Selling property in Cyprus

In general, the real estate agent in Cyprus must be registered with the Estate Agents Registration Council and hold a current annual license. The law makes a few exceptions. An agreement, written or oral, that engages an agent who is not registered, who has no current annual license, or who is a service provider not acting under the law, is void. A good record of selling similar property helps.

You do not have to use an agent to find a buyer for your property, but we recommend one. An agent knows the market. The agent helps with advertising and marketing, and puts you in touch with potential buyers.

When selling your property, the lawyer promotes your interests and protects your rights. They explain the documents you may be asked to sign.

Many questions can be put to the lawyer. They discuss the relevant laws and taxes, and how the process works. The lawyer makes sure that everything is done according to the law. They help you understand the contract and avoid problematic obligations. If the agreement goes wrong, the lawyer makes sure your rights are protected.

It is not, strictly speaking, necessary to have legal counsel when selling property.

Yet, there are complications in any process of selling. Negotiating the terms and writing a good contract can be difficult. Filing the correct documents requires expertise. So, it is highly recommended that you use the services of a lawyer or law firm.

We suggest obtaining a quote from George K. Konstantinou Law Firm's property lawyers and making your decision based on that.

Check who the buyer is before you sign. If the buyer is a legal person, such as a company, that is not registered with the Registrar of Companies in Cyprus, the Land Registry requires its certificates at the transfer: certificates of incorporation, registered address, directors and shareholders, together with its memorandum and articles of association. A single issued certificate that covers all of this information is accepted instead.

For a foreign company, the competent authority of its country must issue and sign the certificates, as originals or official copies. They must be appropriately certified (the DLS names notary public and apostille) and come with a sworn statement. Documents brought to the Land Registry for a transaction that are not in Greek or English must be translated in Cyprus by a sworn translator under Law 45(I)/2019.

The transaction may look suspicious to your lawyer. For example, the buyer wants to pay a large amount in cash but cannot explain where the money comes from.

An independent lawyer who acts for a client in the purchase or sale of immovable property, or helps plan or carry it out, is bound by the anti-money-laundering law.

Reporting suspicions to MOKAS

A lawyer who, in the course of professional work, knows or reasonably suspects that another person is involved in money laundering or terrorist financing must report it to MOKAS (the Unit for Combating Money Laundering in Cyprus) when this is reasonably possible. Failing to report is an offence. A reasonable explanation for not reporting is a defence.

A lawyer who fails to report legally privileged information does not commit an offence. A communication between a lawyer and a client made for the purpose of committing a money laundering offence or a predicate offence is not privileged.

MOKAS receives and analyses the reports. When it considers it appropriate, it passes information to the police and other state services, for an investigation where there is reasonable suspicion that an offence was committed, or for information purposes.

Cash payments limit

A person who trades in goods or provides services, including the purchase and sale of immovable property, may receive or pay cash only up to €10,000, or the equivalent in another currency. The limit applies to one payment and to several payments that appear to be linked. Breaking it is a criminal offence. The limit does not apply to payments between private individuals who are not acting in a professional capacity.

Relevant law: Law 188(I)/2007 on preventing and combating the legalisation of proceeds from illegal activities, as amended.

ICPAC, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, publishes guidance on suspicious transactions for its members, who are accountants: Guidance Notes on Suspicious Transactions/Activities (PDF)

A power of attorney lets another person act for you in the sale, so you can be represented at the transfer if your signature on it is duly certified. When you are too busy, or live abroad, you can give a representative, for example your lawyer, a power of attorney to carry out the transaction. A general power of attorney costs €50 to file at the Land Registry, and a special power of attorney is free.

Signing in Cyprus

Your signature on the power of attorney must be certified. If you sign in Cyprus, you sign in front of a certifying officer, who certifies your signature. Take your passport or ID card. A community mukhtar can certify your signature instead, in your presence, on the form the law prescribes. Stamp duty on a power of attorney is due only if at least one principal signed it before 1 January 2026.

