On the 8th April 2011 the Government's Town - Planning Amnesty Act package was published.

The key points of the new legislation are that within 3 years of the law coming into force any owner or interested person can apply for a certificate of approval or a planning permit for irregularities in properties and legalise their property, for a fee, as long as they do not affect third parties or encroach on state property.

The fees will be determined by a three-member committee, appointed by the Interior Minister, in each district. The committee will take a second look at cases approved by either the Town Planning or Land Registry departments, and issue a final decision.

As an incentive, where town planning permits are concerned, a 20% reduction of the ‘regularisation fee' will be offered for applications filed within one year of the law coming into force, with a smaller 10% reduction offered for people applying in the second year.

According to the new legislation the time table for completing the procedure and obtain title deeds is as follows:

From the 08/04/2011 (date of enactment of the new legislation) to 07/10/2011 any interested party, namely the land owner, a co-owner or the purchaser shall submit to the Ministry of Interior the so called "Declaration Of Intent" (this is a standard document provided by the relevant authorities).

This means that the applicants shall complete and submit the said Declaration, together with an affidavit signed by a civil engineer or an architect or a surveyor stating that the said house, apartment, land etc existed on the 08/04/2011 with the irregularities described in the Declaration of Intent.

       Notes:

• The Declaration of Intent is not necessary in case where there is already an application pending for the issuance of Final Approval Certificate or where the applicant submits directly an application for a certificate of approval or a planning permit for irregularities.

• It is going without saying that the applicant shall hire the services of a civil engineer or an architect or a surveyor to proceed with the submission of the Declaration of Intent and prepare all the relevant plans or other necessary documents.

• It is to be noted that the Declaration of Intent is pre-requisite in order for the application for a certificate of approval or a planning permit for irregularities to be examined by the authorities. In other words if a Declaration of Intent is not filed by the 07/10/2011 then the case will not be examined.

• It is further advised that the land owners should be contacted at first in order to be clarified whether they intent to commence the proceedings or if they have already filed an application. If this is not possible (i.e. the owner refuses or is not able to do it) then the purchaser should submit a Declaration of Intent individually.

• At this stage there is no need to provide for detailed plans or other documents. Simple filling of the Declaration of Intent accompanied by the affidavit of the architect suffices.

The second stage provides that applicants who submitted a Declaration of Intent between 08/04/2011 to 07/10/2011 are eligible to submit detailed applications accompanied by the relevant plans and/or other documents and pay the so called "regularisation fee" within a time limit of 3 years commencing on the 07/10/2011 and ending on the 07/04/2014. As said above, a 20% reduction of the ‘regularisation fee' will be offered for applications filed within one year of the law coming into force, with a smaller 10% reduction offered for people applying in the second year.

In the final stage the relevant authorities will examine the applications and decide whether they will approve or decline the application and inform the applicant accordingly.