a late notification is possible on payment of three per cent.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, a foreigner who signed a sales contract before Law 39/2024 came into force on 21 May 2024, and the seller, must within six months of the decree’s entry into force register the contract at the District Land Registry up to the buyer’s acquisition right and apply to the Ministry for purchase permission.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, trustee (yediemin) agreements made before Law 39/2024 in relation to a foreigner’s acquisition of property must be registered at the District Land Registry within six months; unregistered agreements, and agreements whose effect would be to defeat the law, are void.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

From the decree’s entry into force, a foreign buyer must, within one month and after all taxes and fees arising from the sale have been paid, register the stamped agreement or sales contract at the District Land Registry (in person, through a lawyer or an authorised representative) and apply to the Ministry for purchase permission; otherwise the contract is automatically void.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, a foreigner who has notified over-limit pre-2024 contracts may register contracts for dwellings (not land) at the District Land Registry, request the usage-certificate right and pay the title transfer fees, and receive a ten-year usage certificate. Ownership remains with the seller; the certificate cannot be cancelled during the period except on transfer or at the holder’s request; holders of properties under the holiday-homes regime receive an indefinite certificate; the certificate confers use and enjoyment but not ownership, and its rights other than the right to sell cannot be transferred; a positive security check and full payment of the price are conditions; no certificate is available for property in restricted zones; contracts not transferred within ten years become void.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

While the decree is in force, where a technical obstacle from a co-owner or from the project makes it impossible to obtain a separate unit title for property acquired before the decree, the owners may within two years apply to the District Land Registry and, with the approval of the Director of the Land Registry and Cadastre Department, transfer their shares to others.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 7 Ağustos 2026 bitiş 5 Kasım 2026

Before a foreign natural or legal person applies to the Ministry to buy a property, condominium ownership or a construction servitude must have been established for it under the Condominium Ownership and Construction Servitude Law (35/2010). Concluding a sales contract without this is an offence.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Immovable property in agricultural land and forest land may not be sold to foreign natural or legal persons. A person who sells such land to a foreigner commits an offence.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

When applying online for purchase permission, a service fee equal to half of the monthly gross minimum wage in force is paid. Half of it is credited to the Immovable Property Commission compensation account and half to an account for Land Registry services.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Foreign natural or legal persons, or their authorised representatives, apply for purchase permission through the online section of the Ministry’s automation system, uploading copies of the unit title and the other documents required by the Ministry, including the document showing the purchase price (agreement, undertaking or invoice). The list of required documents is set by a Ministry circular.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

No more than seven per cent of a district’s surface area, and in any case no more than three per cent of the country’s surface area, may be sold to foreigners; any registration made contrary to these ratios is void.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

A company established or registered in the TRNC with any foreign shareholding may, subject to the investment rules, buy up to 80,280 m² of land for investment; its shareholders, directors or trustees may not buy land a second time through another entity; and a foreign company that buys property must notify the Registrar of Companies within six months of the transfer.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

The application proceeds only if the applicant (and, for companies, the shareholders) submit criminal-record certificates from their own country and the security investigation carried out on them is positive. If the security investigation is negative, the Ministry rejects the application.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Purchases and long-term leases by foreign legal persons are subject to Council of Ministers permission, conditional on a positive security investigation of their directors, managers, shareholders or members. The same applies when a foreign legal person transfers its shares to another foreigner or changes a foreign director, manager or trustee.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

A foreigner who has obtained a title deed or a lease certificate under the law may mortgage that property or right after paying the Land Registry fees, and may also take property as mortgagee.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 10 Kasım 2008

A foreign natural or legal person may buy immovable property in Northern Cyprus only after obtaining a purchase permission from the Council of Ministers, and may take a long-term lease only with prior Council of Ministers permission.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 10 Kasım 2008

The Council of Ministers may permit purchases for investment purposes beyond the normal limits if the investment falls within the Development Plan and is in tourism, education, health, industry, agriculture, technology or research (build-and-sell housing excluded). Under the law the investor must deposit at least twenty million euros in a bank operating in the TRNC and use it within two years; the property may not be sold within five years and its purpose is noted on the title.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

