At the Land Registry Department, patience, endless patience, is required. Anyone submitting an application for a land survey should know in advance that the minimum waiting time is 17 months. And that is considered fortunate: there have been cases where citizens waited up to 16 years.
If your application concerns a boundary dispute with a neighbour, it may be better to submit it and then forget about it. The average waiting time from submission to receiving a written decision is 125 months – around 10 years. In many cases, on‑site inspections took place after six to ten years, while the final decision was issued up to 15 years after the survey work was completed.
The handling of cases relating to the disposal of expropriated land shows an average waiting time of 90 months – eight years.
Citizens continue to pay the price for the omissions of successive governments, which allowed longstanding problems at the Land Registry to accumulate, effectively crippling a service of vital importance. Due to increased workload and insufficient staffing, the Land Registry is unable to carry out its statutory duties on time or serve the public within a reasonable period.
Auditor‑General: A change in mindset is needed
In a report published today (in Greek), the Audit Office paints a bleak picture of the hardship faced by the public at the Land Registry, with Auditor‑General Andreas Papaconstantinou stressing the need for a fundamental change in mindset and approach toward a more effective, transparent and modern public administration.
In the preface of his report, Papaconstantinou notes:
“Delays are evident at all levels and activities, resulting in hardship for citizens and loss of public revenue. They also affect the horizontal functioning of other government departments, burdening coordination and the implementation of government policies. Given the crucial role of the Department of Land and Surveys (DLS) in the smooth operation of the state, the modernisation of procedures, the establishment of clear timelines and the setting of measurable targets are essential. Continual references to long‑standing delays and acceptance of the problem are not enough. A fundamental change in mindset and approach is required to achieve an effective, transparent and modern public administration. The DLS has provided extensive responses to the findings. It remains to be seen whether the planned changes will lead to a substantial upgrade in the quality of services offered.”
State land at the mercy of opportunists
The Audit Office’s examination did not focus solely on public inconvenience. It also reveals serious findings concerning state land, which is being illegally exploited by opportunistic individuals without adequate measures taken to stop the encroachments.
Specifically, the Audit Office found that the Land Registry is significantly delayed in investigating and addressing illegal interventions on state land, even when it becomes aware of them – allowing the problem to persist and worsen.
As of 31 December 2024, according to DLS data, 1,127 cases of illegal encroachments were pending investigation nationwide. In the Nicosia district, some cases have been outstanding for more than 15 years without sufficient action taken. The report notes that the recording of illegal interventions has not been completed across the whole of free Cyprus, meaning the true number is likely much higher.
Uncollected revenue totalling €18.5 million
As of 31 December 2024, uncollected revenue at the Land Registry nationwide amounted to €18.5 million, compared with €15.5 million in 2023 – an increase of around €3 million. Of this sum, €13.6 million, 74%, concerns unpaid rents for state land, owed mainly by private individuals.
According to the Nicosia District Land Registry’s list of outstanding revenues as of 31 December 2023, around 70% of unpaid rents were owed by just 10 tenants, who had outstanding debts totalling €2,605,081 for years. While these cases were eventually forwarded to the Legal Service for action, this occurred after significant delays, increasing the risk of revenue loss for the state, the Audit Office notes.