Developer Fined for Misleading Home Buyers

Pafilia Cyprus Property Developers has been fined €100,000 for mis-leading home buyers in a case that focused on the commercial practices that the company used in 2007 when selling apartments to them.

The complaint was filed with (CCPS) by home buyers in December 2013. The case focused on the commercial practices which Pafilia Cyprus Property Developers had used back in 2007 in selling flats to them. The buyers who purchased apartments from the company accused the seller of hiding important information, such as the fact that there were mortgages on the properties already.

This meant that the buyers could not actually get a hold of their Title Deeds until the developer could pay off debts.

In other words, they were not the official owners of the properties they had bought with their own money. But in their home countries, they said, as soon as someone pays for a property in total, they get the Title Deeds regardless of any outstanding balances owed by the developer. They also accused Pafilia of supplying them with misleading promotional material, said to have included information mentioning that law in Cyprus was based on Anglo-Saxon law.

The company maintains that the buyers were fully informed, citing Pafilia’s own loan for the property which came from the same bank as that of their clients.

The developer also said they had a lawyer go over the details with the buyers, explaining the situation in Cyprus which was different from that depicted in the pamphlets.

Pafilia also says buyers are not impacted in any negative way by not having their own separate Title Deeds, saying that reselling the property is still possible under their current registration with the Land Registry.

The company had been cooperative during the investigation of the complaint, according to the CCPS.

Source: news.cyprus-property-buyers.com
Date: 27 September 2016