“Tens of thousands are happy with the homes they bought”, says Clive Turner, in the Sunday Mail November 21.
Once again, Mr Turner goes over the top in his personal attacks. Contrary to his assertion, I spend much time across Cyprus meeting at their request developers, estate agents and lawyers in an attempt to improve the very situation he seeks to trivialise.
His statement, that I always misinform people that there are ‘no examples in Cyprus of good practice and happy outcomes’, is blatantly and demonstrably untrue. I am delighted for those buyers who have had happy outcomes but that is no excuse for a callous disregard of the many others who have not. His claim, that ‘tens of thousands’ are happy, is a very bold claim. Can he back it up with a list or is it just fantasy?
Mr Turner really is at odds with the mainstream of experience and opinion (including that of the Cyprus Mail’s ‘Opinion’ column regarding the degree of the scandal. He says it’s all a gross exaggeration. Really? So how does he explain the statement from the Interior Minister a year ago that the number of properties without Title Deeds is over 100,000, of which some 30,000 have been bought by foreigners?
No sign of the 20,000 supposed to have been issued since then or of the ‘miracle cure’ corrective legislation. None is likely given the way that MPs backed by developers are blocking parliamentary approval. How does he explain the hundreds of individual cases involving not just delays in Title Deed issuance but also horrifying and heart-rending instances of assault, double-selling fraud, extortion, hidden mortgages and now repossessions, not to mention negligence, fraud and collusion by some lawyers.
If, instead of waiting outside, he had come into Saturday’s public meeting at UKCA in Paphos to hear the new British High Commissioner’s views, he would have heard several hundred people summarise very soberly a litany of such cases. Mr Turner asserts that these are just ‘isolated instances’ but the Commissioner was left in no doubt that the problem is deep-seated, widespread and not exaggerated.
CPAG was a response to the scandal not the cause of it. The market may well be depressed and frail but it would be irresponsible to pretend that it is not and worse to deny the causes in the hope the problem will just go away without corrective treatment. Being in denial is a huge part of the market’s current problem.
Mr Turner’s appeasement and laisser-faire argument is without merit. His implication that the UK government will just ignore the growing problem was not borne out by the High Commissioner’s statements. The European Commission also is now examining just how deeply the failure by the Cyprus government to implement relevant EU Directives has exacerbated the problem and what the EC will do about it.
By continually seeking to discredit me with unsubstantiated allegations and false assertions, Mr Turner does not gain respect for himself or his views. If Mr Turner really wants to help the Cyprus property market, he would do better to focus his efforts on correcting rather than conserving its worst features.
Alan Waring, Larnaca
