Where a relative died owning land in Cyprus and the register still records the dead person as the owner, the first document is a search certificate in the name of the deceased, taken for one district or Pancyprian. Section 51Α of the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224 entitles an heir to ask for it. Each further death tends to add another layer of heirs to the same parcel.
Families abroad with something in Cyprus
We are a law firm in Nicosia. We act for families in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and elsewhere whose connection to Cyprus is a field, a house in a village, or an estate that was never wound up. This work is conducted in English, by email, and in most matters without the client coming to Cyprus.
The situation that reaches us most often has one shape. A parent or grandparent died, in London or Melbourne or in the village, and there was property here. Nothing was done at the time: the family was abroad, the documents were in Greek, and the property did not seem to justify the journey. Twenty or thirty years later the register still records the dead person as the owner, the heirs are three or four brothers, sisters and cousins in three different countries, and nobody is entirely certain what is there or where it sits.
That is not an unusual instruction. It is the ordinary one. It is also solvable, and it is more easily solved now than it will be after another generation has passed, because each further death tends to add another layer of heirs to the same parcel of land.
- Establishing what a deceased relative owned, across the whole island, from the register itself
- Getting inherited immovable property out of the dead person's name and into the names of the people entitled to it
- Estates where the death happened abroad and there is property in Cyprus, and estates where the death happened in Cyprus and the heirs are abroad
- Wills governing Cyprus assets, and how a will made in England, Australia or the United States sits alongside one
- Powers of attorney drafted here and signed where you live, so that a matter can be run without you travelling
- Undivided shares held between siblings and cousins, and what has to happen before anything can be sold
- Sale of property once it is registered in the names of the heirs, and Land Registry searches, encumbrances, planning position and notes recording unauthorised works on any property in the estate
What to send us in a first enquiry
The facts first: the full name of the person who died, as it appears on Cypriot documents and in Greek if you have it, the date and place of death, the names of the surviving family so we can run a conflict check, and the village or district you believe the property is in.
Once we confirm we can act: any document you hold, however fragmentary: an old title deed, a tax notice, a letter from a Cypriot lawyer, a photograph of a page you cannot read. If you have none of these, say so. It is a common starting point and it is not an obstacle.
If a relative died owning land here and nothing was ever done, tell us how many heirs there now are and which countries they are in, at office@kleanthousplatis.com, or the enquiry form. We reply within one business day.
The first step
Start with the register, not with a decision
Nothing can sensibly be decided until somebody establishes what the deceased actually owned. That is a document, not an investigation.
The Department of Lands and Surveys (Τμήμα Κτηματολογίου και Χωρομετρίας) issues a search certificate showing the immovable property registered in the name of a specified person. It can be taken for a single district, or Pancyprian, covering the areas under the effective control of the Republic in one certificate. It can be issued with or without the encumbrances and prohibitions recorded against each property, meaning mortgages, memos and similar entries.
For a family that has lost track, the Pancyprian search is the document that ends the guessing. It is asked for in the name of the person who died, and it reports what stands registered in that name across the island.
Who is allowed to ask for it
The entitlement is the statute's, not the counter's. Section 51Α of the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224, entitles any interested person to information on any entry in the registers, and subsection (2) defines the term: it includes the owner and the owner's universal and specific successors, which is what an heir is, along with an advocate provably instructed by any of them. The certificate of death and heirs is the proof of that status the department asks to see, and the certificate itself stands on statutory ground too: under section 48 of the Administration of Estates Law, Cap. 189, the community leader of the place where the deceased ordinarily resided is charged with ascertaining the heirs, which is the office the certificate comes from. Establishing that standing, and producing the certificate that evidences it, is the part that usually needs an advocate. The search itself does not.
What it costs
The fee for the certificate is an official one, set and published by the department. It is a small amount, and a Pancyprian search costs more than a single district. That is the department's fee and not ours. We agree our own fee with you in writing before we start, and for a search of this kind it is deliberately kept proportionate to what it is.
What it does not do
A search certificate establishes what is registered and against whom. It does not transfer anything, it does not value anything, and it does not decide who inherits. Where a property was bought but no separate title deed was ever issued, it may not appear as a registration in the buyer's name at all, and a different enquiry is needed.
