How big exactly is your apartment?

If you are buying an apartment it is important to ask exactly what has been included in the calculation of its size. ANTONIS LOIZOU reveals a few traps

THERE is great confusion regarding the size of the apartments and how this is measured. Each owner uses his own methodology of calculation, so the unsuspecting buyer does not know what he is actually buying. Various developers and sales people use imaginative approaches of how the extent should be calculated, usually by giving an exaggerated picture of the size.

The ‘market’ uses the gross building area of an apartment – the external area of the unit, including covered verandahs and a proportion of the common (covered) area on the floor that the apartment is situated. As such, if the common hall and the staircase of the floor is, say, 20m², and there are two units of equal size sharing the floor, the apartment size increases by 10m² each. Uncovered areas/verandahs should be given separately.

Unfortunately various imaginative people, include the share of the ground level entrance, storage areas in the basement/parking and other covered areas in common use when quoting the size of an apartment.

To add to the confusion, the Lands’ Office has chosen to follow its own way – by giving the gross area of the apartment (excluding the common area) ie the external building area and it refers separately to the covered and uncovered verandahs. In such cases, the apartment which a developer sells for (say) 100m², the Lands’ Office may register the title deed at 85m² or even 70m², plus say 5m² covered verandah (excluding the common hall).

How then can a perspective buyer be able to compare the various apartments that he is looking to buy if there is no common basis of calculation? In the UK the square meterage is given in terms of internal dimensions, excluding the external and internal dividing walls and also common areas, whereas in Greece the extent is given excluding the common area and the verandahs. As such, we suggest, as a comparative method, to use the following:

(a) Gross area of the apartment (external walls included and 50 per cent of the dividing walls with the apartment abutting – if any).

(b) Include the share of the common area on the floor on which the apartment is situated in analogy of the extent of each apartment.

(c) Include covered verandahs

(d) Include uncovered verandahs but 1/3 of its extent

At least this is a method based on which one can compare with the alternatives.
With the price of apartments on a constant upwards spiral, the correct measurement of an apartment becomes quite serious. The prevailing prices in Nicosia for new units are around £1,000/m², in Limassol £850/m², in Larnaca £750/m² and in Paphos £1,100/m². For the tourist areas the prices range from £2,500/m² (beach) to £1,200/m². (non beach but close). In the total price, the value of a storeroom (usually 3m²) and parking space is included. The price of non new-build accommodation is about 15 to 25 per cent less, depending on the location and the standard of upkeep, as well as the age.

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