The Stamp Duty Laws were repealed with effect from 1 January 2026. What that means for contracts signed before and after that date, and for deposits at the Land Registry.
What Was Repealed, and From When
The Stamp Duty Laws were repealed with effect from 1 January 2026 by the Stamp Duty (Repeal) Law of 2025, Law 239(I)/2025. The repeal is general. No category of document is excepted, and contracts for the sale of immovable property are covered like everything else.
For decades, stamping was one of the small mechanical steps that every Cyprus transaction had to pass through: the contract was signed, the duty was calculated on the consideration, the document was stamped, and only then did it move on to whatever came next. That step is now gone for documents first signed on or after 1 January 2026.
The Deposit of a Contract No Longer Involves Stamping
The change most people will actually feel is at the Department of Lands and Surveys. A buyer who deposits a contract of sale for specific performance protection no longer needs to have it stamped first.
It is worth being precise about why, because the point is often misstated. The Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law, Law 81(I)/2011, never listed stamping among its conditions. It requires registered title, a written signed contract, and deposit within the statutory deadline of six months from signing, and nothing more. The stamping requirement flowed in practice from the Stamp Duty Law itself, notably its rule that an unstamped document was inadmissible, read together with the general provisions of the Transfer and Mortgage of Immovable Property Law. From 1 January 2026 that footing is gone. A new contract is deposited as it is signed.
The repeal removes a step, not a safeguard: everything that made a contract worth depositing still has to be there.
What the Repeal Does Not Do
The repeal is not retroactive. Duty that had already arisen on a document first signed by 31 December 2025 remains payable under the old regime. A contract signed in 2025 does not become duty-free because the transfer, or the dispute, happens in 2026.
This matters most when reviewing an old chain of documents. In a resale of property held under an assignment, or in litigation over a contract from earlier years, whether the documents of that period were duly stamped remains a live question, because those documents stay under the regime that applied when they were signed.
What This Changes in Practice
For a purchase signed from 2026 onwards, the timetable simplifies: sign, then deposit within six months. The days that used to be consumed by calculating and paying duty before deposit are recovered, which matters when the deposit deadline is close.
For budgeting, one line item disappears from the completion costs of new transactions. Transfer fees, and VAT where it applies, remain what they were.
For anyone holding an unstamped document signed before 2026, the position has not improved by itself. Whether anything needs to be done about it depends on what the document is for and when it will be relied on, and that is worth a specific answer rather than a general one.
Frequently Asked Questions
I signed my contract in December 2025 but the transfer completes in 2026. Is duty payable?
Yes. Duty arose when the document was first signed, and the repeal does not extinguish duty that had already arisen by 31 December 2025.
Does the Land Registry still require a contract to be stamped before deposit?
Not for documents first signed on or after 1 January 2026. The conditions for deposit are those of the Specific Performance Law itself: registered title, a written signed contract, and deposit within six months of signing.
Does the repeal affect documents other than property contracts?
The repeal is general and excepts no category of document.
Related Reading
Specific Performance in Cyprus: How a Deposited Contract of Sale Protects the Buyer
Buying Property Without a Title Deed in Cyprus: Assignment of Contractual Rights Explained
By Klitos Platis, Advocate
Klitos advises on litigation, corporate and commercial law, real estate, construction and energy at Kleanthous & Platis LLC in Nicosia.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and their application can change, and individual circumstances differ. For advice on your own matter, contact Klitos Platis at klitos@kleanthousplatis.com or telephone +357 22 680 330.
Klitos Platis
Advocate, Partner
Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 3 August 2026
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