Can foreigners buy property in Cyprus? The routes for EU, UK and other non-EU buyers

This page explains the general rules as published by the Cyprus authorities on the date shown. Rates, thresholds and procedures change, and your position depends on facts we do not know. Before you act, confirm the figures with the Tax Department or the Department of Lands and Surveys and take advice from a lawyer registered with the Cyprus Bar Association or a licensed accountant.

The law that decides it: Cap. 109#

The rules sit in one short statute, the Immovable Property (Acquisition by Aliens) Law, Cap. 109.¹ It restricts property purchases by an "alien" (allodapos), and the definition in section 2 decides which route applies to you.

Cap. 109 defines an alien as a person who is not a citizen of the Republic, and it also catches companies controlled by aliens, foreign companies and trusts for the benefit of an alien.¹ The definition then excludes four groups, who buy on the same footing as Cypriots:

• a "foreign Cypriot", meaning a person who is not a citizen but was born in Cyprus while their parents were ordinarily resident there, or whose father was, and the foreign spouse of such a person;¹
• the foreign spouse of a citizen of the Republic, unless separated by order of a competent court;¹
• a citizen of an EU member state holding Union citizenship under Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and a citizen of a state party to the European Economic Area Agreement;¹
• a legal person formed under the law of a member state with its registered office, central administration or principal place of business in an EEA state.¹

Everyone else is an alien for this purpose, and section 3(1) prohibits an alien from acquiring immovable property, during their lifetime or on a death, without the prior permission of the Council of Ministers.¹

Route 1: EU and EEA citizens#

A citizen of an EU member state, or of an EEA state, is outside the definition of alien, so the permission rule in section 3 does not apply to the purchase.¹ The same exclusion covers a company formed under the law of a member state and based in an EEA state.¹ The exclusion was added by Law 54(I)/2003, which the consolidated text says came into force on the date of the Republic's accession to the European Union.¹

Being outside Cap. 109 does not remove the ordinary steps of a purchase.¹ The contract is still deposited at the district lands office, the transfer still goes through the Land Registry with the documents and fees that apply to every buyer, and the costs of buying property in Cyprus are the same.

Route 2: UK citizens after Brexit#

Cap. 109 does not mention the United Kingdom or its citizens.¹ The only reference to Britain in the consolidated text is in the definition of the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which are described as being under British sovereignty for the purpose of defining a "foreign company".¹ Nothing in the text read on 30 October 2026 gives a British citizen a status of their own.¹

That leaves the general definition. A British citizen who holds no EU, EEA or Cypriot nationality, and who is not the spouse of a Cypriot citizen or a "foreign Cypriot" as defined above, is an alien under section 2 and needs the prior permission of the Council of Ministers under section 3(1).¹ A British citizen who also holds the nationality of an EU or EEA state falls within the exclusion for that nationality.¹ The statute says nothing more about UK citizens, so neither does this page; a lawyer registered with the Cyprus Bar Association can confirm your own position.

Route 3: other non-EU buyers and the Council of Ministers permission#

Section 3(1) of Cap. 109 prohibits an alien from acquiring immovable property, whether during their lifetime or on a death, without the prior permission of the Council of Ministers.¹ Section 3(2) says that anyone, alien or not, may apply for permission for a named alien or for any alien, that the Council of Ministers considers the application, decides it and notifies the applicant in writing "with every possible speed", and that the permission may provide that no further permission is needed when another alien later acquires the same property, on whatever terms it sets.¹

Where the land acquired exceeds what is strictly necessary for building a home or business premises, and in any case exceeds two skales (the traditional Cypriot land unit; the law gives no metric equivalent), section 3(1A) makes the permission subject to the terms, restrictions, conditions and criteria set by regulations issued by the Council of Ministers and approved by the House of Representatives.¹ Section 4 lets the Council of Ministers issue regulations on, among other things, the minimum size of the plots into which an alien may subdivide land for sale, and any registration in breach of those regulations is void.¹

The statute sets no deadline in days, no fee and no list of documents for the application, and this page states none. Your lawyer prepares the application once a contract exists and can tell you what the office in your district asks for.

