The rules you follow every day in Cyprus

Cyprus’s rules for agents sit in a handful of laws, and most of them are short. Most problems come from a fee nobody wrote down, an advert without the owner’s details or your licence number, a buyer nobody checked, cash, or a title deed nobody searched. This lesson turns the rules into daily habits.

1. Agree the fee, in writing

The Real Estate Agents Law does not give a model contract. What it does say, in article 20:

• Using an agent is never compulsory for a deal.
• A licensed agent may claim the agreed fee. Unless agreed otherwise, the fee is 3% of the deal value, due when the sale or lease agreement is concluded.
• If the deal does not happen and it is not your fault, you may claim a reasonable fee for your time and expenses.
• If you, a close relative or your company has an interest in the property, you must tell the buyer in writing before you mediate.
• Any agreement, written or oral, that gives agency work to an unregistered or unlicensed person is void (article 27).

The law does not require the fee agreement itself to be written. Write it anyway. Your agency agreement with the owner should state the property, the deal, your fee as a percentage or a sum, whether VAT is added, who pays, when it is due, any exclusivity and how long the agreement lasts. Without that, you are left arguing about the 3% default.

VAT. Leptos Estates notes that VAT is added to the commission. The standard rate is 19% (PwC, August 2026). A 3% fee on a €300,000 sale is €9,000, plus €1,710 VAT.

The transfer declaration. When a mediated sale is transferred at the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS), the parties must give the agent’s name, address and fee in the declaration. The agent must then pay the Council 2/10,000 of the declared amount within 30 days of being paid (article 20(5) and (6)). On a €300,000 sale, that is €60.

2. Keep your adverts clean

• Your numbers. “Licensed real estate agent”, your registration number and your annual licence number on every advert, post and document (article 23).
• The owner. Article 33 makes it an offence to knowingly publish adverts that do not clearly give the owner’s name and contact details, unless you are acting as a licensed agent. Ask your employer how it applies this in practice.
• No false titles. Calling yourself an agent, adviser or agency when you are not licensed is an offence (articles 26 and 33).
• Value opinions are allowed. Article 22 lets you give an opinion on value when the seller or buyer asks.
• No visa promises. Residence by investment has strict rules, and citizenship by investment ended in 2020 (lesson 5).

3. Tell the buyer everything

Article 21 is the heart of the job. Whether you act for the seller or the buyer, you must tell the intended buyer all you know about the physical condition of the property, the charges on it and any restrictions set by law, a court or the state. If you could not get the information for reasons beyond your control, say so before the deal is signed. Your €200,000 insurance exists for this duty (lesson 3).

4. Know your client (Law 188(I)/2007)

The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Law 188(I)/2007 lists estate agents as obliged entities (section 2A). That includes lettings when the rent is €10,000 a month or more. Michael Kyprianou & Co (March 2025) add that developers who sell directly to buyers are also likely to be covered. Your duties:

1. Identify every client and the beneficial owner of any company, with valid ID.
2. Understand the deal and assess the source of funds, more deeply when the risk is higher.
3. Screen for politically exposed persons and sanctions.
4. Report suspicions to MOKAS, the financial intelligence unit, without warning the client.
5. Keep records for at least five years (section 68, as summarised by Michael Kyprianou & Co).

Red flags include unexplained cash, quick resales and offshore companies with unclear owners.

Cash. The same firm writes that cash payments in property deals are capped at €10,000, including linked payments, with fines of up to 10% of the cash received and up to five years in prison. Take your fee by bank transfer, against an invoice, every time.

Who checks you. Today the Council supervises agents for anti-money laundering. A 2026 draft bill would hand this to the Tax Department, and the EU’s Regulation 2024/1624 extends the rules to all real estate professionals from July 2027 (Cyprus Property News). Ask your agency for its written procedure.

5. Protect personal data

You collect passports, tax numbers, bank statements and proof of income. The EU GDPR applies, and Law 125(I)/2018, in force since 31 July 2018, puts it into Cypriot law, with the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection as the supervisor (DLA Piper). In practice:

• Collect only what the deal needs, and say why.
• Never send ID copies over open group chats.
• Delete or archive files when the retention period ends, remembering the five years for AML records.

6. Search the title at the DLS

A title deed in Cyprus can carry a mortgage, a memo (a creditor’s charge), a prohibition or an earlier deposited sales contract. You find them with a search certificate.

What	Details
Form	N.50, search certificate for a property, with or without encumbrances and prohibitions
Fee	€10 simple, €15 with encumbrances and prohibitions
How	Online through e-Services with CY Login, or by email to the district lands office
Who	The owner, or an interested person under article 51A of Cap. 224, or someone holding a certified power of attorney

The DLS’s own buyer checklist adds: confirm the seller is the registered owner and the area matches, check legal access, planned roads and compulsory acquisitions, ask whether VAT applies, and for buildings confirm a certificate of approval exists. Never let a client pay the full price before the title is in their name.

Why it matters. In July 2024 the Interior Ministry told the Cyprus Mail that the DLS had received 21,495 applications from “trapped buyers” under a 2015 law, people who paid for homes but could not get title because of the developer’s mortgage or planning breaches. Titles had been transferred in 11,158 cases. Do not become the agent who sold the next one.

What gets agents into trouble

Practice	Risk
Acting without a licence or outside your employer’s instructions	Up to 12 months in prison and €3,500 under Law 71(I)/2010
No written fee agreement	The 3% default and a dispute over who pays
Advert without your numbers, or a private advert without the owner’s details	Offences under articles 23 and 33
Hiding a known defect or charge	Breach of article 21, claims against your insurance
Skipping client checks or taking cash	AML fines and prison terms
No DLS search	A buyer trapped without a title, and your reputation gone

Your daily habits

• No listing without a written fee agreement, VAT included.
• No advert without your numbers, and only for owners who signed with your agency.
• No reservation without ID and beneficial owner checks.
• No cash.
• A DLS search certificate on every file.

These rules change, so check the official source before you act. Practise them in client skills.

This lesson is general information, not legal advice.