Cyprus investors evicted after developer default

A group of British retirees have been evicted from their villas in the north of Cyprus after the developer remortgaged their homes without their knowledge and defaulted on the loan.

The elderly investors purchased the homes in 2004 for a total of £800,000. The following year, the developer they purchased the villas from allegedly handed the title deeds of all ten homes to the Akfinans Bank, using them to secure a £41,000 loan which he never repayed. He has since fled to Turkey.

The bank began attempting to reclaim the properties last year and successfully evicted two British families, bringing one of the properties to auction. Eviction of the remaining families began last week, with the bank attempting to break into the remaining owners' homes, Change the locks and physically intimidate the residents.

"Akfinans is trying to convert a £41,600 loan into ownership of  an entire site of ten houses, worth well over a million pounds", Richard Barclay, spokesperson for the residents, told the Cyprus Mail. "We have suffered a great injustice - we never took loans", said the residents in a joint statement.

Source: Cyprus Mail