LAST summer the Sunday Mail covered extensively the misery caused to residents by neighbours who illegally rent their residential property to tourists.
Besides being illegal – as these properties have no licence to be let for commercial gain – the practice all too often results in apartments and houses packed with noisy tourists who, eager to get the most out of their days in sun, hold noisy drunken pool parties well into the night, ruining the lives of permanent residents in the process.
One Paphos couple in particular have good reason to view the start of the coming tourist season with special trepidation. Last year, John and Sally Thomas suffered far more than broken nights of sleep when Sally ended up in hospital with heavy bruising, concussion and a damaged back after being assaulted by an English tourist renting the villa next door to them.
Their annual summer ordeal started four years ago when the neighbouring house was sold to an English couple who used it purely as a ‘buy to rent’ property. This manner of generating income is quite legal, but for short-term holiday lets you must apply and then pay for a Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) licence, and the organisation is most unlikely to issue one in a predominantly residential area. The owners had no licence, neither did they pay any tax on the income received by renting it out during the summer months. This situation has become increasingly common, with expats unable to sell their Cyprus homes using illegal short-term renting as a way of clawing back some income. It’s also a scenario both developers and estate agents actively encourage when trying to sell a property, though they usually omit to mention that it is against the law to do this unless the property is fully licensed and safety checked annually by the CTO.
John and Sally (not their real names) live in a designated residential area along with 30 other residents. Six of the properties within their street have since been rented out by their British owners. The owners advertise openly via the internet their properties as ‘Holiday lets’ giving rates for summer letting along with full details of the facilities on offer with each villa offering “peace and tranquillity within a quiet residential area”.
Sadly, the peace and tranquillity previously enjoyed by the neighbouring residents have been shattered over the past four years. Even before the assault, John and Sally, both in their late sixties, suffered constant verbal abuse from a steady stream of tourists who have rented this adjacent property.
“We have become almost prisoners in our own homes since this renting began,” says Sally. “The tourists couldn’t care less that it’s a residential area. They say they have paid for it and will do what they like.”
They fear worse is to come with another 50 apartments being built close by, again advertised as buy to rent on a short term rental basis. Like all other permanent residents, the Thomases have a clause in their sales contract which specifically states they are not allowed to rent out their property except for long periods exceeding one month. “This means in so many cases the law is being blatantly abused, and no-one seems willing or indeed able to enforce it,” she says.
Desperate to find out what they could do to end the constant disruption, the couple wrote to the CTO which replied agreeing this was an illegal practice and saying they do prosecute people for doing this.
Nothing happened. So a few months later the couple contacted the CTO again. This time the reply was frustrating. “It is difficult to collect sufficient evidence that the properties are indeed being rented out on a short term basis and that the users are unwilling to disclose any information to their inspectors,” said the letter.
“This was absolute nonsense,” says Sally. “We sent them back full details – 22 pages worth – of UK websites advertising these rental properties, all with full contact details, etc. That’s when we realised that the CTO was ineffectual and basically unwilling to deal with the matter.”
In desperation the couple wrote to the ombudswoman, and to a MP.
“But it was always the same story, polite letters back all agreeing with the illegality of the situation but no solution being proffered.”
In the meantime, the illegally rented property started to fall into disrepair as the owner rarely visited, with the result the swimming pool pump started running constantly and then seepage started which coloured the pool brown. “The stench of effluent is terrible coupled with the noise of the pump. Then one of our boundary walls started to crack from the water seepage, and still the owner did nothing about this.”
Worse was to come for the couple last August when a party of eight tourists arrived to take up residence in the neighbouring villa. They immediately started to enjoy their holiday: music played at full blast, shouting, and children running around screaming.
“My husband went and asked if they could turn the music down and was told to ‘clear off’,” says Sally. “The noise was so bad we phoned the police. They didn’t come, then, the group started to really aim their anger at us by shouting and whistling at our window which was really distressing.
“Later one of the women came over to our house. She was terribly abusive, hysterical and completely out of control, accusing us of being paedophiles, claiming we had been watching her children and I was helping my husband in this activity.”
For Sally this was the last straw. “I slapped her face and told her to get a grip of herself and stop being so hysterical. She then grabbed at my arms, threw me to the ground and I fell backwards onto the marble floor, colliding with a stepladder.”
Sally had to be hospitalised overnight. Her husband rang the police. The couple had decided enough was enough and pressed charges against the woman.
The woman got more than a suntan when on holiday in Cyprus. She was taken into custody, charged with assault, her passport was impounded and she had to remain on the island until the trial date. Six weeks later the court found her guilty of ABH (actual bodily harm) fined her 600 euros and ordered her to pay all costs. She was also bound over for one year, meaning if she commits a similar offence she will be immediately arrested and liable for a jail sentence.
Justice, in this specific instance, was done, but the larger issue has remained untouched. Surely something can be done to bring the power of the law to bear on those owners who rent out their villas and apartments from their UK-based web sites. The rental money is paid into a UK account with owners paying no Cypriot taxes, the premises boast no safety checks, carry no insurance liability and little heed is paid to informing tourists as to the environment and terms and conditions they are entering into.
In the meantime, for couples like Sally and John Thomas, summer 2010 promises to be very long, and very, very noisy.
