Last winter Cyprus was shaken by a tragic accident in Limassol, where a family of five, parents and three minor children, tragically lost their lives in a fire caused by the electrical and mechanical installation of their home. To prevent further victims due to potential inadequacies, omissions, or neglect, the Council of Ministers is expected to approve the proposal of the Minister of Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, for stricter legislation governing electrical and mechanical installations. The goal is to substantially strengthen the building control system, ensure the safety of electrical and mechanical installations, and improve the energy efficiency of buildings.
What Changes
The Ministry of Interior has prepared the amendatory Regulations titled "Regulations Concerning the Regulation of Roads and Buildings (Mechanical and Electrical Installations) (Amendment) Regulations of 2025," which stipulate the obligation to submit an electrical or mechanical study when applying for a building permit for new constructions or for modifications to existing buildings that create a new unit or as deemed necessary by the relevant Authority.
Additionally, a new provision is introduced that makes the supervision of electrical and mechanical installations by the respective electrical and mechanical study planners mandatory. According to the new provision, the Electrical Engineer and Mechanical Engineer will be required to supervise the electrical and mechanical works for which a study was submitted and to provide the supervising engineer of the project with a written certification that the work related to the study they developed was completed according to the terms of the building permit. These certifications must be submitted to the relevant Authority along with the Project Completion Certificate.
The amendatory regulations address the need for the preparation and submission of a mechanical installation study for new types of installations, as well as for central heating and cooling systems in individual residences, which were previously exempt from this obligation.
Upon the Council of Ministers' approval of these Regulations, they will be submitted to the Parliament for discussion and voting.
ETEK recommendations
The stricter law follows recommendations of the Scientific Technical Chamber of Cyprus (ETEK), which serves as the technical advisor to the state. Following the tragic death of the family of five, ETEK, through its president Constantinos Constanti, presented five recommendations for adoption by the state, aimed at ensuring the safe living conditions of citizens in their homes. These are as follows:
- Improvement of building control and enforcement of urban and building legislation, so that unauthorized additions or modifications are not considered a normal phenomenon. The institutionalization of the long-discussed routine building inspections is expected to contribute significantly in this direction.
- Periodic inspection of electrical installations in a structured and balanced manner. Concurrently, the issue of illegal interventions and extensions to the electrical circuits of electrified premises, and the measures that must be taken to eliminate such illegalities, should be examined.
- Safe use of electrical devices and equipment, particularly by the elderly. An informative campaign focusing on this age group is deemed necessary.
- The state must take care of those in financial distress, whether through immediate visual inspection of the electrical devices they possess, or through planning gradual thermal insulation of their homes, or by informing them of the risks associated with using portable heating systems that operate with radiation or have an active flame.
- Intensification of efforts for affordable housing. Lack of access to affordable housing unfortunately leads citizens to make hasty solutions that could be extremely dangerous for their safety.
659 Fires Caused
One of the main causes of fires in cities is electrical and mechanical problems in residential buildings, which have been responsible for a total of 659 fires in the last five years (2020–2024), as revealed by statistics from the Fire Service. This fact makes it imperative to pass the Regulations in question.
Specifically, between 2020 and 2024, a total of 659 fires were caused in residential units and buildings due to electrical/mechanical problems, as follows: 2024 – 201 fires, 2023 – 175 fires, 2022 – 155 fires, 2021 – 106 fires, and 2020 – 22 fires.
Short circuits caused 609 fires in the last five years, as follows: 2024 - 89 fires, 2023 - 123 fires, 2022 - 121 fires, 2021 - 145 fires, and 2020 - 131 fires.
Another cause of fires inside homes is electrical appliances and heaters. Over the last five years, 81 fires were caused inside homes by electrical appliances, as follows: 2024 - 19 fires, 2023 - 26 fires, 2022 - 14 fires, 2021 - 13 fires, and 2020 - nine fires.