Wednesday, 6 February 2008

Renting House In Cyprus

By William Marind

There is no difficulty in finding apartments to buy in any of the towns in Cyprus. Land development into apartments is very common and there is an abundance available for sale at any time all over Cyprus, the vast majority being very new. There is also a tendency to sell apartments "on paper". (ie when construction plans are still on the drawing board), or during construction, as a means of raising part of the finance for the project.Apartment prices are not uniform. They vary to a great extent with the location, the quality of the project and the town where they are situated.

The relatively low cost of living in Cyprus has an added appeal for the potential buyer, offering a full and inexpensive lifestyle. Recent statistics pointed to Cyprus as one of the most inexpensive countries in Europe. The local markets flaunt a wealth of colourful fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, and Cyprus' modern supermarkets are fully stocked with a large range of local and imported goods. The local population is Greek speaking. Cyprus was once a British colony resulting in over 80% of the population speaking English. Street signs, direction signs, and shop signs are written in English. Knowledge of German, French, Russian is increasing with the Island tourist trade.

The main developers in Cyprus tend to look after their own after sales, so your first point of call would most likely be direct to them whether it's to have alterations or to highlight any problems with the property itself. That said, we do have a wealth of experience in after sales and can act upon your behalf should things not get resolved to your satisfaction.As we only work with the most prestigious companies on the island, you'll find most of these offering in-house property maintenance services from gardening to pool maintenance, regular cleaning to ad hoc visits. If they don't offer the service you require themselves, they will certainly put you in touch with a reputable company near to your property, ensuring they are best placed to keep an eye on it for you.

The next step is to appoint an architect to carry out the design. There is an abundance of well qualified architects on the island and many capable technicians as well. We suggest that you appoint an architect for the purpose (not an engineer or technician). Architect fees range from 4%-6% (on the building cost) but you can agree also on a fixed fee. The prevailing fees are 3.8% on the building cost for a complete set of architectural plans and 1.6% for supervision (including the issuing of certificates).

In addition a 1.5%-2% is payable for the structural design and 0.3% for structural supervision. If you are at a loss as to the choice of a suitable consultant, seek the advice of the Registrar of the Association of Architects & Engineers (all licenced architects must be registered). Please bear in mind that in case of large buildings you may be able to negotiate a lower fee (as also in the case of repetitive work).

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