Buying off-plan property in Cyprus before a 2027 handover

Every legal or regulatory claim below carries its source. Where research turned up nothing, or found sources that disagree, we say so rather than smoothing it over. This is general information, not legal or tax advice, and it is not a substitute for your own lawyer.

What does buying off plan in Cyprus actually mean?

It means signing a contract and paying, usually in stages, for a residence that does not exist yet or is only partly built. You are relying on the developer's plans, specification and stated completion date rather than something you can walk through today.

At A. DomeNik Residence that is exactly the position now. The building on Patmou Street, Zakaki, Limassol 3046, is under construction, with handover set for July 2027. Four of six residences are sold; two remain, the Penthouse Suite at €370,000 and the Rooftop Suite at €380,000.

Off-plan buying is ordinary practice in Cyprus and is not unusual in itself. What varies enormously, and what this page sets out plainly, is which protections are set by law and which exist only if you write them into the contract yourself.

What protects my money before the building exists?

The strongest protection by far is depositing your signed contract of sale at the Department of Lands and Surveys. Once deposited, your claim has priority on the land register ahead of anything registered against the property afterwards, including a mortgage the developer takes out later or an attempt to sell the same unit twice.

Our buying process guide sets out the six-month deposit deadline and the mechanics in full. It is the single most important step in an off-plan purchase, so we would rather send you there for the detail than compress it here.

That deposit protects your priority on the register. It does not, by itself, protect the instalments you pay before the building is finished. That is a separate question, and the honest answer to it is less reassuring than most sales material suggests.

Is there any legal protection on staged payments?

We could not find one. No Cyprus law or Central Bank rule requires a bank guarantee, an escrow account, or payments tied to construction milestones for an off-plan purchase. Commentators describe these arrangements as contractual good practice rather than legal requirements. One source references a proposal to make escrow compulsory on mortgage-encumbered purchases, but it is a proposal, not law.

In practice that means the protection on your staged payments is whatever your contract says, and nothing more. If you want payments released against construction milestones, a bank guarantee covering money paid before completion, or the right to withhold the final instalment until specific conditions are met, those terms have to be negotiated and written into the contract. Nobody supplies them for you by default.

This is the single most useful point on this page. Read the payment schedule in your contract as though it were the whole of your protection on the money you pay in stages, because as far as the law is concerned, it is.

What permits should the development already hold?

Two separate permits, under two separate laws. Planning permission is a precondition of development under Article 20 of the Town Planning and Spatial Planning Law, applied for electronically through the IPPODAMOS platform to the competent Town Planning Authority. The businessincyprus.gov.cy planning permission page gives a standard decision period of three months from submission, with a granted permit valid for three years from issuance.

Building permission is a separate legal precondition, under the Streets and Buildings Regulation Law (Cap. 96), also applied for through IPPODAMOS. Since the 2024 reform, the issuing authority is the district's Local Government Organisation rather than the old municipality or district administration, per the businessincyprus.gov.cy building permission page.

Neither of these permits is confirmed by any source we could reach as a legal precondition of marketing or selling units off plan. They are preconditions of construction. What that means for you is practical rather than legal: ask the seller directly for copies of both permits. We could not confirm that a member of the public can search another party's permit record through IPPODAMOS, so we are not going to imply you can simply look this up yourself.

What happens about VAT if I sign now and complete in 2027?

This is genuinely unresolved, and it is the most important gap on this page. Decrees 102/2026 and 103/2026, published 27 February 2026, amend the Fifth and Eighth Schedules of the VAT Law with effect from 1 September 2026. Deloitte's reporting describes them as redefining "first occupation" as first systematic use of a property for at least 18 months, replacing the previous test of first supply within five years of completion.

No source we could find, government or professional, states how these decrees treat a contract signed before 1 September 2026 for a building delivered after that date. There is nothing published on grandfathering, and nothing on whether VAT treatment fixes at the date you sign or the date you take delivery. If you are signing an off-plan contract now for a 2027 handover, put that question to your own lawyer directly, in writing, before you sign.

There is a second, separate VAT deadline worth knowing about, distinct from the September decrees. Parliament extended transitional relief under the original reduced-rate reform, Law 42(I)/2023, from 15 June 2026 to 31 December 2026, published in the Official Gazette on 24 April 2026. Michael Kyprianou's reporting states it applies only where the planning permit application was filed by 31 October 2023 and the final building permit was issued after 1 January 2025 or is still pending, while a permit issued on or before 31 December 2024 keeps the earlier 15 June 2026 deadline.

