If the bank, or a company that bought the developer's loan, refuses to consent to a trapped buyer's title in Cyprus, a buyer who paid in full has 45 days to go to court.
The price was paid years ago, the contract was deposited at the Land Registry, and a title deed has now been issued for the flat. What stands between the buyer and the title is the developer's mortgage, registered on the land before the contract was deposited. Law 110(I)/2025, which rebuilt the trapped-buyers provisions in Part VIB of the Transfer and Mortgage of Immovable Property Law, Law 9/1965, after the June 2024 appellate judgment that its own preamble refers to, made the release of that mortgage turn on one document: the written consent of the person the mortgage protects, or a court order in its place.
This article is about the moment that consent is refused, or does not come. How the mechanism works as a whole is on our page on trapped buyers in Cyprus, and the effect of the 2024 judgment on one buyer's auction case is in our note on a trapped buyer's appeal.
Who the court route is for
The court route belongs to the buyers Part VIB now covers. Section 44ΙΗ applies the transfer provisions only where the sale contract was concluded and deposited at the District Land Office under the Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law by 31 December 2014, or was concluded by that date and deposited under a court order made on an application filed at the District Court by 31 December 2024. A title deed must also have been issued for the property the contract covers.
Consent becomes the question where that property carries registered charges or prohibitions which came before the deposit of the contract. A developer's mortgage registered before the buyer's contract was deposited is the typical example.
Two amending laws of April 2026, Law 76(I)/2026 and Law 101(I)/2026, changed the mortgagee-sale rules in Part VIA. Neither touched Part VIB, which stands as Law 110(I)/2025 wrote it.
Whose consent counts when the loan has been sold
The consent the Law asks for is that of whoever the charge protects, and a company that bought the loan counts as fully as the bank. Section 44ΙΗ(γ) requires the written consent of the persons in whose favour the charges or prohibitions operate, to their release, deletion or cancellation.
Law 110(I)/2025 added two definitions to section 44ΚΣΤ that settle the position of loan buyers. A licensed institution means a licensed credit institution under the Business of Credit Institutions Law, or a buyer of credit facilities within section 2 of the Sale of Credit Facilities and Related Matters Law, Law 169(I)/2015. Written consent includes a written release given by such an institution. If the developer's loan has been sold and the charge now operates in the buyer's favour, its written release is the consent the Land Registry needs, and the 45 days run from its refusal.
The letter itself may come from a servicer, such as doValue, Gordian or Altamira, writing for whoever now owns the loan. Part VIB does not mention servicers, and Law 169(I)/2015 defines the servicer of credit facilities separately from their buyer. Because the Law asks for the consent of the person in whose favour the charge operates, it is worth confirming on a Land Registry search who that is before treating a letter as either a consent or a refusal.
A refusal opens 45 days, for a buyer who has paid in full
Where the consent is not obtained, a buyer who has paid the whole price can ask a court for an order that the charge holders refuse it abusively and without justification. Section 44ΙΗ(δ) sets the conditions: the consent has not been obtained, the sale price has been paid in full, and the application for the order was filed within 45 days of the refusal. A copy of the order is then submitted in place of the consent.
Full payment is measured against the price fixed in the contract and in any supplementary contract, which is how section 44ΚΣΤ defines the sale price.
The Law does not define what makes a refusal abusive or unjustified. As far as we have been able to find in the reported case law, no court has yet applied paragraph (δ), so the courts have not yet given the words content. The application has to show, on its own facts, why this refusal is both. The section allows the Supreme Court to make procedural rules for these applications, including the time within which they are to be heard; the section itself fixes none.
What the Law leaves unsaid
Several questions a buyer will ask are not answered by the text, and it is better to know that than to assume an answer. Section 44ΙΗ counts the 45 days from the refusal to give the consent, and says nothing more about the refusal itself. It does not say:
- whether the refusal has to be in writing;
- what happens if the charge holder never answers a request for consent;
- whether a fresh request, refused again, starts a new period of 45 days;
- whether a consent offered on conditions, for example against a payment, is a refusal.
We do not fill those gaps here. What a buyer can control is the record. As practical steps rather than rules of law: ask for the consent in writing and keep proof of when the request was delivered, keep every reply, including emails from a servicer, and treat the earliest answer that could be read as a refusal as the day the 45 days may have started.
The 45 days run from the refusal, and the Law does not say what a refusal looks like. Count from the first answer that could be one.
Filing a copy at the District Land Office protects the property
The application protects the property once a copy of it is filed at the District Land Office of the district where the property lies. Under the first proviso to section 44ΙΗ, pending proceedings under Parts VI and VIA of Law 9/1965, the two procedures for selling mortgaged property, under the Bankruptcy Law, under the Companies Law and under any other law in force are suspended until the order is issued. The filing also operates as a prohibition on any disposal of the property.
The protection follows the copy at the Land Office, not only the application at court. The proviso speaks of suspension until the order is issued; it does not say what becomes of the suspension if the application is dismissed.
Section 44ΚΖ adds that sections 44ΙΗ to 44ΚΣΤ apply notwithstanding the rest of Law 9/1965, the Bankruptcy Law, Parts IVA and V of the Companies Law, which deal with the appointment of an examiner and with winding up, and any other law in force. The provisions on the consent and the court order therefore apply even where the developer is being wound up.
Why the Land Registry waits for the consent or the order
The Director of the Land Registry examines a Part VIB application against three conditions, and the third is the consent or the order. Section 44Κ(1) requires the Director to check that the sale price has been paid in full, that a title deed is registered for the property the contract covers, and, where earlier charges or prohibitions burden it, that the written consent of those they protect, or a copy of the order under section 44ΙΗ(δ), has been submitted.
