Real estate careers in Cyprus

The rules a broker must know

Public bodies

Brokerage is regulated by the Real Estate Agents Registration Council (Συμβούλιο Εγγραφής Κτηματομεσιτών, also called the Council of Real Estate Agents) under the Real Estate Agents Law 71(I)/2010 as amended. The Council keeps the registers of agents and assistants, issues the annual licences, inspects offices, prosecutes unlicensed brokerage and, for now, supervises agents' anti-money laundering duties. Around it, the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS, the Land Registry) records sale contracts, transfers, mortgages and title deeds; the Tax Department collects VAT and capital gains tax; the District Administrations of the Ministry of Interior grant purchase permits to non-EU buyers; the Civil Registry and Migration Department issues residence and work permits; the Deputy Ministry of Tourism registers short-term rentals; and CYSTAT and the Central Bank of Cyprus publish the main price indices. This guide covers only the areas under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus. The north of the island, under Turkish Cypriot administration since 1974, is a separate and high-risk market: ownership there is often disputed because much of the land belonged to displaced Greek Cypriots, and a 2006 amendment to the Republic's criminal law makes dealing in such property an offence carrying up to seven years in prison (Koufettas Law, October 2026). It is not covered here, and Famagusta district figures in official statistics refer only to its government-controlled part.

Licence

Nobody may act as a real estate agent, call themselves one or collect a fee for agency work without being entered in the Council's register and holding a valid annual licence (Law 71(I)/2010, Article 33). The law defines the agent as a person who, for a fee, mediates in a sale, purchase, exchange or lease of more than one month. An individual must be a citizen of Cyprus or another EU member state (or the spouse or child of a Cypriot citizen habitually resident in Cyprus), must not be bankrupt or convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or moral turpitude (unless rehabilitated), and must hold either a recognised degree of at least three years in a relevant subject plus 12 months' practice in Cyprus as a registered assistant, or a relevant master's degree of at least one year. Applicants must also pass the Council's written exam on Cypriot property and town planning law; qualifications from other EU states can be recognised through the European Professional Card. A company can be registered if it is formed in Cyprus or another EU state, has its office in Cyprus, is not being wound up, and all its directors and shareholders are themselves registered and licensed agents. Fees on the government Business in Cyprus portal (October 2026) are EUR 100 to apply as an individual (EUR 200 for a company), EUR 350 for the registration certificate, EUR 250 for each annual licence and EUR 20 for the agent's identity card. Registration does not expire, but the licence runs to 31 December each year; renewal requires EUR 200,000 of professional indemnity cover for the year, proof that the agent holds the office premises, Social Insurance records for every employee, and possibly an on-site inspection. The Council decides within three months. Unlicensed practice is punishable by up to 12 months in prison, a fine of up to EUR 3,500, or both, and the Council can also reprimand, fine up to EUR 2,000, suspend for up to five years or strike off. Enforcement is active: the Council counted about 400 criminal cases filed and 125 convictions for illegal brokerage in 2024, and by early May 2025 another 90 individuals and 35 companies had been convicted (Cyprus Mail, May 2025). Developers selling what they built, court-ordered sales, trustees, liquidators and receivers are outside the licensing requirement.

Who can be an agent

Salespeople who are not licensed agents work as assistant real estate agents (βοηθοί κτηματομεσίτες): natural persons employed by a licensed agent, entered in the Council's Register of Assistants and acting on the agent's instructions. An assistant needs Cypriot or other EU citizenship, a secondary school diploma, a clean record and no bankruptcy, and must apply within 30 days of starting the job; a late application only counts practice from 30 days before it was filed (Law 71(I)/2010, Article 12). The Council checks that the employment is real and has backed its right to ask for payslips, bank statements and payroll records in court (Cyprus Mail, June 2022). In March 2025 the Labour Ministry confirmed that assistants may work part time and be paid commission by their employer if their contract says so, while only licensed agents may receive commission from clients; the Council's insistence on Social Insurance records at renewal was contested by the agents' association, which said in November 2025 that about 90% of agent and assistant licences had been renewed after it intervened (Cyprus Mail). Because both registers are limited to EU citizens and Cypriots' family members, non-EU nationals cannot register as agents or assistants; in practice they can only hold support roles such as marketing, administration or client services, and they need a work permit for that. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens work without a permit and register their residence on form MEU1 (the yellow slip, EUR 20) if they stay more than three months, within four months of arrival (Mondaq, 2026). Non-EU employees need a permit from the Civil Registry and Migration Department, either through a Department of Labour market test showing no Cypriot or EU candidate is available, or through a company of foreign interests registered with the Business Facilitation Unit, which can hire highly skilled staff paid at least EUR 2,500 gross a month without that test (EUR 2,000 for existing key staff until 31 December 2026) (Zeno Legal, August 2026). Holders of the investor permanent residence permit may not work in Cyprus.

