Cypriot banks have filed 6,000 foreclosure requisitions with the land registry but they remain pending due to the heavy workload, a local MP told Cyprus Property News. The repossessions are not expected to proceed any time soon however, while current legislation offers no protection to a homeowners’ primary residence.

A bill has now been submitted to the House Legal Affairs committee which will shortly decide whether to offer protection against foreclosure. The committee’s president Sotiris Sampson reportedly said: “Distressed debtors who have lost their income or otherwise fallen into financial hardship will be eligible to apply for protection from foreclosure requisitions for a specified period of time, at which they may either wish to apply for further protection or resume payment.”

However, the proposed legislation aims to only offer protection where the debtor has lost their source of income and is therefore unable to make their mortgage payments. It would therefore exclude UK buy-to-let landlords.

The most recent quarterly report on the Cypriot property market by Leaf Research (Q3 2013), reported that property prices in Cyprus fell by 14.6% for apartments and 11.1% for houses, compared to a year earlier in Q3 2012.