Even with those limits, it is the cheapest useful thing a family in this position can do, and everything else follows from it. Once it is in front of you the real questions become answerable: whether the property is worth pursuing at all, who has to agree, and in what order the steps have to happen.
To begin with a search
Write to us at office@kleanthousplatis.com with the name of the person who died and the district you believe the property is in. We will tell you what we need in order to establish your standing to ask for the certificate, and what our work to obtain it will cost, before we do any of it.
Where to go from here
Inherited Property
What it means that the property is still in the dead person's name, what an undivided share between siblings is, and what has to happen before anything can be sold.
Administering an estate in Cyprus from abroad
Someone died abroad owning property in Cyprus, or died in Cyprus with heirs abroad. What has to be done here, and what a foreign grant does and does not achieve in Cyprus.
Selling inherited property in Cyprus
What has to be in order before the property can be marketed, what a buyer will want, and how a sale is run where the sellers are in three different countries.
Wills
Whether a will made abroad reaches immovable property in Cyprus, and the question of whether to have a separate Cyprus will alongside it.
Acting Without Travelling
Powers of attorney signed abroad, the apostille and sworn translation chain and the order it has to happen in, and what an advocate here can and cannot do on your instructions.
Trusts, Wills & Succession
The practice area this section sits within, covering wills, probate, trusts and cross-border estates generally.
How a matter runs
Instructing us from three thousand miles away
Every matter is different, but the route is broadly the same. Knowing it in advance makes the cost and the timetable easier to judge.
First contact by email, and a conflict check
Identification of you, of the person who died, and of the family members you know of
Engagement and fee agreement in writing before any work begins
Search of the register in the name of the deceased, by district or Pancyprian
Advice on what has to happen in Cyprus, in what order, and what each step needs from you
A power of attorney drafted here, signed and legalised where you live, where one is needed
The steps carried out in Cyprus on your instructions, with each document sent to you as it issues
Questions we are asked before anyone instructs us
Do we have to come to Cyprus?
In much of this work, no. A power of attorney drafted here, then signed and legalised where you live, allows an advocate in Cyprus to take steps on your behalf. Some acts require a personal attendance or a personal signature and cannot be delegated, and some institutions ask for the person themselves. We will tell you at the outset which of those apply in your matter rather than discover them halfway through. This is set out further under acting without travelling.
Nobody in the family reads Greek. Is that a problem?
No. We explain what each Cypriot document says. The documents themselves are issued in Greek, because that is the language of the register and of the local authorities, and where you need to hand something to a relative here we will give you the Greek name of it. Documents issued abroad and produced in Cyprus generally need to be legalised and then translated, and the order matters.
The property is small. Is it worth doing anything at all?
That is a fair question and usually the right first one. A share of a field in a village may be worth less than the cost of putting it in order, and if that is the answer we would rather you heard it early. The search of the register is the inexpensive way to find out what is actually there, and it is the reason we suggest starting with it rather than with an opinion.
Our relative died thirty years ago. Is it too late?
Long delay is common in these families and is not by itself the end of the matter. Whether the passage of time affects a particular right depends on the right in question. Limitation periods for actions generally are governed by the Limitation of Actions Law 66(I)/2012, and contract claims are generally subject to a six-year period running from when the cause of action accrued. Whether and how limitation bears on an estate, or on a claim to be registered as an heir, is a question we would need to answer on your facts rather than in general terms.
Who leads this work
Between them the partners bring more than 40 years of practice in Cyprus. Every matter is run by one of them.
Andreas Kleanthous
Partner
Litigation, personal injury and insurance claims, debt recovery, administrative law, real estate, wills and probate.
Klitos Platis
Partner
Litigation, corporate and commercial matters, property and construction, including pleadings, interim applications and trial preparation.
Written on these subjects
Title Deeds in Cyprus: What the Register Records and How a Transfer Is Completed
PropertyMaking a Will in Cyprus: What You Can Actually Leave, and to Whom
WillsBuying Property Without a Title Deed in Cyprus: Assignment of Contractual Rights Explained
PropertyTwo things people abroad ask for most: a Cyprus will for the assets here, on a fixed fee, and whether Cyprus would treat them as tax resident.
All of the firm's writing is on the writing index. Related practice areas: Property and Trusts, Wills & Succession.