On Monday 3 February, Cyprus introduced an accelerated procedure for the issue of building permits for certain types of residential property.
This was announced by Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou.
He spoke of the 'new, more flexible and efficient system', which is expected to cut out all bureaucratic procedures and reduce the time taken to obtain planning permission to 40 days. It should be noted that the new rules apply to detached and semi-detached houses that fall into the category of 'low-risk projects'. This includes properties built on registered land or land in the process of registration.
Now, the time to obtain a permit will be significantly reduced to a total of 40 working days: 20 days to obtain a planning permit and another 20 days to obtain a building permit,' the minister said.
According to Ioannou, the accelerated project approval process will allow local authorities (EOAs) to free up resources from dealing with pending cases and devote them to checking the quality of buildings. According to the innovations, applications for such permits will be accepted exclusively electronically, through the Hippodamus portal. The responsibility for complying with all the requirements has been fully transferred to the designers, who are obliged to complete the applications, upload all the relevant documents and pay the registration fee for verification. At the same time, infringements on their part will be strictly punished. The quality of construction will be monitored by representatives of the Technical Chamber (ETEK) and the EOA through on-site inspections. If the EOA does not reject the application within the 20-day period, the permit will be considered granted and will be automatically issued through the Hippodamus system on the 21st day.
The Minister highlighted that detached and semi-detached houses currently account for around 30 per cent of the total number of applications.
He also mentioned that 332 applications have been received since October 2024. Of these, 242 have been processed, 223 have been approved and 26 have been rejected for various reasons. The 20-day deadline has not yet expired for the remaining 83 applications. In the near future, the accelerated procedure will be extended to 'medium risk' installations. This category includes complexes with a maximum of 12 residential units (villas and townhouses) as well as houses with 20 apartments, four floors and a basement. Permits for such projects will be issued within 80 working days from March 2025.
The system will be complemented by two new concepts - 'self-monitoring' by architects and 'on-site inspections' by appointed building inspectors. On-site inspections will be carried out in three phases throughout the construction process.
The on-site inspections will ensure continuous monitoring of key points in the construction process, as well as timely intervention to suspend work if it is deemed that the conditions of approval have been breached,' the minister said.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Public Works, in conjunction with the Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus (Etek), is drafting new regulations that will define the role and powers of building inspectors. While the final regulations are being drafted and await parliamentary approval, Etek will draw up a list of specialists from among its staff who will be able to fulfil the role of inspectors on a temporary basis.