North Cyprus government introduces law that makes it easier for foreign nationals to buy more property

The TRNC government on Friday changed its legislation regarding the purchase of real estate by foreigners, allowing them to buy more properties with limited restrictions.

According to the new legislation, foreign nationals are now allowed to buy two houses or three apartments, with the houses allowed to be set on as much as 3,000 square metres of land.

Previously, they were only allowed to buy one house or apartment each, provided that it is located on less than 2,500 square metres of land.

Nationals of “countries which recognise the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, like, Turkish nationals, are now allowed to buy six apartments or three houses each.

Opposition political party CTP ‘MP’ Urun Solyali criticised the move, writing on social media that the law had been changed “without consulting statistical data, without putting industry stakeholders and legal facts in front of them”.

“Those who do not listen to our warnings on time … those who did not make any preparations at the land registry office are planning to make the environment chaotic again,” he said.

The move comes at a time when the number of cases regarding the alleged illegal development of Greek Cypriot property in north Cyprus is on the rise, with two Hungarian nationals having become the first to be sentenced to prison over the matter last week.

They had admitted to promoting and advertising the sale of houses near Kyrenia on the internet.

Meanwhile, the case of a German national who reportedly spoke about selling property in north Cyprus to an off-duty police officer during a flight to Larnaca is ongoing, and arrest warrants were issued on Tuesday for four Turkish nationals in connection with developments in the Famagusta district village of Geçitkale.

TRNC president Ersin Tatar had on Wednesday described the arrests as “acts of terrorism” and likened the moves to the violence faced by Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s, while the TRNC’s ‘finance minister’ Erhan Arikli  had on Thursday called for “revenge”.