Section 44Κ(3) allows the Director to reject an application if those conditions are not met within the time limits provided. Section 44ΚΑ(1) allows the Director to ask any interested person, at any stage, for the evidence the Director considers necessary, to be produced within sixty days, and to reject the application if it is not. With the consent or a copy of the order on the file, that third condition is met.
Proving full payment when the developer is insolvent
Full payment is a condition twice over: for the court order, and for the Director's examination. Section 44ΚΑ(2) leaves the evidence to be produced for the examination of the application to regulations, so the Law itself contains no list. What follows is practical guidance, not a statutory list.
When the developer is in liquidation or receivership, its own records can be harder to obtain, and the buyer's file has to carry the proof. The documents worth gathering are:
- the contract as deposited, with every supplementary agreement, since together they fix the price;
- bank transfer confirmations and statements showing each payment leaving the buyer's account for the developer's;
- receipts the developer issued, and any statement of account or confirmation that the price was paid in full;
- where a loan paid the developer directly, the lender's records of the disbursement;
- a written confirmation from the liquidator or receiver of what the company's records show, if one can be obtained;
- correspondence about extras, credits or set-off that changed the amount due.
Payments in cash without a receipt are the hardest to prove. Where the records and the contract disagree, it is better to find the difference before the court or the Director does.
What this means in practice
Check the scope first. The two dates in section 44ΙΗ, and an issued title deed, decide whether the court route is open at all.
Find out who holds the charge now. If the developer's loan has been sold, the buyer of the loan gives or refuses the consent, and its written release counts. A servicer's letter is worth checking against the register.
Ask in writing, and keep the dates. The 45 days run from the refusal, and the Law does not say what form a refusal takes or what happens if no answer comes.
Have the proof of payment ready before the answer arrives. The court route needs the price paid in full, and the application has to show why the refusal is abusive and unjustified.
File the copy at the District Land Office. The suspension of pending sale and insolvency proceedings, and the bar on disposal, follow the filing of the copy there.
The wider mechanism, including the timetable for applications made before Law 110(I)/2025, is set out on our trapped buyers in Cyprus page.
Questions we are asked
The developer's loan was sold. Whose consent do I need now?
The consent of the person in whose favour the charge now operates. Since Law 110(I)/2025, section 44ΚΣΤ of Law 9/1965 treats a buyer of credit facilities under Law 169(I)/2015 as a licensed institution, and written consent includes a written release given by such an institution. A servicer may write on the owner's behalf, but Part VIB does not mention servicers, so it is worth checking on a Land Registry search who holds the charge.
How long do I have after the bank or servicer refuses?
Forty-five days from the refusal, to file an application to court for an order that the refusal is abusive and unjustified, under section 44ΙΗ(δ) of Law 9/1965. The route is for a buyer who has paid the sale price in full. A copy of the order then takes the place of the consent before the Land Registry.
Does the refusal have to be in writing?
The Law does not say. Section 44ΙΗ counts the 45 days from the refusal without describing what a refusal is. Asking for the consent in writing, and keeping every answer with its date, is the practical way to know where the period stands.
What if the bank or servicer never answers?
The Law does not say. It provides no deemed refusal and no time within which the charge holder must reply. The practical course is to make the request in writing, keep proof that it was delivered, and take advice on the file rather than assume a date.
What does the application change while it is pending?
Once a copy of the application is filed at the District Land Office of the district where the property lies, pending proceedings under Parts VI and VIA of Law 9/1965, the Bankruptcy Law, the Companies Law and any other law in force are suspended until the order is issued. The filing also operates as a prohibition on any disposal of the property.
Has a court said what abusive and unjustified means?
Not that we have been able to find. The Law does not define the words, and we have found no reported judgment applying section 44ΙΗ(δ) since Law 110(I)/2025 introduced it. Each application has to make its case on its own facts.
What proof of full payment should I collect if the developer is insolvent?
The Law leaves the evidence to regulations, so there is no statutory list. In practice: the deposited contract and any supplementary agreements, bank transfer records, the developer's receipts or statements, a lender's disbursement records where a loan paid the developer, and, where it can be obtained, a confirmation from the liquidator or receiver of what the company's records show.
Sources
- The Transfer and Mortgage of Immovable Property Law of 1965, Law 9/1965, consolidated text, sections 44ΙΗ, 44Κ, 44ΚΑ, 44ΚΣΤ and 44ΚΖ, CyLaw
- The Transfer and Mortgage of Immovable Property (Amending) Law of 2025, Law 110(I)/2025, Official Gazette Annex I(I) No. 5045, 4 July 2025, CyLaw
- The Transfer and Mortgage of Immovable Property (Amending) Law of 2026, Law 76(I)/2026, Official Gazette Annex I(I) No. 5087, 21 April 2026, CyLaw
- The Transfer and Mortgage of Immovable Property (Amending) (No. 2) Law of 2026, Law 101(I)/2026, Official Gazette Annex I(I) No. 5088, 22 April 2026, CyLaw
- The Sale of Credit Facilities and Related Matters Law of 2015, Law 169(I)/2015, consolidated text, section 2, CyLaw
This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Need advice on your own matter?
Briefly describe your situation, the people involved and any deadline.
We reply within one business day. We will ask for documents once we confirm we can act.
Receive legal updates by email
When Cyprus law changes, hear it from us
One short email when something changes that matters: new legislation, a decision worth knowing, a deadline. Written by the partners, no marketing, unsubscribe with one click.
You are on the list. The next update on Cyprus law will reach your inbox.
That did not go through. Please write to office@kleanthousplatis.com and we will add you.
Your address is used for these updates and nothing else. Privacy notice.