Timeline for approval

Recent experience of a close friend of mine ..minimum 6 months...and still waiting

Thanks @Toon

@Theresamcdermott

Short answer is that it depends which District you are purchasing in.

we bought in Limassol District 3 ish years ago and it took 1 month to get COM approval.

When my wife retired in 2024, we looked at the market again and stopped looking in Paphos District after reading a news article in the Cyprus Mail COM approval was taking 6-12 months.

Our realtor informed us that the Paphos district COM office only had 1 person working on applications, and that was effectively her 2nd job in the office. She was regularly called away to do her "real" job and only went back to COM approvals when time (and motivation I'm guessing) was there.

Not sure if this timeline still applies, but if they haven't hired anybody to do the job then I can't see it improving dramatically.

You can always ask the seller to allow you to occupy  the property while you are waiting for the "rubber stamp" approval from the COM.

that's what I did for that month after the sale closed so I wasn't constantly moving about and paying for short-term rentals while I waited.

@Theresamcdermott

Just had confirmation from my friend who is selling this morning and she is still.waiting to complete the.sale, transfer has not as yet taken place so the buyer is in the same situation..  my friends tax clearance was completed a while ago so it looks like Council of Ministers permission is the issue...

Thank you