On Friday, April 2, a majority of members of the Cyprus Parliament voted to amend the Law on Lawyers, according to which, the drafting of contracts and documents of the real estate lease or sale in the country should be entrusted exclusively to those who practice law.
By the way, 32 deputies voted “for” the adoption of the law, 1 “against” and 1 “abstained”.
It is worth noting that the introduction of new amendments is the initiative of EDEK party deputy Kostis Efstathiou.
According to Efstathiou, according to the amendments to the Law on Lawyers, only qualified personnel will be able to draw up contracts and documents of the lease or sale of real estate in Cyprus. They should be professional lawyers and have the necessary knowledge and experience.
Thus, persons who do not have the necessary knowledge and do not bear any responsibility for the provision of such services can no longer act as professionals or experts in the preparation of such documents.
At the same time, he explained that the proposed rules apply only to those cases where the person concerned decides to contact a specialist for the sale and purchase or lease of real estate. Anyway the parties still can make their own contracts without any advice.
A member of the DISY party Dimitris Dimitriou said that the adopted innovations will protect the real estate market from unpleasant incidents and will protect the interests of buyers.
At the same time, he expressed concerns about a possible increase in the cost of lawyers' services and noted that he would not like the new rules in any way to burden real estate buyers who will apply to them. He stressed that this will be closely monitored.
Finally, AKEL spokesman Aristos Damianou described the innovations in the law as positive, as they are aimed at filling gaps in the rights of buyers. He also stressed that only qualified employees can professionally draw up such documents.