General expenses, inspections, and a ban on selling apartments with debts: what the new law provides

The Cyprus Parliament has begun discussing the revised bill on the management of apartment buildings and residential complexes, which is intended to regulate the maintenance of apartment buildings, residential complexes, and other properties with shared areas. The document affects about 200,000 buildings and may impact the lives of up to 600,000 residents of the country.

Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou sent a letter to MPs with amendments, emphasizing that the goal of the reform is to ensure the real application of rules that previously existed only formally. The chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs, Aristos Damianou, noted that many provisions of the current law, such as the appointment of management committees, were never enforced in practice.

Key provisions of the bill:

establishment of management committees responsible for building maintenance, fund collection, and organization of inspections;

giving committees the right to initiate technical inspections of structures, electrical, and engineering systems with the involvement of specialists registered with the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK);

mandatory formation of a reserve fund for future repairs and unforeseen expenses;

establishment of three categories of shared expenses: heating; operation of common areas (elevators, lighting, cleaning, water, electricity, decor); additional costs (insurance, capital repairs, modernization of engineering systems, insulation, environmental projects);

ban on selling an apartment or premises without a certificate from the management committee confirming full payment of shared expenses;

maintenance of a registry of owners and management companies, establishment of mediation rules in disputes;

compliance with GDPR when processing residents' data and implementation of mandatory fire safety measures.

The original version of the bill provided for mandatory regular inspections of buildings, but this provision was removed: inspections will now be conducted at the decision of the management committee and if funds are available.

The Cyprus Developers Association welcomed the start of parliamentary discussion, noting that the new law will help bring order to residential building management, protect the rights of owners and tenants, and create a modern property management mechanism. However, experts point out that the key problem — some owners avoiding payment of shared expenses — has not yet been fully resolved.

MPs emphasized that the success of the reform depends not only on the quality of the law text but also on its practical implementation. The next committee meeting is scheduled for next week, and the document is expected to be put to a vote during the current parliamentary session.