Do I need an advocate if I sell my house?

[WYASB9]

Our house is on the market and I have just had a quote for handling the sale of £1000. I think that this is a lot considering advocates here have no duty of care. When we sold a flat previously we had to do all the work and the advocate wanted £500. This was 8 years ago. We thought this was excessive then. One of our neighbours has Power of Attorney which we drew up recently for the specific purpose of the sale

[Deniz1]

No you dont really but its a lot off running around and you have to know what you are doing.

[karmels]

NO you don't need an advocate, a good Notar can guide you through this as one did for me.
Remember everybody can sell a building and choose not to pay tax on the sale or purchase of property, this is a one off, we choose to pay the tax on our new flat and not on the sale of our restaurant in Ozankoy as the sale price was a lot more than the purchase price so we paid £ 3.000 and saved a lot of money on the sale price.
The Notar next to the cafe opposite the law courts is very good and will fill out all the forms and direct you to the correct office in Girne.

[wanderer]

What does the notar charge compared to advocat

[karmels]

The charges of a Notar are a lot cheaper I would go as far as saying 90% cheaper.
As the Buyer had to pay the fee I do not no what it was but when we bought the flat it was 250TL to complete the paper work.
As it is a sale there is no need for a advocate as it is not going to court / if you have the money before you sign, which our Notar asked before he let me sign.
All bill must be paid, and the Recietes must be presented to the Notar to show there are no outstanding bill on the property.

[wanderer]

Karmels thank you for the information

[cjtill]

If you have the kocan in your name you have to consider if the buyer is a foreigner they will have to wait for permission to purchase to be granted before the deeds can be transferred into their name. Will you still be in the country then? If not you will need to leave power of attorney for someone else to do it for you.
If you don't have the deeds in your name, is it registered at the District Land office? If it is you will need to deregister before the new buyers will be able to register their new contract.

[erol]

I sold my house and bought one shortly after all without any advocate or notar on my or the buyer / sellers side, only estate agents fees (which I paid when selling and the seller paid when I bought). Having said that I am a kimlik card holder, and the deeds of the house I sold were in my name and the deeds of the house I bought were in his name. In the case of selling , took an initial deposit from the buyer, then along with the buyer first did the paperwork to show all my rates type taxes were paid an up to date, then in the tapu. I used my one time seller no taxes option, buyer paid his transfer taxes and as I signed over to the buyer they handed over a cheque to my estate agent for his fees and a bank draft to me of the remainder of the sale price minus deposit already paid. Done in half a day and no contract, no advocate, no notar. Buying the same in reverse. Paid deposit (to the sellers estate agent). Meet up with seller , who first got the paper work saying all his rates type taxes were paid up to date, went over to tapu, paid my buyers transfer taxes and as he signed deeds into my name I handed over one cheque to his estate agent for his agreed fees and one to the seller for the remainder (sale price - deposit already paid - his agents fees). No contract, no advocate no notar. Received a receipt form the tapu for the amount I paid as buyer in transfer tax. About one month later on production of said receipt at tapu they handed over the kochan for the new property in my name.

[Hector]

You could contact Pembe at Citizens Advice Cyprus and ask what it would cost and how to avoid pitfalls.

http://citizensadvicecyprus.com/

[Carbotec]

Erol was the houses you were selling all through an estate agent? This only applies if the property is over £250,000 or did they advertise the properties.

[erol]

Erol was the houses you were selling all through an estate agent? This only applies if the property is over £250,000 or did they advertise the properties.

Yes it was an agent who found the buyer for my house and I paid an agreed sum to him for doing so. I really do not know if they advertised it or not but they did find a buyer some how. As I also used my 'one in a lifetime no sales tax option' this was the only cost to me for the sale. So sale price agreed with buyer was X. Agreed fee for agent for finding the byer was Y. What I ended up in my bank account after the sale was X-Y.

[WYASB9]

Thanks everyone. We will try and go the notary route, if and when we sell

[suehowlittle]

Erol, I really envy you.

I have now been waiting 8 years for my Kocan.

I think I could wait another 8 years and not get it!

Happy for you.

Wish I had a Kimlik!