Cyprus scraps controversial rent bill
Cyprus has scrapped a controversial bill to regulate property rents. The country’s opposition party proposed the regulation, which was passed by parliament in October 2013 and would have seen residential and commercial rents reduced for one year.
The bill was intended to help make renting property more affordable for resident struggling in the economic slump, but was greeted with hostility from industry figures, who worried that it might deter buyers of Cypriot real estate by significantly hampering potential returns from investments.
President Nicos Anastasiades, though, has refused to sign the law, reports Cyprus Property News, believing that it contravenes the island’s constitution, which says that every person has the right to enter into any contract subject to such conditions, limitations or restrictions as are laid down by the general principles of the law of contract.
The rental rates for Cypriot real estate will continue to be agreed upon by tenants and landlords.