Signing at a Cyprus embassy abroad

If you sign abroad, one way is to sign before a consul at a Cyprus embassy or consulate. At the Cyprus embassy in Berlin, for example, you attend in person, by appointment, with the document (unsigned) and your passport or national identity card. Other missions may apply their own rules. The consul certifies that the signature is yours, not the content of the document. The Cyprus embassy in Berlin does not draft powers of attorney.

Signing in a country outside the EU

Another way applies to a document from a country outside the EU. If the country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention and the document is a public document, an apostille from that country's authority means Cyprus needs no further legalisation. A power of attorney is a private document, so a notary there, or another authority that can certify signatures, certifies your signature first. The apostille then covers that certification.

If the country is not a party, the document first needs diplomatic certification. Ask the Cyprus embassy or consulate in your country which way applies to you.

The reservation agreement when selling property is a separate agreement from the contract of sale. Under the reservation agreement, you promise to keep the offer open for the buyer for a certain period. The buyer pays a reservation deposit in exchange for the promise.

During the agreed period, the seller and the buyer, with their lawyers, negotiate about the sale. They discuss the price, the method of payment, the transfer and other terms.

If the two sides fail to agree at the end of the specified time, the property is again available for sale to a new buyer. The first buyer loses the deposit if the reservation agreement says so, because the deposit is the price paid for the offer to stay open.

If the parties reach an agreement, they will finalize the terms.

Capital gains tax when a sale is cancelled

If a sale or a contract of sale is cancelled and the seller receives money under a term of the contract on cancellation, such as a deposit kept, that receipt is a disposal for capital gains tax.

The proceeds are the sum received. The seller can deduct only expenses incurred wholly and exclusively to make that disposal and not related to the value of the property, and nothing for the value of the property itself. The tax is 20% of the gain, subject to the exemptions and other provisions of the law.

The immovable property transfer levy in Cyprus is paid by the seller at the transfer, when the property is sold and the Department of Lands and Surveys has set a general valuation value for it. The levy is 0.4% of the sale price.

On a sale of shares in a company that is not listed on a recognised stock exchange and that owns such property directly or indirectly, it is 0.4% of the Department's last valuation of the part of the property that corresponds to the shares sold.

The Tax Commissioner collects the levy and issues the payment certificate needed for the transfer.

Exceptions and the law behind the levy

The levy is not charged on the part of the price used to reduce or repay non-performing loans in a loan restructuring as the Capital Gains Tax Law defines it, or on a transfer in a company reorganisation as the Income Tax Law and the Companies Law define it. Other exceptions exist.

The law is the Central Body for the Equal Distribution of Burdens Law 141/1989, article 4(2), as amended.

The levy raises the money for the Central Body to support owners of property that is inaccessible, or that cannot in practice or in law be put to economic use, because of the Turkish invasion of 20 July 1974.

If you sell an apartment or another unit in a building with communal fees, settle any outstanding fees with the management committee of the block or with the property management company. Ask for a written confirmation that nothing is owed and give it to the buyer.

Capital gains tax in Cyprus is charged on the gain from disposing of immovable property in Cyprus, or of shares in a company that holds such property. For a company that holds the property through other companies, the tax applies where at least 20% of the market value of the shares comes from the market value of the property. Liabilities are not counted in that calculation.

Shares listed on a regulated market of a recognised stock exchange are exempt. The question "What qualifies as a capital gain?" in the FAQs at the end of this page explains how the gain is calculated.

A gain on property that falls under the income tax laws, for example a profit from trading in property, is taxed as income and not as a capital gain. A profit from disposing of property that the Income Tax Law exempts from tax still counts as a gain for capital gains tax.

A company that is tax resident in Cyprus pays corporate income tax at the standard rate of 15% from 1 January 2026. The rate was 12.5% up to 31 December 2025.

Transfer fees are paid by the buyer, in whose name the property will be registered. No transfer fees are charged where VAT is charged on the same transaction for the same property, apart from the Director's valuation power described below. The Department of Lands and Surveys asks for a certificate from the VAT service.

If the Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys is not satisfied that the declared price on which VAT was charged is the market value at the date the sale was agreed, he may, at his discretion, charge the transfer fee on the market value, less the fee that would have been payable on the declared price.

