Legal Answers from Naomi Memhet

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 02:44

Hi everyone, just before we take a break for Xmas, Lincguide has produced in association with Naomi Memhet, our last set of legal help answers from your questions.



Thanks to all those who submitted a question.

The answers can be found here...

http://www.living-in-northern-cyprus.com/review/2009/12/legal-advice-3/



By the way if you are looking for a flight, use our flight comparison search tool to check for the best prices, it searches all the major operators. Do it before you book anywhere, you will be supporting our website too!



Many thanks to everyone who helped this year, looking forward to an exciting 2010 for Northern Cyprus.

Pete

magicart


Joined: 05/10/2008
Posts: 985

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 09:09

Hi Petez,



Thanks for sending this out-its really interestiing and helpful.



You said this is the last set of legal help-do you mean for this year or forever.



Happy Xmas



Art

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 12:14

This is just the last one of the year, we will be back in 2010.



Happy xmas to you too..

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 14:55

One thing to people with a question, please check all the previous answers first as propbably half of the questions we get have already been asked in one way or another...



http://www.living-in-northern-cyprus.com/review/2009/12/legal-advice-3/



There is a link on this page to all the other questions and answers too..

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 18:33

Incidentally..... see if you can guess which question was asked by Brinsley!

Brinsley


Joined: 04/04/2009
Posts: 6858

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 19:19

Petez

I did email you a reply off board!



Richard

pilgrim



Joined: 11/05/2007
Posts: 1404

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 20:21

Would be very interested in outcome of inquiries into memorandum issue, has serious implications for many in TRNC

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
17/12/2009 20:34

Re message 7 Too true, alot of time in North Cyprus there is the law and then the implementation of the law.

The two things are not always connected!





Re message 6

Thanks for the email Richard (and question), a very happy xmas to you too!

Looking forward to reading more of your posts in 2010.

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 10:49

Hi everyone

I got some more questions for Naomi today, many of them have already been answered on the website.



The information you need may already be there.



Here is a link to the last 50 answers

http://www.living-in-northern-cyprus.com/review/2009/12/north-cyprus-law/

stellasstar1



Joined: 02/07/2008
Posts: 1519

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 12:56

What a superb service, thank you for all the help given this year.

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 13:01

Pilgrim (msg. 7),

I agree with you that it is a very important issue. In my view it is right for the Land Registry to accept memorandums on land with Sale contracts that have been registered. Personally I consider "registration" as something stronger than a "mortgage" on the same plot. The intention of the law about registration is clear but we cannot expect the Land Registry to take chances and decide for themselves about the full implications of this law. It is up to the courts to set the right precedence but I have no doubt that the outcome will be in favour of Buyers. It is up to the Buyers to apply to court as interested parties and have the memorandum cancelled. The advocates like to borrow "sample applications" from each other. Once someone does it and is successfull, then an avalanche of cases will follow and soon the rules will be set in place. This is how case law is developed in many areas of life.

ismet

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 13:48

Thanks for the comments Ismet,



Hopefully we will see things developer further to protect buyers in all circumstances...

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 14:04

and thanks to you too Stella, it's nice to be appreciated..

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 16:26

I have just spoken to the top man of Land Registry Office. He informed me that as the situation is, any person who has a judgement in his favour against the Vendor can put a memorandum on his assets. The memorandum expires automatically after two years unless it is further extended by the Court. During this time the judgement creditor may apply to court for forceful sale of the immovable. If such an order is obtained from the court and is registered with the Land Registry, it waits its turn to be sold at auction. Once a time is fixed for the auction, the person who had registered his sale contract with the Land Registry is given a notice of 30 days to go to court and object and thus stop the sale if necessarry. Unless the sale is stopped by the court, the sale goes ahead. If the contract was registered with no encumbrance at the time, the buyer has the first priority. He gets the money he paid in accordance with the contract and if any left from the proceeds goes to others in line in accordance with their priorities. So the situation is not perfect but not too bad either. The court can of course improve on this for the buyer if it sees fit.

ismet

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 18:47

Many thanks for the info ismet

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 20:18

In addition to message 14, it goes without saying that if there was a mortgage on the land before the buyer registered his contract, the owner of the morgage is first in line, then the buyer and then the memorandum holder. Fair enough except that if the mortgage owner knew that the house was already sold i.e. for sales prior to 2009 where registration was not in place, then "Constructive Notice" may kick in with lots of implications thah has to be tested in court.

ismet

Hector


Joined: 26/08/2008
Posts: 2352

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 20:30

Only 30 days notice? What happens if the 'owner' is not a TRNC resident? How would they find out about a court case?

icecaps


Joined: 12/02/2009
Posts: 31

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 22:24

A question for Elko2. What is the lilelyhood of owners with contracts registered prior to any memorandum applying to the courts to have the memorandum removed. Would they be successfull? How do you see the odds for or against?

