Six British retirees who purchased houses on the Greatstone 2 site in Lapta face eviction because the contractor who built the properties went bankrupt.
Unable to repay his debts he left the country and the residents on the Greatstone 2 site were left to battle in the courts. Despite the fact that each had paid £126,000 or more for their houses, the banks came after them for the builder’s debts. Victims said that even though they had paid in full for their homes, there was still no proper road or electricity on the estate.
Victims who said that they lived in stress because of the debt trial that lasted for years. They said the houses were of poor-quality build, residents endured frequent and long power cuts and had suffered electric shocks from the power sockets.
They said that instead of enjoying peaceful retirement in a warm country they had to endure court sessions. This week, the Kyrenia District Court ruled that the properties had to be sold to repay the bank loans taken out by the builder.
Now the residents, most of whom have lived on the site for ten years, are facing eviction. They say they have nowhere to go because they had sold their UK properties to buy retirement homes in North Cyprus.
They said that they had approached the authorities who said they would try and do something to help.
Finance Minister at the time, Serdar Denktaş promised he would try and arrange some kind of deal, they said, however, following a change of government, their appeal has fallen by the wayside.
The Greatstone 2 Site, has 13 houses on the site built by Greatstone Ltd on mortgaged land in Lapta. The site was sold to Bülent Yüksekbaş on Sunday for 3,445,000 TL. Seized due to the building companies unpaid debts of the company, the Kyrenia District Court decided to auction the site and the 13 houses. The estate was first put up for sale to 4,725,000TL. but the sale was not realised. Bülent Yüksekbaş became the new owner of the site by making a single bid at the auction.
Although the judge was sympathetic to the homeowners, he was hampered by inadequate laws which left the owners unprotected.
Yeni Duzen