VAT on a new home

VAT is charged by a seller who is a taxable person and sells in the course of business, a developer for example. In general, VAT at the standard rate of 19% is charged on a home sold before its first installation, and a home sold after its first installation is exempt from VAT.

First installation means the first use of the home after it is delivered or built, such as living in it or letting it, on a systematic basis. First use is the systematic use or exploitation of the home for at least 18 months after it is delivered or built.

The reduced 5% VAT rate

A buyer who is a natural person and will live in the new home as a main and permanent residence in Cyprus can apply for VAT at 5% on part of the price. The conditions include:

• The 5% applies to the first 130 square metres of buildable area, up to a value of €350,000. VAT at 19% applies to the rest.
• The 5% applies only when the total value of the transaction is up to €475,000 and the total buildable area is up to 190 square metres. For a person with a disability the 5% applies to the first 190 square metres whatever the total area. For a family with at least four children, the total area limit rises by 15 square metres for each child after the third.
• Children are unmarried children under 18 (including adopted children and stepchildren) and unmarried children who permanently cannot support themselves and live with the buyer.
• The buyer is a natural person aged 18 or over on the date of the application, with no other home in Cyprus acquired at the reduced rate, who has repaid any grant received under the earlier special housing grant law. A married buyer can apply for one home only, and a declaration from the spouse that the spouse owns no other home in Cyprus used as a main and permanent residence is filed at the same time.
• For a purchase, the buyer files the declaration through the Tax For All system before the home comes into the buyer's possession. The Tax Commissioner may allow it to be filed up to 12 months after possession, if full supporting documents are submitted and he is satisfied that the delay was due to the buyer's absence from Cyprus, illness or another event he accepts as sufficient.

Transitional rules for older planning permits

• Buildings for which a planning permit was secured, or a planning application was filed, by 31 October 2023 stay outside the 2023 VAT amendments if the declaration was filed within three years of that law taking effect. Where the planning application was filed by 31 October 2023 and the building permit was issued by 31 December 2024, the Tax Department set 15 June 2026 as the last day for a declaration claiming 5% on the first 200 square metres.
• The Tax Commissioner can examine declarations filed under that rule until 31 December 2026 where planning delays held up the examination.

The VAT page lists the other conditions.

If you stop living in the home within ten years

If you bought or built a home at the 5% rate and stop using it as your residence before ten years have passed, you must notify the Tax Commissioner within 30 days of the date you stop. You then pay the difference between the VAT at the reduced rate and at the standard rate, as they stood when the home was delivered or built, for the period you have not lived in it.

The exceptions are the death of the person who claimed the reduced rate and a transfer by that person to their adult child, if the child is eligible for the reduced rate at the time of the transfer.

Stamp duty

Stamp duty was repealed by Law 239(I)/2025 from 1 January 2026. The Tax Department says that a document drawn up and signed by at least one party up to 31 December 2025 is still subject to stamp duty under the old law and must be stamped under the procedures that applied until that date.

Yes, it is possible. The property may be mortgaged or still under construction.

Where the title deed cannot be transferred yet, for example because of financial or other pending issues, the Department of Lands and Surveys recommends signing a sale contract and depositing it at the District Lands Office of the district where the property is located. A deposit brings in the Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law 81(I)/2011, whose provisions aim to protect the buyer if the seller does not meet the contract.

Search certificate in the contract

If the property has a mortgage, a search certificate issued with encumbrances and prohibitions shows it.

For a contract concluded after 12 December 2023, the seller must include in the contract a search certificate of the property, dated no more than five working days from the signing date.

The Director of Lands and Surveys may impose an administrative fine of up to €10,000 on a seller who does not, after notice by registered letter and five working days to reply. The same failure is an offence, punishable by up to two years in prison, a fine of up to €5,000, or both.

Assignment agreements and deposit fees

An assignment agreement is a different document. It applies where a buyer under a sale contract passes by written agreement the rights, and any corresponding obligations, to a third person, for payment or free of charge. The assignment is deposited at the Land Registry too.

