The long running saga concerning title deeds in Cyprus appears to have finally been addressed by the Ministry of the Interior following pressure from the UK, Europe and local action groups with a pledge to issue 20,000 deeds before the middle of 2010. These deeds will fall into three categories to be described as “complete title deed”, “incomplete title deed” and “limited title deed”. The complete title deed is the type currently available, where the buyer and the seller have fulfilled all their obligations on the property and is of course, the ideal situation. The incomplete title deed will be issued with an appendix noting any unauthorised minor extensions or modifications that go beyond the originally issued permit or in cases where it is not possible to identify the property boundaries. The obligation to correct these “exceptions” would be determined on a case by case basis, working on the principle that whoever is to blame for the exception will have to correct it. Owners of properties with an “incomplete” title deed will still be able to mortgage or sell them and at the moment, the Attorney General has been asked to clarify what happens to the obligation to correct any exceptions in the case of a property being sold before they are corrected. The third type is being called the “limited” title deed, which will also have an appendix recording substantial unauthorised changes or extensions. Owners of property with this type of deed will not be able to sell or mortgage their property. On the plus side, the proposed legislation offers more flexibility in the law meaning that in a development of 50 houses where two properties have not complied with the legislation the other 48 owners will not be burdened by this non-compliance and be allowed to obtain their complete title deed, whereas previously this was not possible until the non compliance was corrected.