The Keys at Last!

There is an indefinable satisfaction in getting your hands on the keys.  In the period of our visit, just over two weeks, we hoped to get the place ready for occupation. The first hurdle: water and  electric meters! This is a highly bureaucratic process and for each application it is necessary to have a copy of your contract to purchase and passport to hand over as well as a substantial deposit.  Somehow we managed to push the right buttons and our electric meter was fitted within four days. The water meter took a little longer only because the meter can be fitted only on days when the mains water is switched on in the area. This may sound horrific but with the severe drought on the island, the mains water is switched on roughly once a week. This is not as bad as it sounds. Each dwelling has its own water tank which fills up when the water is on. With careful husbandry, this water lasts us all week. If necessary, well water can be delivered quickly and cheaply by tanker on demand.  Left: morning view from our balcony

Life in a hurry

Once the meters were fitted it unleashed a new wave of activity. The builder fitted the air conditioning units, the granite shop, Simtaş, came a

nd fitted our kitchen work top. It was our choice not to have the standard wortops but to have granite instead. Happily, granite is much cheaper here than in the UK and the choice of colours is surprisingly good. With the curtains ordered from The Curtain Shop, the fitter came to fit all the tracks ready whilst the curtains were being made. Next came the big clean and for this we employed MEPS, the management company who manage the site. It took eight hours but they did a great job. Finally the white goods (fridge/freezer, cooker, washing machine, dishwasher) and curtains were fitted and a limited quantity of furniture delivered by HomeFront, just a couple of settees and a king-size bed. The builder was terrific in dealing with any snagging problems and they were nearly always fixed quickly, often the same day.

There was a lot of running around from ourselves organising all the various tradesmen to do things in the order we wanted. For a highly bureaucratic society, everything went amazingly smoothly and we achieved all the targets we had in mind for this visit. I am sure we would not have achieved so much in such a short space of time back in the UK.

We move in

Finally, at the end of October, we moved in and slowly started to make ourselves comfortable with
more furnishing including the all-important balcony table and chairs.  A few minor snagging problems revealed themselves but the builder had them fixed very speedily.

November was a beautiful month, wall to wall sunshine, and life was spent largely outdoors. With  the Kyrenia mountain range, the Beşparmak mountains, it was great to get out walking. It is something we hope to do a lot of during the winter months.

Right: Guzelyürt Sunday market


On Reflection

The buying process has been a good experience for us SO FAR but there are two important steps still to take in the process.  First of all, our reflections on the builder. Kavanlar has looked after us well allowing us to customise our apartment to some degree. Not all the changes we asked for were made at the right time but were always done in the end. More recently they have  introduced a spreadsheet for each block detailing changes to each apartment which should improve their efficiency in this respect. Snagging was generally done at the speed of lightening so no complaints there. The biggest complaint that most buyers have is that the apartments were completed well behind the date written into contracts. There is a penalty clause with compensation for late completion but Kavanlar, like most of the builders here in North Cyprus, dig in their heels when it comes to paying up. We fully anticipated the delay so it caused us not the slightest concern but others, who had sold up their houses back home and moved before ensuring their property really was ready to move into, found themselves in trouble, especially if shipping furniture from home. The message here is to be realistic and not make assumptions about completion dates. All you can do is choose a good builder and 'go with the flow' as they say!

Two more steps

The process of buying property is archaic. Permission to purchase (PTP) should be the first step in the in the process but since this takes around two years to come through, most buyers, like ourselves, proceed without it.  PTP will be withheld if you have a criminal record or if the property is too close to a military installation so, provided a buyer and the property meet with theses requirement, it is generally assumed that PTP will be granted. Not all criminal offences will debar from owning property but this is something on which your solicitor will advise. More recently the government has pronou