Brokerage rules

Where no fee has been agreed, the law sets the agent's commission at 3% of the transaction value, payable on completion; if the deal fails through no fault of the agent, the agent can still claim reasonable pay for time and costs (Article 20). Any agency agreement, written or oral, with someone who is not registered or has no valid licence is invalid (Article 27), so the fee cannot be enforced. Agents must disclose in writing any interest of their own in the property, and must tell buyers everything they know about its physical condition, charges and legal or planning restrictions. The seller's transfer declaration at the Land Registry must name the agent and the fee paid, and the agent pays 2/10,000 of the declared value to the Council within 30 days. In August 2026 the usual commission was 3% to 5% of the price plus 19% VAT, normally paid by the seller (INDEX.cy). Every advert, document and office sign must carry the words 'registered and licensed real estate agent' with the registration and licence numbers, and misleading claims about an agent's status are offences; private owners advertising their own property must show their own name and contact details. A bill by MP Kostis Efstathiou to make lawyers draft every property sale contract was back before the House legal affairs committee in May 2025, after being returned once by the previous president; the Council has called for it to be withdrawn (Cyprus Mail, May 2025). Estate agents are obliged entities under the AML Law 188(I)/2007: they must identify and verify clients and beneficial owners, check source of funds for higher-risk clients, keep records and report suspicious transactions to MOKAS, the financial intelligence unit, without tipping off the client (Kourtellos, October 2026). The Council supervises them today, but a draft amendment put to public consultation until 14 February 2026 would hand supervision of the whole real estate sector to the Tax Department, ahead of the EU AML Regulation 2024/1624, which applies directly from 10 July 2027 (FFWD, January 2026).

Foreign buyers

Citizens of EU and EEA states buy on the same terms as Cypriots. Other foreigners, including British buyers since Brexit, need a permit under the Acquisition of Immovable Property (Aliens) Law, Cap. 109, filed on form COMM 145 with the District Administration where the property lies; there is no fee and a complete file usually takes two to three weeks. Ministry of Interior policy normally allows one home on a plot of up to about 4,000 sqm, or up to two units (two homes, a home and a shop of up to 100 sqm, or a home and an office of up to 250 sqm), with a couple counting as one buyer, and a Cyprus company controlled by non-EU persons is caught by the same rule (Papacleovoulou, September 2026). The buyer can sign and lodge the sale contract first, but the title cannot be registered in their name until the permit is granted (Koufettas Law, October 2026). Non-EU investors can obtain permanent residence under Regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations: since 2 May 2023 a residential investment must be at least EUR 300,000 plus VAT in new homes bought from a developer, paid upfront and funded from abroad, with a secure income of at least EUR 50,000 a year plus EUR 15,000 for a spouse and EUR 10,000 per child (Kyprianou, May 2023; GK Law Firm, October 2026). On 24 September 2026 Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides told MPs that about 1,500 such permits had been issued in two years, that some 12,000 permits granted since 2013 were being reviewed, and that the scheme would be tightened before Cyprus joins Schengen; no new rules had been published by October 2026 (Cyprus Mail). The citizenship-by-investment programme was scrapped in November 2020 after an Al Jazeera investigation; 7,329 people (3,522 investors and their families) had received passports, and in December 2025 Parliament repealed the cabinet's power to grant citizenship to investors (Cyprus Mail, December 2025). Foreign demand is high: buyers from abroad signed 6,267 of the 14,969 sales contracts lodged in the first nine months of 2026 (41.9%), of whom 4,173 were non-EU and 2,094 EU citizens (DLS data, Cyprus Mail, October 2026). In 2025 the split was 7,255 foreign contracts out of 18,114, with non-EU buyers up 11% and EU buyers up 28% (Cyprus Property News, January 2026).

Tax and fees

Land Registry transfer fees are charged on the market value in bands: 3% up to EUR 85,000, 5% from EUR 85,001 to EUR 170,000 and 8% above, and they are halved when the sale is not subject to VAT, giving effective rates of 1.5%, 2.5% and 4% on resales; a property on which VAT was paid pays no transfer fee at all (Philippou Law, March 2026; Cyprus Tax Life, April 2026). On a EUR 600,000 resale the fee comes to EUR 20,600. New buildings and building land are subject to 19% VAT. A reduced 5% rate applies to an individual's new permanent home under Law 42(I)/2023: on the first 130 sqm and the first EUR 350,000, provided the home is no larger than 190 sqm and the total price does not exceed EUR 475,000; if the home is sold or let within ten years, part of the saving must be repaid. Projects whose planning application was filed by 31 October 2023 can still use the old rule (5% on the first 200 sqm with no price cap): applications had to reach the Tax Commissioner by 15 June 2026 where the building permit was issued by 31 December 2024, and Law 109(I)/2026, published on 24 April 2026, gives until 31 December 2026 where the building permit came later or is still pending (Mondaq, 2026). Stamp duty, previously up to 0.2% of the contract price and capped at EUR 20,000, was abolished from 1 January 2026 as part of the tax reform published on 31 December 2025 (PwC Cyprus; EY, 2026). Sellers pay 20% capital gains tax on the gain from Cypriot property, after inflation indexation and deductible costs; the reform raised the lifetime allowances for individuals from EUR 17,086 to EUR 30,000 in general, from EUR 85,430 to EUR 150,000 for a main residence lived in for at least five years and from EUR 25,629 to EUR 50,000 for farmland (PwC Cyprus). Sellers also pay a 0.4% levy for refugee housing introduced in 2022. Registering a mortgage costs 1% of the loan, and buyers usually pay legal fees of about 1% of the price plus VAT (INDEX.cy, August 2026). The annual immovable property tax was abolished from 2017; owners pay only local authority charges for refuse, sewerage and lighting, typically about EUR 90 to EUR 300 a year (Philippou Law, March 2026).

