By Martin Hellicar
NON-NATIVES have no rights as sitting tenants in Cyprus, but a European Court of Human Rights ruling publicised yesterday could change all that.
On Thursday, the Strasbourg court upheld a retired Cypriot civil servant’s appeal against a local court order evicting him from his rented state-owned home.
The European court ruled that 62-year-old Nicosia man Xenis Larkos was, under Cyprus’ 1983 Rent Control Law, a protected tenant, like any individual renting from a private landlord. The Strasbourg court rejected the government position that Larkos had rented the home (in 1967) by virtue of his position as a government employee.
The significance of the February 18 ruling for expatriates living on the island is that it throws local rent control law – which discriminates against foreign tenants – open to question, lawyer Achilleas Demetriades told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
As things stand, non-natives whose rental contract with a landlord expires do not enjoy the same rights as sitting tenants that Cypriots in the same situation do.
“This judgment opens the road to scrutiny of the rent control act,” the well-known lawyer said.
“For non-Cypriots, it is particularly important as currently they are not covered by the act. It could very well mean that non-Cypriots and companies controlled by non-Cypriots may also become statutory tenants, as there is no justifiable reason for this blatant discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin,” Demetriades said.
The European court ruling could be an important weapon in the hands of foreigners facing eviction, the lawyer suggested.
The court decision is also important for all Cypriots living in state-owned properties, as it defines them as statutory tenants.
Larkos appealed to the Strasbourg court in November 1995 after the Cyprus Supreme Court unanimously rejected his appeal against a Nicosia District court decision upholding a government eviction order. For the past 12 years, the retired civil servant had been living with the threat of eviction hanging over him and his family. The government ordered him to leave his home in December 1986.
The European court ordered the government to pay Larkos £3,000 damages for the stress and anxiety he suffered over the 12-year period. Larkos was also awarded £5,000 compensation for legal costs.
