This service is especially designed to suit the needs of non-Cypriots wishing to purchase property in North Cyprus and who do not want their names to appear in any official document for tax reasons or otherwise. The service is also available and most favoured by foreign purchasers whose “permission to buy” has been somehow rejected by the Council of Ministers. Also, foreign investors who wish to purchase more than one property are most welcomed to use this service.

The Laws of North Cyprus allow each  non-Cypriots to buy for the use of their family one house standing on land in the extend of approximately one donum (14.400 sq. feet), or land in the extend of the same size, either for investment purpose or for the purpose of building upon.

The Laws provide that any such non-Cypriot should first obtain the TRNC’s Council of Ministers approval before such property can be registered officially into his/her  name. Such ministerial approval normally takes approximately  six months and in many cases the Seller may insist to receive the sale price without having to wait the ministerial approval.

In most cases the Purchaser having to pay the full value of the purchase price, will not accept to keep the title of the purchased property in the name of the Seller. In such cases this service is an option that clients may wish to use.

Trusts are very similar to the ones commonly used in the United Kingdom but not known as such in some other countries. Should a client wish to transfer his purchased property into a trust, the client will be called the Beneficiary and the company will be called the Trustee. The Beneficiary will then become the equitable owner with full rights of an “owner”. He may occupy, rent or sell the property whenever and at whatever price that he may wish. All he has to do is to instruct the Trust to transfer the property to a named person or persons.

Cost 

The creation of the trust will not entail any costs other than normal conveyance costs applicable to any normal purchase. During the continuation of the trust  there will be an annual trust fee of £250 + VAT. Should the Beneficiary decide to sell, then there will be normal conveyance fees as it will be applicable to any other sale.

Taxes 

When purchasing a property with the intention of putting the property on trust the Contract of Sale will still have to be stamped at the Tax office and then registered with the Land Registry as in any other property purchase. When the deeds are ready to be transferred to the Trust a deeds transfer fee  of 6% will have to be paid to the Tax office by the Beneficiary.

If and when the Beneficiary decides to sell the trust property, the Purchaser from the Trust will have to pay VAT at the rate of 5% of the sale value and his normal deeds transfer tax.