The deposit costs €20 between parent and child, relatives up to the third degree or spouses. In other cases it costs 0.5% of the price in the sale contract or of the amount of the assignment, whichever is higher, with a minimum of €50 and a maximum of €3,000. Depositing an assignment by way of security, a written agreement in which the buyer assigns rights under an existing contract to a third person to secure a money obligation, costs €200.

Stamp duty on a sale contract or an assignment agreement applies only where at least one party signed it by 31 December 2025.

An assignment agreement is a written agreement in which the buyer under a sale contract (the assignor) passes rights, and where they exist the corresponding obligations, to a third person (the assignee), for payment or free of charge. Under the Specific Performance Law, the assignee counts as a buyer.

If the assignment is signed before the sale contract is deposited, and within six months of the signing of the sale contract, the deposit comes with a copy of the assignment and a certificate of settlement of capital gains tax. If the sale contract is already deposited, a copy of the assignment goes to the District Lands Office within six months of the signing of the assignment. It is attached to the contract with the same certificate.

If the seller does not meet the contract, the buyer can ask the court for an order of specific performance. The claim must be brought within the limitation period for breach of contract, and, as a rule, the contract must have been deposited under the Law.

For a written contract that was not deposited, or an oral one, the court may still make the order if it finds it just and reasonable and the other conditions of the Law are met.

Registration after the court order

The order requires the contract to be carried out, including the registration of the property in the Land Register in the name stated in the order. The holder of the order must apply to the District Lands Office for that registration, and take the steps needed for it, within one year of the date of the order, or the right to specific performance ends, except where the court renews the order.

The court can renew the order for further periods of up to one year each if it finds it just and reasonable. The application must be filed before the order expires. The court can renew the order after the period has run out, when the application was filed in time.

Conditions for depositing the contract

The Specific Performance Law sets the conditions for a deposit. For the deposit to be accepted, the contract must be in writing, identify the parties and the property sufficiently, state the consideration (the price, for a sale) and be signed by all parties, and the property must be registered in the name of at least one seller.

If the contract covers part of a co-owned property with no separate registration, and not all registered owners sell, a distribution agreement signed by all registered owners, with certified signatures, must come with it, and the part must belong to at least one seller who may freely possess, use and dispose of it.

Where and when to deposit the contract

It must be deposited at the District Lands Office of the district where the property is located within six months of the signing. If no seller is registered as the owner at any time in those six months, the contract can be deposited within six months of the date one of the sellers is registered.

On application, a court can allow a late deposit of a contract that remains in force if it finds it just and reasonable to protect the buyer.

Either party can deposit the contract. A representative can deposit it too: the buyer's lawyer, or the registered estate agent who mediated and produces the estate agent's declaration.

Mortgaged property: contracts deposited before 12 December 2023

For a sale contract deposited before 12 December 2023, where a mortgage was deposited first, the buyer can pay the mortgage lender, on the repayment terms of the loan, the part of the debt that relates to the property (for a unit, worked out by its share of the value). The mortgage lender must accept it as payment against the debt.

For a contract concluded or deposited before the 2011 Law took effect, the buyer can use this payment route only with the written consent of the seller and the lender.

Forms A and C at deposit

When an earlier deposited mortgage or contract is the only encumbrance and the owner is under no prohibition, the deposit is accepted only with Form A or Form C. Form A is a written statement of each mortgage lender and the seller, which the buyer signs to show the buyer has taken note. On Form A, the Department of Lands and Surveys requires every signature to be certified.

Form C is the buyer's own written declaration that the buyer wants the contract deposited without Form A. The buyer or the buyer's authorised representative signs it, and the signature is certified if someone else files it.

Payment under Form A and release from the mortgage

For a contract deposited after 12 December 2023 with Form A, the amount named in Form A is paid into the seller's bank account by the buyer and/or, where the seller received an advance at signing, by the seller, and the mortgage lender must accept it. With the lender's payment confirmation (Form B), the property can then be transferred to the buyer's name, whatever encumbrances or prohibitions rank after the contract.

Form A names the amount and the seller's bank account. In the form template, the amount is 95% of the contract price, including any advance the seller received at signing. The lender then issues a payment confirmation and releases the property from the mortgage.

Relevant law: Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law 81(I)/2011, as amended (most recently by 132(I)/2023).