Cyprus Interior Minister gets tough with property developers

Cyprus Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis, who has been under wide criticism over the delay of the issue of title deeds, has lashed back at developers, saying they are as much to blame for the problem as the government itself.
“We don’t have a magic wand to solve all our problems, as these (problems) have piled up over decades,” Sylikiotis told a packed audience of property developers, surveyors and investors.
He then threw the ball back in the developers’ court, saying that “there are myths that the government is the one delaying all the applications.”
“In many cases you should have been rejected because of incomplete applications.”
“There is an effort to speed up the issue of title deeds, but more than 100,000 properties have not even been entered into the system and a further 25,000 have not even asked to be issued with title deeds.”
“Some 19,600 applications should be processed by the end of the year or by the first half of 2010.”

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