North Cyprus Property Update: New Residency Rules and Lower Transfer Fees

01 / Residency

The updated residency rules

The residency amendments were published on 2 and 5 October 2026. The route you can use depends on two things: the ownership document you hold and the property value.

A title deed in your name records you as the owner. A purchase contract records the purchase agreement; the title may still be waiting to transfer.

If the title deed is in your name

For properties with title deeds in your name, the rules use their combined value. The £300,000 threshold determines access to the longer permit period. It is not a minimum purchase price for every residency application based on property ownership.

If you hold a purchase contract

The contract must be stamped and approved by the Income and Tax Department.

For contracts below £300,000, you can prove regular income with an apostilled document from your home country or a document from a local or overseas bank. An apostille is an official authentication used for documents presented abroad.

The regulation provides for five years with the specified income evidence. It also allows up to five years under an alternative provision for bank documents. Ask the Immigration Department which documents and permit period apply to your application.

The other conditions still matter

To apply using a purchase contract, you must have:

• Paid at least a third of the purchase price.
• Submitted your Permission to Purchase application, seeking government approval for foreign property ownership.

The home must also be suitable for residential use and used for that purpose.

Official residency regulations: Article 14, pages 17 and 18; family permit period: page 16 (PDF, opens in a new tab)

02 / Buying costs

The lower title deed transfer charges

The temporary schedule of transfer charges applies from 7 October 2026 to 5 January 2027, inclusive.

For foreign buyers such as UK, EU and Canadian citizens, the totals are:

The 4% total for a first property consists of a 3% transfer fee, a 0.5% Immovable Property Commission contribution and a 0.5% housing contribution. This explains why a headline quoting only the 3% transfer component does not show the complete charge.

Turkish citizens use a different purchase count: 4% for the first and second properties, 5.5% for the third and fourth, and 6% for the fifth and sixth. Ownership limits and requirements for Permission to Purchase remain separate.

The value used for the calculation

Transfer charges are calculated on the property’s assessed market value, which may differ from the agreed purchase price. Charges are collected in Turkish lira; the example below uses pounds to make the comparison easy to follow.

Before committing to a property, ask your solicitor to confirm whether the temporary rates could apply to your purchase and when payment would be due. Pending purchase permission or charges paid earlier can affect the position. The published schedule has an end date, so any later extension or replacement needs checking.

Official regulation on transfer charges: temporary period on page 4; rates and valuation rules on pages 6 and 7 (PDF, opens in a new tab)

03 / An illustrative purchase

Case study: a £100,000 apartment in Long Beach

Consider a UK buyer planning to purchase an apartment with one bedroom in Long Beach, Iskele, for £100,000, with the intention of living there.

This is an illustrative purchase. For the comparison, assume:

• It is the buyer’s first property.
• The assessed value is also £100,000.
• No transfer charges have been paid earlier.
• The transaction qualifies for the temporary rates.

The cost difference

Using the previous 9% total and the temporary 4% total:

That £5,000 is equivalent to 5% of the purchase price. The transfer bill is reduced by more than half. The saving can stay in the buyer’s budget for furnishing, moving or simply keeping a larger cash reserve. This is a reduction in buying costs; any investment return depends on future sale or rental results.

The residency position

Now assume the buyer holds an approved contract stamped by the tax authorities, has paid £40,000 and has submitted a Permission to Purchase application.

The £40,000 payment exceeds a third of the £100,000 price. The buyer therefore meets that payment condition, but must also prove the required regular income because the contract is below £300,000. The permit period follows the rules for income evidence explained above.

After the title deed is in their name, the buyer can apply for a permit valid for five years without proving an income, subject to the other applicable requirements.

For someone planning to live in the apartment, the change in paperwork therefore matters alongside the £5,000 cost saving. A longer permit period, when issued, can also make planning a move less dependent on frequent renewals.