Paphos People

Advice please. Can somebody buy a property in a residential complex and put it up on AirBNB as a holiday let? Is planning permission required for change of use? Where can I find out the answers to these points.
Surely the residents must be asked for their approval.

It all depends on the license given for the build of the complex as some are not residential but just holiday use.
Every complex should have an owners comittee which deals with rules and maintainance etc. and a lot also depends if the complex owners have their title deeds. It is not very clear or straightforward and to let to holidaymakers also by law requires you to register with the CTO which in itself puts the spanner in the works as they rarely if ever give you permission.
All the other owners have to agree so it is not simple.
Having said all the above, most owners just go ahead and do it without any consultation with anyone including their neighbours but be aware that they could be reported to the CTO and could face a huge fine if they look into it. Also depending on the type of people you rent to may be questioned by your neighbours if they are anti social while in your place.

Also I think you have to have a CTO licence to let out a property for holiday lets.
Geoff.

And the CTO do not give permits for less than 5 properties, they simply do not have a system to cater for the Airbnb type lets.....stupid because if they licensed these properties they would actually get revenue from the licences...

Most serious concern is, if it dosnt have a holiday let Insurance policy, if not, could be massive problems for the owners, if any sort of accident/fire occurred.

When we considered buying an apartment we asked about title deeds and were told that title deeds were only issued when all apartments etc were sold and that developers often kept a room/cleaners store etc which was claimed to be an unsold property.

And you were told crap....

I would have used a stronger word!
Geoff.

We bought our apartment from a small local developer in 2005 and managed to get the title deeds 6 years later and the developer had still not sold 2 of the apartments so you were misinformed.

Until a developer pays back any outstanding loans on a property no one is going to get their deeds- I really don't think the broom cupboard "ploy" has much to do with it, nor does it need to.

A developer can sell all the properties in any complex, but until such time as he pays the bank the money borrowed from the bank to build that particular development no one will get their deeds.

The law was changed (to get bailout money from the EU) but that law has now been deemed unconstitutional by the Cypriot Courts and it still remains the case that even if you have paid in full for your property, if the developer has not paid the bank his loans on that particular development you do not get your deeds

-back on topic, Cyprus is currently suffering from a shortage of tourist accommodation that time and financial restraints created by indebted businesses/hotels and bankrupt banks are making impossible to meet in the short to medium term. The issuing of more licences to individual renters would help matters enormously (although that would be more applicable to individual properties, not those with communal obligations)

You would, The point is that there was so much crap going on at that time in the property market especially with the title deed fiasco that unlike many I wouldn't have touched anything without title deeds, as I've said previously when we asked at buy sell how many of the 20 properties we were interested in had title deeds 18 disappeared.