Transliteration, Revision and Consolidation of the Compulsory Acquisition Law Ν15/62

The Sector has completed the amendment of the above law, has concluded the consultations and statements of the competent Departments and has forwarded its final positions to the Law Commissioner, who in cooperation with Officers of the Sector has begun to work on the final text.

European Technical Assistance mainly on Valuation issues

In the last three years, the Valuation Sector submitted a number of applications to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support, and after persistent efforts, in the year 2021, it was approved for the technical assistance project “Mass Valuation Analysis and Consultancy". The technical assistance has included some matters of other sectors and thus the main topics to be included therein are the following:

• “Review of mass commercial property valuation”
• “Guidance for building a Transaction and Rental based Index”
• “Recommendations on the re-organization of the valuation branch”
• “Recommendations on improving the issuance of title deeds
• Geographical analysis: strategic plan for developing a Key Address Register

The implementation of the technical assistance on the above matters is expected to start within the year 2022, having a timeframe of 16 months. A number of these matters have also been linked to the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Compulsory Acquisition/ Requisition/ Compensation Projects

• Recent Projects Announced by the President- EXANTAS programme (about 3,500 plots), as well as other government projects. 
• Preparation of Compulsory Acquisition/Requisition Plans and Tables, valuation of compensation, tenders, payments and registration to the name of the acquiring authority.

Advisory Valuations Projects

• KEDIPES’ properties: An audit of the valuations performed by private valuers for properties acquired by the Government and to be leased to Local Government Authorities was conducted.
• Valuations regarding the rental or purchase of buildings to accommodate government services.
• On request of the Treasury, the registration and updating of the characteristics of public buildings and their valuation at 01.01.2018values, in the Department's Land Information System has been completed. 
• The Council of Ministers in its decision no.90.551 has approved the Department's proposal to conduct audits of valuations for Semi-Government Organisations, and Pension and Grant Funds of organisations of the wider public sector for amounts in excess of €350,000.
• Valuations for rental or purchase of buildings to accommodate government services, more than 100 buildings in the last 3 years.

• Completion of the procedure for new General Valuation at 01.01.2021 values and its publication within the first half of 2022.
• More extensive use of general valuation results through differentiation of the institutional framework.
• Reduction of the accumulated valuation caseload, by engaging the private sector to carry out general valuation of certain areas, and/or for cases of forced sale, sale of property held in undivided shares, and/or for market and rental values.
• Reduction of the number of pending cases concerning the registration of properties following a compulsory acquisition.
• Once the implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at the Treasury is completed, the payments shall be made by the Acquiring Authorities.
• Reduction of the outstanding compensation for accepted amounts by amending the Compulsory Acquisition Law, in respect of the procedure of deposit and payment to beneficiaries, irrespective of the amount.
• Introduction of Data Analytics software to the processes of the Branch in order to speed up procedures and improve the quality of evaluations.
• Upgrade the valuation subsystem in order to produce more efficient valuations and of higher quality.
• Amendment of all legislation that is pending for legislative review by the Attorney General and/or the Law Commissioner
• In cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the PWD, redefinition of the procedure for the purchase/rental of buildings.
• Simplification of procedures and issuance of circulars
• Intensify the use of geographic land information systems and GWR data analysis systems.
• Establishment of property price indices in cooperation with the Department of Statistics and Research, and the Central Bank of Cyprus, and of our own independent index for property prices and rents.
• Intensify efforts to promote the use of the Department's web portal by the competent building Authorities, as some of them seem to be resistant.
• Intensify training on valuation, town planning and IT issues, as well as on issues related to the presentation of cases before the court. These trainings shall be conducted in cooperation with the Attorney General of the Republic.
• Participation in conferences/seminars in Cyprus and abroad, leading to the continuous upgrade of the knowledge of the Officers of the Branch on valuation issues, so that they can introduce modern and innovative methods and procedures and/or good practices applied in other countries.