I refer to the letter published on January 9. ‘Ripped off by the actions of the Paphos Land Office’ from Mike Christodoulou. He claimed the property was purchased for €130,000 but the Land Office valued it at €250,000, hence he paid €10,500 instead of €4,000 in transfer fees.

This is not an unusual case. I have heard of many others, although not so extreme. It is because the Land Office doesn’t believe you paid what it says on the sales contract. In other words they are accusing you of fraud in order to avoid transfer fees.

Although no doubt this kind of dishonesty is very common in Cyprus it is absurd that the Land Office should be judge and jury in this matter. If they believe something illegal has happened they should prosecute the offenders in the courts.

I recently purchased a property in Pissouri, with completion on New Year’s Eve.

The property will be 20 years old this year, but still does not have title deeds. I am reliably informed by my neighbours that this is simply due to

the developers not issuing them.  My questions to you are threefold:

Firstly, in what way does this developer benefit by holding on to the title deeds for so many years?

Secondly, do they not realise that by doing so, they are stifling an already-depressed property market, which I would assume is where they make their profits?

Thirdly, why does the government allow this situation to continue?  Any feedback very much appreciated.

Stan Bateman

Pissouri

Having recently made a Freedom of Information Act request to the British Government regarding individuals reporting property/lawyer problems to The FCO/ The British High Commission in Cyprus, I was recently advised they have no such records over the last four years.   I find this very hard to believe and have now only 30 days to take matters further.  I know for a fact that I registered such a complaint.

If you have registered or notified The BHC of such a complaint I shall be obliged if you would contact me at [email protected].  Details of your case are not required just a note that you did contact The BHC.  I would welcome input from other readers.

Andrew McClay, UK

Over the past months the mass media have used every opportunity, whether based on fact or not, to criticise the management and staff of the prison.  On Saturday December 11, a bazaar was organised in the grounds of the Central Prisons which unfortunately no reporter found interesting enough to write about as it gave an insight into some of the excellent work that the guards achieve.

The items on sale at the bazaar ranged from paintings, icons, needlework, knitting, jewellery etc and were all made by the prisoners, either with the help of members of the staff or volunteers, but also with other prisoners passing on their skills.

I am compelled to write a letter regarding flights via Stansted/Paphos/Larnaca being discontinued.

I am upset and angry, as many fellow travellers must be to hear that all flights are now departing from Heathrow.

I sympathise that the airline is in economic trouble. But taking this service out makes no sense. I use this service at least 4-5 times a year, and not once has this flight been empty, in fact it is sometimes hard to get flights booked, due to popularity.

They are letting down fellow Cypriots, tourists and ex pats that use this terminal so much.

A local forum informed us that the Stansted to Paphos service was stopping. When checking her reservations my daughter found it had been changed from Heathrow to Laranca. Nobody has had the courtesy to send her an email or make a phone call.

These flight do not suit her requirement so she will cancel. How many more will follow. We take it that in time they are withdrawing from Paphos airport all together

Pauline Worrall, Paphos

ALMOST half way through the hydrological year, inflow to the island’s reservoirs is at its worst levels since 2005, the water development department said yesterday.

Since October – the beginning of the hydrological year – only around 6.0 million cubic metres of water have flowed into the island’s 18 reservoirs. During the 2009/2010 season, 70 million cubic metres had reached the reservoirs during the same period – more than tenfold that of the current season.

And according to Sophocles Aletraris, the principal water engineer at the department, although rainfall last month was 110 per cent of normal, most of the water went into the sea or the ground.