Can foreigners buy property in Cyprus? The rules for EU and 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.

EU and non-EU buyers: who needs permission#

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 decides almost everything.

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 several groups, who buy on the same footing as Cypriots:

• citizens of an EU member state, under Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and citizens of states party to the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement;¹
• companies set up under the law of an EU or EEA state with their registered office, central administration or principal place of business there;¹
• foreign Cypriots, meaning people born in Cyprus to parents ordinarily resident there, or whose father was;¹
• the foreign spouse of a citizen of the Republic, unless separated by court order.¹

The EU and EEA exclusion came in with Law 54(I)/2003, which took effect on the date Cyprus joined the European Union.¹ Everyone else, including British citizens who hold no EU or Cypriot nationality now that the United Kingdom has left the EU, is an alien for this purpose.

Council of Ministers permission under Cap. 109#

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 The permission is given for a specific acquisition, and it may state that a later alien buyer of the same property needs no further permission, on whatever terms it sets.¹

Two consequences matter to a buyer:

• A valid sale contract does not by itself give a non-EU buyer any right to acquire the property; that right only arises once permission is granted (section 3(3)).¹
• Any registration of property in breach of section 3 is void (section 3(5)).¹

Where the land acquired is larger than needed for a home or business premises, and in any case larger than two skales (donums, the traditional Cypriot land measure), the permission is also subject to conditions set by regulations that the House of Representatives must approve (section 3(1A)).¹ Section 4 lets the Council of Ministers issue regulations on, among other things, the minimum plot size into which an alien may subdivide land for sale.¹

How the application works and what is checked#

Cap. 109 says the Council of Ministers considers each application, decides on it and notifies the applicant in writing "with every possible speed".¹ Anyone, alien or not, may apply on behalf of a named alien buyer.¹ The statute does not set a deadline in days, an application fee or a list of documents, and this page does not state one.

In practice the application is prepared by the buyer's lawyer once a contract exists. Your lawyer can tell you which office receives it in your district, what it costs and how long decisions have taken in recent cases.

The buyer can still protect the purchase while the application is pending. Section 3(4) keeps the alien's right to deposit the sale contract at the District Lands Office under the Sale of Immovable Property (Specific Performance) Law.¹ Deposit is what lets a buyer enforce the contract against the seller later; it is covered step by step in the Land Registry guides.

Buying through a company or a trust#

Using a company does not avoid the rules. Cap. 109 treats as an alien any company 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 company acts as they wish.¹ A company registered 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

The definition of 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));¹
• creating a trust for the benefit of an alien that holds property, a long lease or such shares (section 3(6)(c)).¹

The company route therefore needs the same permission as a direct purchase. Your lawyer will also deal with the company-register and beneficial-owner filings that apply to any Cypriot company; those are company-law matters outside this page.

Leases, inheritance and selling#

A lease counts as an acquisition when it runs, or can be extended at the tenant's option to run, for more than 33 years.¹ For the large-plot rule in section 3(1A) the threshold is a lease of more than 10 years.¹ Shorter leases need no permission.

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 The executor's lawyer handles this as part of the estate.

Cap. 109 contains no rule that stops a non-EU owner from selling.¹ A buyer of that property applies for permission in their own right unless they are an EU citizen or the original permission said no further permission was needed.¹

Owning property does not by itself give a right to live in Cyprus. Residence permits are a separate process under immigration law, explained in the network's residency guides.

Pending bills to change the rules#

Proposals to tighten the rules for non-EU buyers have been reported in the Cyprus press. A bill changes nothing until the House of Representatives passes it and it is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic.

On 29 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 update this page when a law is published, and we describe any bill only by its stage in the House and the date of that stage, as recorded on the House's own website.

If you are buying while a bill is under discussion, ask your lawyer whether the contract should say what happens if the rules change before permission is granted.

How we keep this page accurate#

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.¹ We do not use agents' or developers' summaries of the law. Our editorial policy explains which sources we accept and why, and errors are fixed and dated as set out in our corrections policy.

This page is general information. It does not tell you whether you, your company or a particular property needs permission, and it is not a substitute for a lawyer registered with the Cyprus Bar Association.