Off-plan

Most new homes are sold off plan, usually on a planning permit and, at best, a building permit already issued, with payments in stages tied to construction (Connor Legal, September 2026). The buyer's main protection is to lodge the signed sale contract with the Land Registry under the Sale of Land (Specific Performance) Law 81(I)/2011 within six months of signature: lodging registers the buyer's interest, prevents the seller from selling or mortgaging the unit to anyone else, and lets the buyer sue for transfer of title; a late filing needs a court order, and the filing fee is EUR 50 (Koufettas Law, October 2026). Since amending Law 132(I)/2023 took effect on 12 December 2023, every contract must come with a Land Registry search certificate no more than five working days old, showing any mortgages or charges on the plot. Bank guarantees are not compulsory, so lawyers advise negotiating a bank guarantee or insurance-backed bond covering the deposit and instalments until title is delivered. Separate title deeds are issued only after the building authority grants a certificate of approval for the finished building under Cap. 96, every bank holding a mortgage over the land consents, and the developer files a complete division file, after which the Land Registry aims to issue deeds in about three months; delays usually come earlier, from deviations from the approved plans, unmet planning conditions, unpaid developer loans or insolvency (Koufettas Law, October 2026). The resulting backlog of 'trapped buyers' is still being cleared: the 2015 law that issued more than 11,000 deeds was struck down in June 2024, and Law 110(I)/2025 reopened 9,497 frozen applications for contracts lodged by 31 December 2014, of which 5,417 had no title deed yet, while about 15,000 more buyers whose buildings have serious planning violations are not covered (Cyprus Mail, June 2026). Off-plan demand is strong: Landbank Analytics counted 3,594 new-build sales worth EUR 1.149 billion in the first half of 2026 and 1,956 worth EUR 606.4 million in the third quarter, with 64.8% of third-quarter sales below EUR 300,000, while approved housing units rose 63.7% in the first five months of 2026 (Central Bank of Cyprus).

Rentals

Holiday lets are regulated as self-catering tourist accommodation under Law 34(I)/2019: since July 2021 a property can only be advertised or let short term once it is entered in the Deputy Ministry of Tourism's register, and the registration number must appear on every listing (Cyprus Mail, May 2025). Operating without registration is punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of up to EUR 5,000, or both, plus up to EUR 200 a day after conviction (Philippou Law, August 2026). An Audit Office report published in July 2026 counted 8,464 registered units as of 6 May, about 1.7% of the 2021 census housing stock, against an estimated 12,000 to 13,000 short lets offered in 2025, and the EU short-term rental data Regulation 2024/1028 has applied since 20 May 2026, letting authorities require platforms to show registration numbers and share stay data; Cyprus has proposed further registration certificates and inspections but no night limits or local quotas (Cyprus Mail, September 2026). Short-stay accommodation is subject to 9% VAT where the operator is VAT-registered. Long-term lets are mostly free-market contracts whose rent and length are set by agreement. The Rent Control Law 23/1983 protects only statutory tenants of homes in controlled areas completed by 31 December 1999 who stay on after the first lease ends; their rent can rise only every two years and by no more than a cap set by decree, which was 6% for 22 April 2023 to 21 April 2025 (Kyprianou, May 2023) and is reported at 6% again for 2025 to 2027 (Landager, May 2026). From 2026, rental income is taxed only under income tax (no longer also under the defence contribution), and rent on Cypriot property must be paid by bank transfer, card or another electronic method, or it cannot be deducted by the tenant (PwC Cyprus). The RICS and KPMG Cyprus Property Index for Q2 2026 put apartment rents up 7.36% in a year and house rents up 5.30%, with indicative gross yields of 5.51% for apartments and 3.01% for houses (Papacleovoulou, September 2026).

Platforms

Real Estate Agents Registration Council (ktimatomesites.com: registers of agents and assistants, annual licences, exam, list of convictions)Council online application portal for registration and licence renewalsDepartment of Lands and Surveys (DLS): contract deposit under Law 81(I)/2011, search certificates, transfers, mortgages, title deedsDistrict Administrations (Ministry of Interior): Cap. 109 purchase permits for non-EU buyers, form COMM 145Tax Department (TAXISnet): VAT, reduced 5% VAT applications, capital gains tax, income tax on rentsCivil Registry and Migration Department: MEU1 registration for EU citizens, work permits, Regulation 6(2) permanent residenceBusiness Facilitation Unit (companies of foreign interests hiring non-EU staff)MOKAS, the financial intelligence unit (suspicious transaction reports under AML Law 188(I)/2007)Deputy Ministry of Tourism register of self-catering accommodation (short-term rentals)CYSTAT house price index and Central Bank of Cyprus residential property price index