Property management in Cyprus
Property management in Cyprus is the care and supervision of a property by a third party, carried out on the owner's behalf by real estate agents who provide such services or specialised property management companies.
The property can be residential, commercial, or industrial.
DevelopersCyprus has been offering high-quality professional real estate management services for decades, primarily working with its own projects and developments.
Property management is more than just a list of tasks. It's about responsibility for the property's repairs, security, and operation. It's about overseeing every aspect to keep the property in its best condition.
Trusted property management saves you time and removes responsibility for the day-to-day operations, maintenance, and other issues related to your property.
Takeaways
- Professional property management is the administration of residential and commercial properties so that they remain well-maintained and profitable.
- In Cyprus, this service is provided by real estate agencies or specialised companies.
- The property manager acts as the owner's or landlord's representative and in their place. They must act efficiently and reliably to handle tenants, repairs, common expenses, and financial and compliance matters.
- Asset management saves you time and money. You need it if you live far from the property or lack the time or expertise to manage yourself.
- DevelopersCyprus offers specialised and reliable property management in Limassol.
- The management cost is usually 10% of the rental amount plus VAT.
Our property management services
We usually work only with the projects we build and sell and act on the owner's or landlord's behalf. The services fall into two categories: operational, which refers to the property's functioning, and finance, which refers to money matters.
In detail, the duties of a complete management team at DevelopersCyprus are:
- Taking care of the daily operations of the property.
- Maintain the property's value and generate income.
- Marketing the property, finding and screening potential tenants.
- Collecting rent and other dues from tenants.
- Processing rent and other money received (e.g. by carrying out bank deposits) and financial reporting (recording expenditures, balances, etc).
- Keeping accounting records.
- Handling tenant complaints and relations between tenants (or other occupants).
- Documentation.
- Repairs and renovations.
- Responding to emergencies.
- Inspections.
- Hiring staff for the property, like cleaners and a maintenance team.
- Compliance with applicable laws, taxes, local authority and municipality regulations and safety standards.
- Report to the owner of their activities.
- Evictions.
Interested in real estate management?
Our expert, Antonis Michael, is here to assist you.
Property management prices
The property management fee in Cyprus is typically 10% of the rental amount, plus VAT, and is charged annually.
If your case does not involve rent, for instance, if you own individual property, you will discuss the fee with the management company. It will depend on the property size, type, and required services.
A two-bedroom apartment without a swimming pool costs €60 per month, and a three-bedroom apartment costs around €75 per month.
If the complex has facilities such as swimming pools, a two-bedroom apartment can cost around €100, and a three-bedroom apartment can cost approximately €150.
Types of property management
Residential
Residential property management is the supervision of properties where people reside, such as apartments, houses, condos, and single-family and multi-family homes. The property manager acts in the landlord's place and controls everything a landlord normally does.
They will take care of the property's maintenance and compliance and deal with tenants, so the property stays in good condition and profitable.
Commercial
Commercial property management involves commercial-use properties, such as offices, retail, and other businesses. Their duties resemble those of residential management.
Commercial property administration involves dealing with different clientele and complying with the laws and regulations applicable to commercial buildings and sites.
In Cyprus and other tourism-oriented countries, commercial property management includes managing property to rent to tourists, like villas, country homes and hotel apartments.
In such a case, the manager will handle the meet & greet, cleaning, laundry, familiarising the guests with the property, giving tourist information, making repairs and other services, and arranging airport transfers and inspections of the property after the guests depart.
Property rental management
Property rental management focuses on maintaining the property and collecting and processing rent. The property manager will perform the property's maintenance, repairs, insurance, and monitoring.
They will manage tenant occupancy, maintain tenant relations, collect rent, and report to and confer with the owner on rents and accounts.
Letting a unit in a jointly owned building
The model rules in the annex to Cap. 224 apply where a building has no registered rules of its own, including a building with a permit that is not yet registered as jointly owned, and they fill any gap in a building's own registered rules (sections 38ΙΘ(3) and 38ΚΑ).
Under the model rules, an owner who lets a unit, or agrees to anyone else occupying or using it, with or without payment, must see that the agreement contains an express term telling the tenant or occupier of the duties of both the owner and the occupier under the model rules, with an express undertaking by the tenant or occupier to accept every provision of those rules without conditions.
Liability for breaches and damage
The owner answers personally to the other owners and to any third party for any breach of the model rules by the owner or by the unit's tenant or occupier, and for any deterioration of or damage to the common property that an act or omission of either causes.
Empty units and unpaid shares
The owner keeps all rights and duties under the model rules, whether the unit is occupied or used by the owner or by someone who takes rights from the owner, such as a tenant, or stands empty. If the unit stands unused or empty for any period, the owner stays liable for every duty and for the expenses that fall on the unit under the model rules.
If the owner refuses to pay any amount owed under section 38ΙΑ of Cap. 224, the tenant or lawful occupier can pay it and take it off the rent due to the owner, except where a private agreement says otherwise.
Common expenses management
Common expenses management is collecting each owner's share of the common expenses. Under Cap. 224, the owners of all units share the costs needed to insure, maintain, repair, restore and manage the common property, and to provide the services the law or the building's rules set, each by the area of the unit. Under the model rules, each owner pays the share shown in Table B to the committee, which can hire a management company for this work.
Under the model rules, the committee must send the owners a statement every three months of the expenses of the past three months and what they were for. The statement shows how much each committee member who owns a unit has paid towards them.
