Listed Building in Nicosia City Center

Listed old building within the historic walls of the capital Nicosia.

The concerned Property is classified as ‘Listed’ and consists of a two-story old building (a small mansion of its time), around 200m² with a small yard. It is located in a privileged area within the historic Venetian walls of the capital Nicosia.

The property can highly benefit from a Governments Grant Scheme to Revive the City Center, especially as it enjoys certain additional advantages as a Listed Property apart from being located in the privileged area under the Scheme. It is in fact noted that provisions of the Scheme allow full repair/renovation of the property, without any cost to the owner!

The Cyprus Government has officially announced a Scheme to revive the city center within the historic Venetian walls of the capital Nicosia, totaling 40 million euros, of which €25 million will be financed by Cyprus’ National Recovery and Resilience Fund, which is supported by European resources.

The Plan, with an implementation horizon between 2022 and 2026, features the transfer of the Architecture School of the University of Cyprus in the historic Phaneromeni School (200m from the property), incentives for the creation of student residences, subsidies to boost entrepreneurship in the city-center, urban incentives, as well as a plan to provide economic support for the purchase of a primary residence within the area.

The property can highly benefit from the aforementioned Scheme, especially as it enjoys certain additional privileges/advantages as a Listed Property. More specifically:

1. A maximum of 75% of the eligible costs for converting an existing building into a dormitory will be covered under the scheme (in the form of subsidy/grant). The eligible costs for the repair/restoration of Listed Properties was defined (under the scheme) to €1400/m², 40% higher than the respective value set for other buildings under the same scheme (meaning higher grant/subsidy for the same property area). The minimum investment (eligible cost) is €140,000, while the maximum amount of sponsorship/grant per beneficiary is €2 mln. (Note: other provisions concerning residential or entrepreneurial investments also apply under the same scheme and may coexist). The applications must be submitted between May 2 and November 1, 2022.
2. An extra 70% of the building factor is ‘given’/granted by the Government as further incentive, which can be used by the owner to cover repair/restoration expenses, through the right to sell (a total of 130m²) of this building factor in the free market (of estimated value around €65.000). This right (indirect grant) is eligible only during the restoration period.
3. Additionally the unused building factor (consisting of around 50m²) can be again sold in the free market, but only when the repair/restoration of the building under the scheme has been completed.
4. The sale of the Property is not subject to VAT, nor repair/restoration expenses.
5. The owner is exempted for Capital Gains Tax & Income Tax (i.e., rent) resulting from the exploitation of the Listed Property. Additionally, the Property is exempted from yearly property tax, as well as property transfer fees.

Title deeds available. Building Energy Efficiency: F