What the permission is, and what it is not#

The permission is a decision of the Council of Ministers that allows a specific alien to acquire a specific property.¹ At the transfer, the Department of Lands and Surveys asks for it as one of the documents in the file: its published list for a sale transfer includes a "Permit issued by the Competent Authority to which the power has been delegated by the Council of Ministers, in cases where the transferee is a foreign person, as defined in the Immovable Property Acquisition (Aliens) Law – Cap. 109".² Without it, section 3(5) makes any registration of the property in breach of section 3 void.¹

The permission is not a residence permit. Owning property, with or without Cap. 109 permission, does not by itself give a right to live in Cyprus.¹ Residence is a separate procedure under immigration law, handled by the Civil Registry and Migration Department of the Ministry of Interior (gov.cy/crmd), and this page states no criteria, figures or timescales for it.⁴

The permission is also not a condition for signing a contract or depositing it. Section 3(3) says that a valid contract for the acquisition of property by an alien gives the alien no right to acquire the property until the permission is granted, but section 3(4) preserves the alien's right to take the steps in section 2 of the Sale of Land (Specific Performance) Law.¹

The contract and the deposit while permission is pending#

A non-EU buyer usually signs the contract before the permission exists. Two rules from Cap. 109 and the Department's own deposit page describe where that leaves you.¹³

First, the contract gives no right to the property until permission is granted (section 3(3)), so a buyer who completes without it holds a void registration (section 3(5)).¹

Second, the contract can still be deposited at the district lands office. Section 3(4) says that nothing in Cap. 109 affects the alien's right to take the steps in section 2 of the Sale of Land (Specific Performance) Law, which is the deposit that lets a buyer enforce the contract against the seller.¹ The Department's page on depositing a contract of sale sets no condition on the buyer's nationality and does not mention Cap. 109; it asks every applicant for a copy of their identity card or passport, or ARC for foreign nationals, charges €50.00 for the deposit and requires the deposit within six months of the date of signature unless a court order allows a late deposit.³

Cap. 109 and the Department's pages say nothing about what happens to money paid under the contract if permission is refused; that is a matter for the contract itself.¹³

Companies, trusts, leases and inheritance#

Using a company does not avoid the rules. Cap. 109 treats as an alien-controlled company any body in which half or more of the directors, votes or shares belong to aliens, or in which an alien holds powers under the articles to make sure the body acts as they wish.¹ A company formed outside Cyprus and its Sovereign Base Areas is a "foreign company" and an alien whoever owns it, unless it qualifies under the EU and EEA exclusion.¹ Acquisition also covers buying shares in a Cypriot company that owns property where the purchase would make the company alien-controlled (section 3(6)(b)), and creating a trust for the benefit of an alien that holds property, a long lease or such shares (section 3(6)(c)).¹

A lease counts as an acquisition when it runs, or can be extended at the tenant's sole option to run, for more than 33 years; for the large-plot rule in section 3(1A) the threshold is a lease of more than 10 years.¹

Inheritance is not an exception. Section 3(1) applies to acquisition on death as well as during life, so a non-EU heir needs permission to take a Cyprus property.¹ Cap. 109 contains no rule that stops a non-EU owner from selling; the next buyer applies in their own right unless they are outside the definition of alien or the original permission said no further permission was needed.¹

Pending bills and how we keep this page accurate#

A bill changes nothing until the House of Representatives passes it and it is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic. On 30 October 2026 the consolidated text of Cap. 109 on CyLaw listed Law 161(I)/2011 as its most recent amendment.¹ Until a newer amending law appears there, the rules on this page are the rules in force; we describe a bill only by its stage in the House and the date of that stage, as recorded on the House's own website.

Every rule on this page is taken from the consolidated Greek text of Cap. 109 on CyLaw, the legal database of the Cyprus Bar Association, and from the Department of Lands and Surveys' own pages.¹ Our editorial policy explains which sources we accept, and errors are fixed and dated as set out in our corrections policy. The purchase steps that apply to every buyer are on how to buy property in Cyprus. This page does not tell you whether you, your company or a particular property needs permission.