Handover Day for Off-Plan Buyers in Cyprus
Handover is the day the risk transfers: final money moves, meters change names, the defects clock starts — and you take keys to an apartment you won't hold title to for years. Here's the sequence, and where buyers give away leverage without noticing.
10%
Final instalment typically due at delivery
~12 months
Defects period starting at handover
Years
Typical gap between keys and title deed
01The run-up to delivery
Handover begins on paper, not at the door. The developer issues a completion notice once the building is finished and certified, and the contract's final instalment — commonly the last 10% of a staged plan — falls due against possession. Between notice and keys, insist on a pre-delivery inspection slot with enough daylight and time; a rushed thirty-minute walkthrough on the day itself serves the developer's schedule, not your interests.
02What actually happens on the day
A proper handover covers five things: a joint inspection against the specification, meter readings and transfer of electricity and water accounts into your name, the start date for common expenses, activation of your own contents and property insurance, and the keys. Ask for the energy performance certificate and any appliance warranties at the same sitting. From this date the unit's running costs, and its risks, are yours.
03Keys are not title
In Cyprus you will usually take possession years before the separate title deed for your unit is issued — the registry process trails completion.
You get the keys years before you get the title; the contract deposited at the Land Registry is what owns the apartment in between.
That's normal, not alarming, provided the contract was lodged within its 6-month window and any bank waiver is in place.
04Handover starts the snagging clock
Delivery triggers the defects period — around 12 months in most contracts — so the walkthrough is evidence-gathering, not ceremony. Record every defect in a written, dated snagging list signed by both sides, and photograph as you go. Acceptance of the unit and acceptance of its condition are separate: take possession, but never sign that the property is defect-free on the day. Settle any delivery-delay compensation before signing anything marked final.
