Hi Gloucester geezer,

I don't know if you have ever purchased property in Cyprus but if so you would remember that in the Republic of Cyprus there is a Land Registry, which is actually very well run. Very busy but still well run. This was established before any problems had started in Cyprus and therefore you can know exactly what you are buying. If you try and get a mortgage the bank will do the search and let you know. I had a customer before who wanted a loan on a piece of land in Cyprus, the bank did the search and found that she owned 1/2 of this property and the other 1/2 was jointly owned by 16 members of a family that most of it's members are in prison for serious crimes. She knew about it but didn't think to tell me. Now if you were to try to buy such property the bank would tell you the problems and advise you against such purchase.