The costs of buying property in Cyprus

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.

What you pay, and at which point in the purchase#

Stamp duty is missing from that table on purpose. The Stamp Duty Laws 1963 to 2025 were repealed from 1 January 2026 by Law 239(I)/2025, so a contract signed from that date is not stamped; only a contract that at least one party signed before 1 January 2026 still carries the old duty.⁶

The €50.00 deposit fee is the Department's own published figure for lodging a contract of sale, and the Department states that the deposit must be made within six months of signature unless a court order allows a late deposit.³ The sequence itself is set out on our how to buy property in Cyprus page.

Transfer fees at the Land Registry, and when they are reduced or not charged#

Transfer fees are charged when the title deed is registered in your name, which on a new build can be years after you take delivery. Our Cyprus title deeds explained page covers why. The Department of Lands and Surveys publishes the bands in three steps.¹

Three rules change that figure, and all three come from the Department:

• A 50% reduction in the ordinary case, which the Department describes as "μείωση του τέλους μεταβίβασης ακίνητης ιδιοκτησίας στο 50% για όλες τις περιπτώσεις που επιβάλλονται ή εισπράττονται τέλη με βάση το Κεφάλαιο 17", a 50% reduction of the transfer fee in all cases where fees are charged under Chapter 17.²
• No reduction after a forced sale. Where the seller acquired the property through a sale procedure under Parts VI and VIA of the Transfer and Mortgage Law No. 9/1965, the Department charges the fees under Chapter 17 "without granting the fifty percent (50%) discount".¹
• No fee at all where VAT applied. In the Department's words, "No fee is charged or collected pursuant to Chapter 17 of the Schedule, where Value Added Tax is charged", on production of the documentation from the VAT authorities.¹

There is also a penalty for a late contract deposit. The Department states that if the sale contract is not deposited within six months of signing, then on transfer "you will be required to pay the transfer fees with an increase of ten percent (10%)".⁴

Indicative only. Based on the transfer fee bands published by the Department of Lands and Surveys and the Tax Department's stamp duty and VAT rules, read on 29 October 2026.¹ Not a quote.

Monthly Land Registry transfer figures for Cyprus are published on Cyprus property transfers: monthly DLS data.

Stamp duty on the contract of sale: abolished from 1 January 2026#

Stamp duty is no longer payable on a contract of sale. The Tax Department states that under Law 239(I)/2025 the Stamp Duty Laws 1963 to 2025 are repealed from 1 January 2026.⁶ The Department of Lands and Surveys has changed its deposit requirements to match: stamping is needed "μόνο εάν το έγγραφο έχει υπογραφεί έστω και από έναν συμβαλλόμενο πριν από την 1/1/2026", only if at least one party signed the document before 1 January 2026.³

Contracts signed by at least one party before 1 January 2026 still carry stamp duty on the old scale: nil up to €5,000, €1.50 per €1,000 or part of €1,000 from €5,001 to €170,000, €2.00 per €1,000 or part above €170,000, and a maximum of €20,000 for any one document.⁶ If you are completing on a contract from 2025 or earlier, ask your lawyer whether it was stamped and, if not, what the Tax Department now requires.⁶

VAT on new property and the reduced-rate conditions#

Value added tax applies to the sale of a new building by a person acting in the course of business, and not to a resale between private individuals. The standard rate under the VAT Law, N. 95(I)/2000, has been 19% since 13 January 2014.⁷ Where VAT is charged on the transaction, the Department of Lands and Surveys collects no transfer fee on the same transfer, which is the single most useful thing to know about the interaction between the two.¹

A reduced rate of 5% applies to a dwelling that the buyer will use as a main and permanent residence in Cyprus, and it has to be applied for and certified by the Tax Department rather than assumed.⁹ Under the Fifth Schedule of the VAT Law the reduced rate covers the first 130 m² of buildable area and up to €350,000 of value, provided that the total value of the transaction does not exceed €475,000 and the total buildable area does not exceed 190 m².⁸ A dwelling outside those limits does not qualify, so the whole price is charged at the standard rate.⁸

The reduced rate also carries conditions on continued use as the main residence, which the Tax Department sets out in its guidance. Make the application before you sign, because the certificate decides the rate the seller must charge.

Legal, survey, valuation and mortgage costs#

These are commercial fees, not published rates, so we do not quote figures for them. Ask for a written quotation and check what is included.

• Legal fees. Your own lawyer runs the searches, drafts or reviews the contract, deposits it at the Land Registry, and attends the transfer. Ask whether the fee is a percentage of the price or a fixed sum, and whether disbursements are extra.
• Survey. A structural survey on a resale, or a snagging inspection on a new build, is separate from the lender's valuation and is for your benefit.
• Valuation. A lender will require its own valuation and will normally pass the cost to you.
• Mortgage costs. Arrangement fees, the cost of registering the mortgage at the Land Registry, and any life or property insurance the lender requires.
• Power of attorney and translations, if you are not in Cyprus for the signing or the transfer.

If a dispute means you have to enforce the contract, the Department charges €10.00 to accept an application for specific performance and €5.00 per title deed per owner, and the court order has to be deposited within one year of its date of issue.⁵

What you pay every year once you own it#

Recurring costs fall into three groups: charges from the municipality or community council, charges from the utilities and the sewerage board, and communal charges in a shared building, which the management committee sets under the rules for commonly owned buildings.

There is no state tax on owning property. The Tax Department states that immovable property tax "εφαρμόστηκε την 01/01/1980 και καταργήθηκε από 01/01/2017", that is, it applied from 1 January 1980 and was abolished from 1 January 2017.¹⁰ What remains each year is local: the municipal or community charge and the sewerage board charge, each set by the authority that levies it. Tax on rental income, if you let the property, is a separate matter for the Tax Department or a licensed accountant.

Worked example (illustrative)#

A resale apartment bought for €300,000 where no VAT is charged, under a contract signed in 2026.¹ Transfer fees derived from the Department's published bands: 3% of €85,000 = €2,550, plus 5% of the next €85,000 = €4,250, plus 8% of the remaining €130,000 = €10,400, a total of €17,200.¹ Applying the 50% reduction gives €8,600.²

Add your own legal, survey and valuation fees. Had one of the parties signed the same contract in 2025, stamp duty on the old scale would be added: €1.50 per €1,000 on the €165,000 between €5,001 and €170,000 (€247.50) plus €2.00 per €1,000 on the €130,000 above (€260), a total of €507.50.⁶

If the same apartment had been a new build with VAT charged on it, the transfer fee would have been nil and VAT would have been payable instead. On a 120 m² new-build apartment bought for €300,000 as a certified main residence, VAT at the reduced rate would be 5% of €300,000 = €15,000, with no transfer fee.⁸

The arithmetic above is ours, derived from the official bands. It is an illustration, not a quotation, and it ignores anything specific to a particular property. The terms used here are defined in the Cyprus property glossary.