How to recover lost apartment documents?

Loss of property documents in North Cyprus — an unpleasant predicament, yet not devoid of a solution. Here's what you can undertake.

• Engage the services of a legal practitioner
• Contact the land registry authority
• Reach out to the property developer
• Frequently Posed Inquiries

Engage the services of a legal practitioner

The most straightforward and dependable option, albeit the most costly. Lawyers in North Cyprus are individuals with access to areas beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. For instance, they can extract information from the property owners' registry, which is exclusively accessible to these owners. The lawyer will establish contact with the authorities and resolve the issue.

Contact the land registry authority

Tapu, or the land cadastral service, oversees all real estate transactions and serves as the repository for the document attesting ownership. If the registration has been completed and the sales contract has been duly recorded with the tax authority, they will guide you on subsequent measures.

Reach out to the property developer

This course of action is pertinent only if the sales contract has been registered with Tapu; otherwise, the property developer's documents are of no avail.

Frequently Posed Inquiries about Real Estate in North Cyprus

What language does the legal practitioner speak?

In most instances, legal practitioners are fluent in English. However, experts with the requisite connections are frequently locals, and their native tongue is Turkish. In complex cases, to avoid misinterpretation, it is advisable to engage the services of a professional translator.

How many properties can an individual register?

Under the legislation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a foreigner is allowed to register only one property in their name.

How can the document attesting ownership be verified?

In the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, publicly accessible information about real estate, including addresses and owners' names, is not available. Therefore, subsequent to selecting an apartment, house, or non-residential premises, the owner ought to furnish you with this document. We have delved into this matter more extensively here.

Within the North Cyprus Telegram forum, there exists a section entitled «Real Estate», where you can pose inquiries and receive responses from knowledgeable individuals in this domain.