What counts as common expenses
The model rules for jointly owned buildings sit in the annex to the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224. Under the notes to Table B of those rules, common charges are the cleaner's pay, cleaning materials, lift maintenance and repair, electricity and water, decoration of the common areas, emptying of cesspits and any cost the notes do not list under heating or common charges.
Heating covers heating oil for the central heating and the maintenance and repair of its machinery. Other expenses cover insurance and general repairs of the building and of its plumbing and electrical installations.
Certificate of contributions
On request from a unit owner, or from a person the owner authorises in writing, the management committee must certify the amount of the owner's contribution, how it is to be paid and how much of it the owner has paid. The certificate is prima facie evidence of these points in favour of anyone who deals with that owner, such as a buyer.
Common areas management for buildings
Part IIA of the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224, sets the rules for jointly owned buildings. A building with five or more units, such as a block of apartments or offices, is a jointly owned building. One with two to four units can become one if the owners of at least 50% of the common property, or any two unit owners, apply to the Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys.
Every jointly owned building must have a management committee to run its affairs. The committee can sign contracts on the upkeep and management of the building, so it can hire a property management company.
Who owns the common property
The common property belongs to all the unit owners in undivided shares. Each unit's share is set by the owner of the land the building stands on, in line with the value of that unit against the total value of all units in the building. The Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys can fix a different value where the one given is out of line with the unit's real value.
Two exceptions apply. For a building whose permit was issued before the jointly owned building rules took effect, values at 1 January 1980 prices apply if nothing else was agreed. Where the permitted building density is not used up, the Director sets the shares, taking into account the 1 January 1980 value of all the units that can be built. In working out any share, fractions smaller than one hundredth are left out.
Dealing with a unit and its share
Any sale or other dealing with a unit carries its share in the common property, and any part of the common property given to it for exclusive use, without naming them. A sale or other dealing with that share or that part apart from the unit is void.
Common areas for exclusive use
A part of the common property, such as a parking space or a storage room, can be given to one or more units, but not all of them, for their exclusive use. The part is then described in its own right in the registration of each unit concerned and shown on that unit's certificate of registration.
Where the building's rules do not say otherwise, the unit owners can decide, at any time after the building and its units are registered, to give a part of the common property to one or more units for exclusive use. The decision needs the owners of at least 75% of the common property, and the Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys has to be satisfied.
The Director can register such a part where an owner's refusal to agree plainly goes beyond what good faith or the social or economic purpose of the owner's right allows.
Parts the owners cannot later give for exclusive use
An owners' decision to give a part for exclusive use cannot cover the stairs, the roof, the foundations, the main walls that support the whole common property, the lifts, the corridors, or the spaces or installations meant to serve all or some of the owners. A decision that does is void, and no registration can be made under it.
Who pays for the common areas
The owners of all units share the costs needed to insure, maintain, repair, restore and manage the common property, and to provide the services that Part IIA or the building's rules set. The building's rules set each owner's share, based on the area of each unit.
The management committee has a duty to control, operate, manage and direct the common property and to enforce the building's rules. A property management company can do this work under a contract with the committee, and the duties stay with the committee. Under Cap. 224, the committee's duties include:
- Keeping the common property in good condition and working order and maintaining it, together with any other parts of the building that the law or the building's rules give it.
- Insuring the building against fire, lightning and earthquake with a licensed insurer, for the amount the committee considers its replacement value, and keeping it insured at all times. Cover for other risks is compulsory only when owners holding more than 50% of the property decide so. The committee takes out any other insurance another law requires. It pays the premiums and uses the insurance money as the law and the rules set out.
- Complying with every notice, order or other decision about the common property from any competent administrative body, authority or person.
- Calling a general meeting of the unit owners at least once a year, and any other meeting that the law or the building's rules require.
The building's own rules
The unit owners can make rules for their building, and change, revise, replace or revoke them, by a decision of the owners of at least 75% of the common property, except where Part IIA sets another share for a particular matter. The rules must agree with the law. They cannot restrict the transfer, inheritance, letting, mortgage or any other dealing in a unit, and cannot end or change an owner's rights.
Without an owner's consent, the rules cannot put on that owner an obligation or payment whose nature or extent the law or the rules do not define. The rules bind every owner, later owners included, once the management committee deposits a certified copy with the Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys and they are registered.
Model rules
Where a building has no registered rules, the model rules in the annex to the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224, are treated as its registered rules. Where registered rules say nothing on a matter, the model rule on that matter applies. The model rules apply as well to a jointly owned building that has a building permit and is not yet entered in the Land Register as jointly owned.
Who needs a professional property manager?
Proper property management is desirable because it takes a lot of responsibility off the shoulders of the owner. Nevertheless, you will need a property management agency if you:
- Are a real estate entrepreneur but live far from your property or properties.
- Own residential property abroad or in a different part of the country. You may wish to rent out or maintain your property in good condition for you to visit. In either case, you will need property management services.
- Are too busy looking after or expanding your business.
- Do not have the necessary market knowledge and expertise to carry out landlord duties.
The benefits of estate management in Cyprus
The main benefits of professional estate management in Cyprus are that the property remains in good condition and continues to generate income. In detail, those benefits include:
- Solutions for your case. The property manager will respond to your exact requirements and needs.
- Saving time and often money.
- The property is marketed well, and its appeal is boosted.
- Finding tenants fast and rent is collected on time (tenant management).
- Efficient communication with tenants.
- Renting short-term is carried out safely and according to the law.
- Expertise in bookkeeping and financial matters.
- Effective repair, cleaning, gardening and maintenance. Property management companies are networked with technicians, service providers and other contractors so that maintenance and repairs are carried out smoothly, efficiently and professionally.
- Compliance with laws and regulations.