Buying custom property in Cyprus

Custom propertyIt sounds very expensive buying a property that has been custom designed and built to your individual specification. It may be very expensive in the the UK, but it's not in Cyprus where many people build individual homes on a piece of family land.

I would say that the majority of Cypriots still build in this way. In times past, villages had a local builder who built properties in the village with the help of the other villagers. You can still find these small builders in many of the villages although they are much better regulated now than they were in the past!

My wife & I bought a custom - and you can see a photographic record of its construction in the Custom Property in Cyprus section of this website.

Buying a custom property

The first rather obvious thing you need to do is find and buy a piece of land on which to build. You can read more about this in the Buying Land in Cyprus page.

You also need to find yourself a good Architect - and you will need a Civil Engineer, an Electrical & Mechanical Engineer and a Quantity Surveyor. If you have a garden, you may need a Landscape Designer. As a ballpark figure, the cost of these specialists will be between 8% and 10% of the overall construction cost.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of buying a custom property?

Advantages of buying a custom property

Disadvantages of buying a custom property

Advice for custom property buyers

You'll be able to pocket any discount you manage to negotiate.

You'll save yourself having to pay VAT twice - remember that your contractor will pay VAT on his supplies and will add VAT again when he bills you.

The range and variety of floor finishes, fixtures & fittings available in Cyprus is virtually endless! If you can't see what you want in the shop, suppliers will ship items in for you from overseas. (We had our granite flooring imported from Kashmir - the total cost was less than the price of a good quality fitted carpet in the UK).

(In my own experience, the discounts I managed to negotiate, plus the fact that I didn't have to pay VAT twice went a good way to covering the costs of my Architect, Civil Engineer, Electrical & Mechanical Engineer and my Quantity Surveyor).