THE ATTORNEY-general is investigating cases of tenants who have not been paying rent for as long as 10 years on land leased from the government in Ayia Napa, the Land and Surveys Department said yesterday.
In her report last week, Auditor-general Chrystalla Yiorkadji said that by the end of 1999 there was £301,592 in outstanding rent owed to the government by people leasing land in Ayia Napa.
Some of the late rents went back as far as 1990, the report said.
The Auditor-general also noted the specific case of a tenant whose contract had expired in 1993 with £34,620 still outstanding, adding that no legal measures had been taken.
The same occupant had also used other state land illegally, with no contract whatsoever, but again no measures were taken, the report said.
The report stressed that the Land and Surveys Department was not taking any measures to collect the back-rents, resulting in loss of income for the state.
But yesterday the department’s Director Andreas Christodoulou told the Cyprus Mail that he had informed the Attorney-general of the various cases, adding that the legal service was now handling the issue.
Christodoulou said many cases had already been to court, with some contracts being annulled, while many debtors had paid up.
“Some people unfortunately are inconsiderate. They don’t care, just as long as they do their job,” Christodoulou said.
He said his department was going after these tenants through the Attorney-general’s office, but complained that the justice system was too slow.
“They have the luxury to raise various objections: they request re-examination of the case or say they are ill, and so on,” Christodoulou said.
They find various excuses to postpone hearings and every time that happens the cases are delayed for several months, he added.
“Some cases take four to five years to clear from the moment the procedure begins,” he said.
Christodoulou was adamant there was no foul play involved in the cases.
The land in question is leased out for agricultural, farming, or industrial purposes.
It is understood that no business interests are involved in the matter.
Christodoulou said no hotels had been built solely on state-leased land.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
