Cyprus hotels converted into apartments

Several seaside hotels are being converted into luxurious apartments without the necessary permits being obtained. A land developer had bought at least 5 hotels in Limassol and had already converted them, with the 200 apartments going for between £500,000 and £800,000.

The high prices are due to their proximity to the sea, with most of the buyers being Russians. The same phenomenon has been seen in Paralimni, where 14 hotels have been converted into flats, apparently also without the necessary permits being secured.

The reason the conversions were being undertaken was that these hotels did not comply with Cyprus Tourism Organisation regulations. Given that they cannot then work as hotels, developers are changing their status.

Last year, the CTO came up with a series of incentives, including tax breaks and building incentives, for certain sub-standard hotels to be converted into other buildings. This was with the aim of improving the overall quality of tourism on the island.

The Cabinet approved the scheme, but the Town Planning Department then delayed everything, demanding that everything had to go through them in order for permits to be issued. This caused a postponement of the incentive scheme, which had to be rethought. In the meantime, however, many hotels took it upon themselves to convert their buildings into flats or car parking areas.

A CTO spokesman said that hotels were “already selling their properties to the point where it was not to the benefit of the tourism industry,” with the Mayor of Paralimni saying something needed to be done in order to put an end to the practice. Last week, Interior Minister Neoklis Syllikiotis warned that any conversion undertaken without the granting of the necessary permits would be classified as illegal.

How many hotels have been converted is not known as the conversions have taken place outside of the incentive scheme.

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