Many thanks in anticipation.

kibrissibel


Joined: 18/02/2008
Posts: 562

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 22:27

Ismet, re message 16, I suspect there will be many cases where the banks/mortgage holders should have been aware the properties were subject to sales contracts or made reasonable efforts to find out before granting mortgages ( constructive notice ) In our case, with Seaterra Reserve, from what we can gather there are 4 comanies involved in the £2 million mortgage, which appear to be sister/pheonix companies. So in our opinion they would have been fully aware that many contracts stated that the development would have been free from mortgages/encumbrances. Due to the lack of transparancy from Seaterra and them refusing to give us any information, we have no idea what the interest rate is and thus what the actual figure of the mortgage is now because any interest rate could have been agreed between these 4 parties.



After our dispute with them, Seaterra finally released a "mortgage exclusion letter" to purchsers, although the validity of this has never been tested in court. Cont...

kibrissibel


Joined: 18/02/2008
Posts: 562

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 22:34

Cont...

Despite promises, the £2million has not been repaid/reduced at land registry the last time we checked. Sales are not exactly rocketing at present, and they have approx 60 apartments left for sale, which we assume have got the £2 million mortgage on plus unknown amounts of interest. As they sell each unit, we would assume each unit would have a mortgage exclusion letter with it, meaning that we could be in a position in 3 years time where there's only 10 units left with a £2million mortgage plus unknown interest over the past 5/6 years. This could possible mean that each unit has a mortgage of £500,000+ per unit. This doesn't add up.



The "mortgage exclusion letter" doesn't include infrastructure, communal areas, roads etc, so potentially you could take possession of your apartment and be unable to access it via the road and it would become land-locked by the mortgagees. Cont...

kibrissibel


Joined: 18/02/2008
Posts: 562

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 22:39

Cont...

You could be denied access to water/electric/infrastructure that is on the communal areas that are not included in this "mortgage exclusion letter" IMHO!



Would be great to hear Seaterra's honest response.



Brad & Sibel

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 23:07

Icecaps (msg.18),

The registration of Sale Constracts began on 2nd January 2009 based on the Registration of Estate Agents Law passed in the year 2008. At the moment the current view of the Land Registry is that the registration is effetively as good as a mortgage in favour of the buyer. Hence, if there is any claim on the immovable, it is sold and the proceeds go primarily to the holder of the first mortgage and the the others in line get it if anything is left behind.

However my view is that registration is effectively better than a mortgage i.e. it prevents the forceful sale of the immovable and hence it makes a memorandum worthless. By the way, an injunction is granted by the court while the case is tried and it expires at the conclusion of the court case. A memorandum is put on the immovable after the judgement and expires after two years unless an extention is granted by the court.



The registration that came into effect on 2nd January 2009 has its roots in Chapter 232 Sale

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 23:15

of Land (specific Performance) Law which came into force in the year 1885 and it was only meant for those immovables with title deeds ready to be transferred. The effect of registration was to stop the tranfer of the immovable to anyone else except the buyer and even if it was registered into another name by way of a gift or purchase, it stipulates that the court can order it to be taken away and registered in the name of the buyer who registered the contract. See http://www.mahkemeler.net/ifasil/Cap232.pdf , Clause 7.

Hence I would argue that Chapter 232 is the forerunner of this registration and it should afford protection to the buyer much in the same way. It is a matter of putting these views forward in a court of law. Having said that, in the absence of such an interpration from the courts, the Land Registry is right to treat registration simply as a form of mortgage.

In answer to Hector (msg. 17), I would say that a buyer should not wait for the 30 days notice from the Land cont.

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
18/12/2009 23:17

Registry Office and should apply to court to have the memorandum cancelled as far as his interest is concerned. Normally, a buyer spends even more money on the house and makes improvements, therefore those expenses should be taken into account as well and I am sure the court will be sympathetic to such arguments.

Good luck.

ismet

petez


Joined: 04/12/2008
Posts: 560

Message Posted:
19/12/2009 12:31

And you thought the UK system was complicated!

Thanks again ismet...

icecaps


Joined: 12/02/2009
Posts: 31

Message Posted:
20/12/2009 12:51

Elko2

Ismit many thanks for your very helpfull reply

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
20/12/2009 14:16

Ismet, thanks for the very useful information.