On 31 March, an updated approval procedure for medium-risk (category B) projects came into force in Cyprus.
Building permits are now issued within 40 working days for apartment blocks (up to 20 apartments), residential complexes with a maximum of 12 terraced houses and group developments of 3-4 houses.
According to the Cyprus Interior Ministry, developers have submitted 34 applications under the new system since the beginning of March. Of these: 16 are for apartment blocks, 15 are for small residential complexes of terraced houses and 3 projects are for the construction of complexes of several private villas. Specialists are still working on them, as the deadline for review has not yet expired.
It should be noted that the building permit and town planning approval process now takes 80 working days. All processing is done digitally through the Hippodamus portal, which allows developers to avoid paperwork.
The Ministry emphasises that the accelerated procedure will allow new projects to be commissioned more quickly and provide affordable housing for citizens. In addition, unused land and abandoned projects will be brought back into the economic cycle more quickly.
The new system will remove unnecessary burdens from government agencies, allowing more resources to be allocated to complex and large projects. According to preliminary estimates, this procedure will affect about one per cent of all construction projects, which will speed up almost every second construction project in the country.
It should be recalled that the changes mean that designers are now fully responsible for the accuracy and compliance of documents with legal requirements. State authorities will no longer check documents before issuing a permit. Instead of paper checks, inspectors will now carry out on-site inspections at three key stages of construction. Until the Law on Construction Inspectors comes into force, inspections will be carried out by local administration officials.
The new permit system continues a reform that began in October 2024. At that time, similar simplified procedures were introduced for low-risk projects - private houses and semi-detached houses. Since then, 645 applications have been submitted, of which
- 491 have been processed;
- 92 properties have received planning permission;
- the rest are subject to a 20-day review period.
The new reform thus speeds up housing development in Cyprus, reduces the bureaucratic burden on developers and makes the process as transparent as possible. In the long term, these changes will help to
- Increase the affordability of housing for Cypriots
- Speed up the implementation of investment projects
- Optimise the work of government agencies