A long-term lease to a foreigner runs for at least ten and at most ninety-nine years. The lease contract must be prepared by a practising advocate and signed before two witnesses, and an application to register it at the District Land Registry must be made within thirty days of signature; late applications are not accepted. The tenant receives a lease certificate recorded on the title and a real right limited to the lease term that can be transferred, mortgaged, sub-let, inherited and enforced against.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 10 Kasım 2008

Foreign natural or legal persons may not buy land in shares (share title). An apartment or detached house may be bought in shares on a separate title by no more than three foreign natural persons, subject to the other limits.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Breaches of the acquisition limits, sales of agricultural or forest land to foreigners, contracts without unit titles, share-title land sales, breaches of the same-parcel cap, unlawful trustee agreements and failures to meet the transitional deadlines are offences punishable on conviction by a fine of up to five hundred times the monthly gross minimum wage at the date of conviction.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

A foreigner whose permission was cancelled for missing the tax deadline pays double the application fees on re-applying for the same property, and no third application may be made by the same person for the same property.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Any entry made in the land register contrary to the law or to regulations made under it is void from the moment it is made.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 10 Kasım 2008

Under the law as amended in 2024, a foreign natural or legal person may buy one immovable property with Council of Ministers permission: either land of up to 1,338 m² suitable for a building permit on which only one dwelling may be built; or one apartment (up to three apartments for citizens of states that recognise the TRNC and grant reciprocal rights); or a detached house on land of up to 3,300 m² on which no further dwelling may be built.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Under the law, where apartments are bought, more than half of the properties on the same parcel may not be bought by foreigners who are first-degree relatives of each other or of the same nationality, and at least twenty per cent of housing projects in development areas may be sold to TRNC citizens and to citizens of recognising states.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Under the law, where no mortgage is created in favour of the seller the six-month transfer period runs from the date the full price is paid, but the buyer and seller must in any event pay all taxes and fees arising from the sale within sixty business days of the publication of the permission; otherwise the Council of Ministers decision is automatically cancelled.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Under the law, the transfer must be executed at the District Land Registry, on the official transfer form signed before the officer, within six months of the publication in the Official Gazette of the Council of Ministers decision granting permission; otherwise the decision is automatically cancelled and void.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

All taxes, duties, fees, withholding tax, VAT and other financial obligations arising on a transfer of ownership under the law are paid by the buyer and the seller in accordance with the legislation in force.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 10 Kasım 2008

The restrictions in Article 4 also apply when property lawfully acquired by a foreigner is leased long-term or transferred to another foreigner.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Foreign natural or legal persons may not conclude a trustee (yediemin) agreement in order to buy more property than the law allows, whatever the Contracts Law or the Trustees Law would otherwise permit. The parties to such an agreement commit an offence.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

A "foreigner" is any natural person who is not a TRNC citizen; the term includes foreign legal persons and a foreigner’s trustee. A company established or registered in the TRNC counts as a foreign legal person if any share or capital belongs to a foreigner, or if the majority of its directors are foreign.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Mayıs 2024

Under section 303A of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Cyprus, a person who, with intent to defraud, deals in immovable property belonging to another is guilty of a felony punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment. "Dealing" includes selling, letting, mortgaging or encumbering property or making it available for use; advertising or otherwise promoting such transactions; entering into an agreement for them; and accepting property that is the object of such a transaction. A person acts with intent to defraud if they do any of these while knowing, or where they ought reasonably to have known, that the registered owner has not consented. An attempt is punishable by up to five years.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 1 Ocak 2006

Under section 281 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Cyprus, as amended by Law 18(I)/2025, whoever possesses, cultivates, occupies or uses in any way land registered in the name of another, without the consent of the registered owner or their heirs, is guilty of an offence punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to ten thousand euros, or both. Before the 2025 amendment this was a misdemeanour punishable by two years’ imprisonment or a fine not exceeding five thousand pounds.

Mevzuat metni · başlangıç 21 Şubat 2025