Whether A. DomeNik Residence's own permit dates fall inside that extended window is a fact about this building's permit file, and it is not something research from outside can establish. Ask us directly and we will tell you what applies to this development, rather than guessing at a figure that turns on documents we hold and you do not. General VAT rates and the same re-check warning are in the cost of buying guide.

What about the trapped buyers problem?

Trapped buyers are people who paid in full for a Cyprus property but could not get title, historically because the developer had mortgaged the land and the bank would not release it. The mechanism meant to resolve legacy cases is Law 110(I)/2025, formally the Transfer and Mortgage of Real Property (Amendment) Law of 2025, which amends the Transfer and Mortgage of Real Property Law of 1965, Law 9/1965, confirmed against CyLaw's own index of that law. It does not touch the Specific Performance Law that governs depositing your contract, which is a separate protection working alongside it.

Crucially, Law 110(I)/2025 applies only to legacy cases: contracts deposited by 31 December 2014, or concluded by that date and deposited under a court order applied for by 31 December 2024. It does not protect a purchase made today. Our foreign buyers guide covers this in full.

It is also not a settled question even for the people it is meant to help. Cyprus Mail reported on 10 June 2026 that banks are challenging the mechanism itself as unconstitutional, on grounds that echo those which struck down the earlier version of the law. The same report put roughly 5,417 of about 9,500 frozen applications still without a title deed, noted that about 15,000 other buyers fall outside the law's scope entirely because of planning violations, and gave a long-stop deadline for deed issuance of early March 2028. We are attributing all of these figures to that named press report, not stating them as our own findings.

We are telling you this not because it applies to your purchase (it does not, Law 110(I)/2025 covers legacy cases only) but because it is the clearest illustration of why the contract deposit and a sensible payment schedule matter. The trapped buyers problem exists precisely because thousands of people paid without those protections in place.

When do I get my title deeds?

Only after the building is complete and certified, and only once separate title is issued for the individual unit. A unit still under construction cannot be registered and cannot hold a title deed; the requirements for that are set out fully in our foreign buyers guide.

No source we found states a statutory timeframe for issuing separate title deeds after completion. Law-firm sources claim a developer must apply for a Certificate of Final Approval within 21 days of completion, and that separate title issuance typically takes 6 to 24 months, but no government page confirms either figure, so we are reporting them as claims rather than fact. Ask us for the realistic timeline on this specific building rather than relying on a general figure from elsewhere.

What should be in the contract?

Given that staged payments have no statutory protection, the contract carries more weight on an off-plan purchase than on almost any other kind of property transaction. At minimum, check for the following.

1. The full area breakdown in writing, covered interior, covered veranda and roof garden shown separately. Never accept one combined figure.
2. A payment schedule tied to construction stages, with each instalment linked to a defined, checkable milestone rather than a date alone.
3. What happens if handover slips. Ask what compensation, if any, applies if July 2027 is missed, since no statute sets this for you.
4. Whether any security covers money paid before completion, such as a bank guarantee. If you want one, it has to be negotiated and written in; the law does not supply it.
5. The specification in writing, what is included, such as the fitted kitchen and jacuzzi provision, and what is not, such as the jacuzzi unit itself or furniture.
6. Confirmation the contract will be deposited at the Department of Lands and Surveys within six months of signing, and by whom.
7. Copies of the planning and building permits for the development, requested directly from the seller.
8. The VAT treatment of your specific unit, confirmed in writing, given the unresolved position on contracts spanning the 1 September 2026 changes.

What stage is A. DomeNik Residence at?

Under construction, on Patmou Street, Zakaki, Limassol 3046. Six residences in total, four sold, two remaining. Handover is July 2027, and the building will carry an A+ energy performance certificate.

Both remaining residences are on the third and top floor, each with a private roof garden fitted with a WC, a bathroom, a BBQ area and jacuzzi provision (the plumbing and electrical provision is installed, the jacuzzi unit itself is not supplied). It is sold directly by the owner, with no estate agent in the transaction and no agent commission.

Total area comprises covered interior, covered veranda and private roof garden.

If you have a question specific to this building, including its permit dates or its VAT position against the 2026 transitional deadlines, message us directly rather than relying on general guidance written for Cyprus as a whole.