Unpaid by a transfer platform in Cyprus: how carriers recover

In short

If the platform’s terms name a Cyprus company, your unpaid balance is a contract claim against it, and an arbitration clause does not keep it out of the Cyprus courts.

Klitos Platis, advocate

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You carried the passengers, the passengers paid the platform, and your account shows a balance awaiting transfer. The payout does not come, and the promised payment dates pass one after another.

If the terms you accepted when you registered name a company registered in Cyprus and Cyprus law, your balance is a claim in contract against that company, and it can be pursued here. Our debt recovery lawyers can act for carriers and transfer companies abroad, and our note on recovering a debt from abroad explains how the process runs when you are not in Cyprus.

The terms you accepted online are a contract

A contract accepted online binds both sides, without a signature on paper. Section 12(1) of Law 156(I)/2004 permits contracts to be concluded by electronic means.

The Contract Law, Cap. 149, says the same thing from another side. Under section 8, performing the conditions of a proposal is acceptance of it, and under section 3 acceptance can be made by any act that shows it. A carrier who registered, accepted the terms and then carried passengers under them has accepted them.

The company is bound by the same terms. If they say it collects the fares and pays the carrier its share, that is its obligation, and the balance it shows you is its own record of what it holds for you.

Find the company that owes you

The name on the app is often not the name of the company you contracted with. The terms say which company is the other party, often in the opening lines or the clause on governing law, and that is the company the claim is brought against.

A search at the Registrar of Companies in Cyprus shows its registered office and its directors. Where more than one company appears in the terms, the invoices or the payment records, the letter goes to each one the documents tie to the money.

The arbitration clause does not close the courts

An arbitration clause stops a court action only if the company asks the court, in time, to refer the dispute to arbitration. Many platform terms send disputes to arbitration abroad, and carriers often read that as the end of the matter. It is not.

Section 8(1) of the International Commercial Arbitration Law, Law 101/1987, obliges the court to refer the dispute to arbitration if a party asks before submitting its first statement on the substance of the dispute. Section 3(2) applies section 8 whatever the seat of the arbitration, so the rule is the same for a clause naming a seat outside Cyprus.

If the company does not make that request in time, the action continues in the District Court. If it does, the court refers the dispute unless it finds the agreement null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed. We read the clause for that before the action is filed, not after.

Two further points decide the choice of route:

An arbitration clause in terms accepted online is likely to count as written: section 7(4) of the same Law treats an agreement in an electronic communication as written if its content is accessible for later reference.
Arbitration before a foreign institution carries its own fees and the arbitrators’ fees, which can be out of proportion to a claim of a few thousand euro. That is why the court route is usually considered first.

The Cyprus courts are the natural place for the action. Under Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, a person domiciled in a member state is sued in the courts of that state, and for a company registered in Cyprus those are the Cyprus courts.

A demand a Cyprus company has to answer

The first step is a formal letter of demand, sent to the company at its registered office and by email. It states the balance, the terms it arises under and a date for payment. Our page on the letter before action explains what it should contain.

Where the debt is above €5,000 and is not genuinely disputed, the law gives a creditor a further lever. Under section 212(a) of the Companies Law, Cap. 113, a company that is served at its registered office with a written demand for the sum and does not pay, secure or settle it within three weeks is deemed unable to pay its debts. Inability to pay its debts is a ground on which the court may wind the company up under section 211(e).

That route is for a debt the company cannot honestly dispute. Our article on the statutory demand explains when it fits and when a court action is the right step instead.

How long you have

An action founded on a contract must be brought within six years from the day the cause of action arose, under section 7(1) of Law 66(I)/2012. Time is rarely the problem in a claim of this kind. Evidence is: account access can be closed and terms are updated, so the record of what you were owed is best secured now.

What this means in practice

Download the terms as they stood when you registered and as they stand now, and note the company they name.
Download your account statements and take dated screenshots of the balance awaiting transfer.
Keep every email or message in which a payment date was promised, and every reminder you sent.
Stop relying on the support chat, and put your demand in writing with a date.
Write to us with the company’s name, the balance, the dates and the documents.

The balance in your account is the company’s own record of what it owes you. The terms that bind you bind it too.

Questions we are asked

I never signed a paper contract. Is there a contract at all?

Yes. Section 12(1) of Law 156(I)/2004 permits contracts to be concluded by electronic means, and under section 8 of the Contract Law, Cap. 149, performing the conditions of a proposal is acceptance of it. You registered, accepted the terms and carried the passengers. The company is bound by the same terms, including its promise to pay you.

The terms send disputes to arbitration abroad. Can I still sue in Cyprus?

You can bring the action. Under section 8(1) of Law 101/1987 the court refers the dispute to arbitration only if a party asks before submitting its first statement on the substance, and section 3(2) applies that rule whatever the seat of the arbitration. If the company does not ask in time, the case continues in court. If it does, we look at whether the clause is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.

The balance shows in my account as awaiting transfer. Does that help?

It is a record kept by the company itself of what it holds for you, so keep it. Download your account statements and take dated screenshots of the balance, together with every email in which a payment date was promised.

Other carriers have the same problem. Do we have to claim together?

No. Each carrier’s claim rests on its own account and its own balance, and each carrier can write to us and act on its own.

What should my first message say?

The name of the company in the terms you accepted, the balance owed and since when, and the payment dates you were promised. Attach the terms if you have them, your account statements and the correspondence.

Sources

Klitos Platis

Advocate, Partner

Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Cyprus
Published 26 October 2026

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