The issue of issuing property titles in refugee settlements and self-housing settlements is sought to be resolved by the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Detainees, Missing Persons and Sufferers with a series of bills and proposed laws that it discussed on Tuesday.
The Chairman of the Committee, AKEL Member of Parliament, Nikos Kettiros, stated that the discussion has begun on a package of laws and bills regulating the securitization process in refugee settlements and self-housing settlements. "We have been pushing for these bills and legislative proposals for quite some time. At last it is before the House of Representatives and in the next period the cat’ article debate with the aim of completing this process before the summer, he said.
He noted that among the issues provided for in the bills and the proposals of the law are the residences whose beneficiaries died before 2006 and did not title deeds or lease certificates have been issued. Also, the issue of eliminating the five-year limitation on rental certificates is regulated.
Another issue that will be considered, according to the Chairman of the Commission, is the issuance of title deeds or lease certificates to beneficiaries who no longer have permanent residence in these residences. "An elderly person may have moved in with his children, the services cannot locate him in the residence allotted to him in the ’70s, and they do not issue the title deed or the tenancy certificate. Based on the existing legislation, when this beneficiary passes away, the title deed will be issued on’ on his behalf. As long as he lives, if he does not live in this residence, the title deed is not issued, said Mr. Kettiros, noting that the bills will regulate this issue, so that there is no such unfair restriction.< /p>
The MP of DIKO, Zacharias Koulias, reported that he tabled a motion not to take away the use of Turkish Cypriot property from displaced people who have lived there for years, because they acquired an apartment after years.
He noted that there are three categories of housing programs concerning the refugee world: those who have been housed in the settlements built by the state, self-shelters who have been granted land and financial assistance, and the third category is those who have Turkish Cypriot homes, where the state puts zero money and the residences are taken care of by the displaced themselves.
"The following phenomenon is observed: an displaced person, who acquires a residence, is stripped of his Turkish Cypriot residence, while in the settlements where a title deed is granted, someone has the right to sell it, the same in the detached houses. In an unconstitutional way, discrimination is created for those who are in Turkish Cypriot homes. The proposed law aims to not remove, under certain conditions, the Turkish Cypriot residence. It's a blatant distinction between the refugee world,' he underlined.
"You cannot take away the use from a family that for fifty years was their family residence, because after forty years they acquired an apartment. In other words, the one who got a self-catering house has the right to sell it and buy as many houses as he wants, but the one who lives in a Turkish Cypriot is not entitled to get an apartment?», he concluded.
For her part, the member of parliament of DISY, Rita Theodorou Superman, reported that a first presentation was made on issues concerning lease certificates and property titles in self-housing settlements.
«It is commonly accepted that the existing regulations did not lead to the required rationalization of the management of Turkish Cypriot assets, therefore their amendment is considered imperative, he underlined.
Mrs. Superman noted that meritocracy, transparency and equality are what is being sought "and this is what we will pursue with the new amendments to the law’ article discussion that will take place later, he said. He emphasized that the highest goals in this effort are the protection of the rights of the refugee owners of Turkish Cypriot properties, the saving of resources from the state budgets, as well as the more efficient management of the properties and at the same time the fund.
He also noted that « someone who grew up in a turkish cypriot house and lived there for 50 years now, this is his father's house, he has not known anything else. And it is worth discussing the issue of whether the executive power, after this man bought something else, a 50 square meter apartment, or whatever, should come to take away his right to this parental home. The issues are too many and we should not see them all horizontally, these aspects should be discussed, he added. regarding the regulations, regarding and more broadly the bills that we will examine», he concluded.
Source: CYPE
