rental contract property tax stamp

[bornunderabadsign]

We are currently renting a property long term through an Estate Agent, on visiting the Muhtar in Catalkoy to get our letters for customs and residency we were told we needed a stamp on our rental contract showing that the owner has paid the 10% property tax. Is this something that the tenant would normally be expected to do and if so where to go? Would the agent normally sort this?
I welcome all advice.

[ozankoys]

Your contract should bear a stamp from the tax office showing that 0.5% tax on the gross rental for the contract period has been paid otherwise it is not a legal document. The 10% tax on rent is paid monthly & is the responsibility of the Landlord (or his agent). Ask the agent for a copy of the page that has been stamped this would have been done after you signed & were given your copy.

[Deniz1]

Should be but maybe not my neighbour rent through an agency and hast even got a contract let alone a stamp.

[Storm]

The Contract should be stamped at the Government offices and is calculated as follows - lets assume the rent is £350 pcm and is a 12-month rental: £350 x 0.5% x 12 - £24.00. This should be done by the Agent or the Landlord. If you've gone through an Estate Agent then I would suggest you go to their offices and ask them to do it or, at least, accompany you to the Tax Office to show you how to go about it. Hope this helps.

[bornunderabadsign]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice, our estate agent, who remains nameless, tells us it is our responsibility to go to the tax office and pay for the stamp on our copy of the contract! We are not in a position to argue but are not impressed with their attitude, suffice to say when we decide to purchase a property it will not be from them!
I suppose its all part of the fun and stops you getting bored.

[Smiler]

I've had different experiences with different landlords/agents. With some they have insisted that I have had to pay the 0.5% for the stamp and I've had landlords who have automatically done it for me, no questions asked! But then I've also had landlords who didn't give me a contract!! Nothing is straightforward in Cyprus

[ozankoys]

Oh well if you go & get the contract stamped yourself it does mean that this income will be recorded against the landlord as I would suspect he is not paying the rental tax. Maybe the agent is deducting it from him but not paying over to the tax office as I have heard of this scenario.
All landlords should ask to see their receipts if they have any doubts at all about their agent.
By the way depending on the date of the contract you may have to pay 1% stamp duty as the 0.5% is only applicable for a couple of weeks or a month cannot remember exactly.

[bornunderabadsign]

A final word on the tax stamp issue, we collected our rental contract from the Estate Agent, they had forgotten to witness ours and the landlords signature, and made our way to the Tax office located at the rear of Girne Hospital; went to the desk marked Rentals and Property Tax handed over our contract and were told to get a photocopy from the coffee shop on the first floor. Back downstairs handed them over, stamped a piece of paper and sent to the payment window, lots of stamping and signing then handed over 85tl and off we went with a stamped rental contract. We then visited our Muhtar who was all smiles now we had our stamped contract and issued us with our residency forms.
It was a reasonably painless experience obtaining the tax stamp, it would have helped if our agent had mentioned the need for this before our wasted trip to the Muhtar.

[ozankoys]

Glad you sorted yourself out. Is your landlord Cypriot or not? If they do not live here they might be under the apprehension that their agent is keeping their financial affairs here in order, maybe one of your neighbours may be in contact with them?