Trev in Cyprus.

[accykeef]

Good luck

Sorry but it is all Greek to me too!

[trevnhil]

Thanks for you good wishes Keith. We have just got back from the site meeting with the next door plot owner and men from the Cypriot land registry. And it was 90% all Greek to us as well, although one official spoke pretty good English. Initially the signs were not good when the adjacent plot owners son told us that our surveyor should not have done the measuring without the land office being there. He also rubbed his fingers together in the universal sign for money, which we took to mean that maybe there had been a bribe from us to say that our land was stretching into the next plot.

However, all's well that ends well. The markers that our surveyor put in are correct as far as the land registry can tell. And they have satellite equipment for measuring. The spokesman said that they would double check things back at the office and that we should make enquiries in about 3 weeks, But in answer to my question, he also said that everything seemed in order.

I will put some pictures on later today.

Happy Trev..

[trevnhil]

Hi again.
Well here are three pictures to try and depict what was a successful out come to the Boundary dispute
The first picture shows some of the land registry crew with the satellite system trying to find the edge of our plot of land...





The second picture shows the land owner who is an elderly gentleman knocking in a wooden post, where the land registry have indicated our land finishes. This is a few meters onto what he thought was his land.





And the final picture is taken from the road / track looking down the right hand edge of our land, As you can see it is about 3 mts onto what the other owner thought was his land............ Until today.





A quiet relief covers our household at the moment

[musky]

Well done Trev. Glad to see that it is all sorted. I bet it is a Great relief for you.

[trevnhil]

Yes it certainly is a great relief. If the boundary had been back (left) 3 mts than we would still have had plenty of room to put our bungalow. But thankfully all seems to be OK. As we cannot speak Greek than it was a little disconcerting for us, not knowing what the other owner was saying.

But as you can see he actually put the little posts in. When we were ready to go I asked an official there whether the other owner was upset or angry. He said that he accepted the decision and that land boundaries do not always follow natural boundaries.

Cheers. Trev..

[accykeef]

Your neighbour's land looks like it has been levelled at some point and the machines have gone over a little bit. He probably knew that already but you can't blame him for trying to increase his plot. Time to get the neighbour over for a few beers I think. A chance to get to know him, learn a bit of greek and get an ally in the next dispute.
Did you sort the electricity supply or is that on a different phase of the moon?

[trevnhil]

Hi Keith.
The land of our neighbour has certainly been scraped clean, but the natural boundary in the shape of a step in the land and a small hedge was there two years ago. That was when we bought our land and next door was, like ours a vine field. However due to the overproduction of grapes / wine the government offered a grant to those who would scrap their vine fields. It would seem that our neighbour along with many others took the grant and now grows grass/ hay. It was explained this morning that our plot ad the next door one were all owned by the same person at one time. They then usually go to the children. We think that we have bought ours from his Daughter.

Sharing a beer in the local tavern will I think have to wait a while longer. Hopefully we will not have another dispute to need an ally with. But I suppose that is too much to hope for.

Re the application for electricity ..... I sent an email last week to the Architect to tell her the difficulty we were having. I requested either another meeting with the Electrical engineer, or at least his contact details so that we could enlist his help with the application. I know some things to put on the form such as we require 3x30amp, and of course our personal details. I have spoken to the Architect on the phone and she told me that the Engineer will complete the form for us and then we can collect it and take it to the Electricity authority. So it is in hand and if i have heard nothing tomorrow I will probably ring again......

Tune in again soon for anther exciting episode. ;D ;D

Cheers. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

Glad to hear that you've sorted out the problem with the boundary. Could be that your neighbour simply made an honest mistake and thought that his land extended 3 mtrs further than it did. I'd have been a bit annoyed at someone suggesting I bribed officials for an extra 3mtrs though. Hopefully alls well that ends well and he has graciously accepted that he was wrong.

[trevnhil]

Yes things seem to be going OK at the moment. We have to apply for Electricity but I am told that could take many years to obtain. We shall have to see.

Trev..

[musky]

Trev. It all seems a very long process.

[trevnhil]

Yes it is a long process and no one seems to know why. They shrug their shoulders, hold out their arms and say, "This is Cyprus".

We were kind of hoping that the recession would work in our favour. Our thinking is that the builders here are struggling for work so they will be giving a very keen price for the building. We also thought that because of the lack of new buildings, then the planning people would not be too busy and our plans would sail through. But this never seems to happen here. Likewise we thought again that because of the lack of new property then the Electricity connection / supply would not take too long a time.

But this is Cyprus and it is where we choose to live.... warts and all.

Regards. Trev..

[musky]

Trev. What are they like if you owe them money. ;D ;D ;D

I always remember when we holidayed in Greece once I asked the man in the dirty vest on hotel reception as we were going to bed " what time is
breakfast served" he replied "tomorrow" seeing the looks on our faces he then added "you go bed, you sleep, is breakfast",

[trevnhil]

Re.... "What are they like if you owe them money." I am not really sure. But if they owe you money it is very hard getting it off them.

That's why when you are renting and the landlord has your deposit, you use that as the last months rent.... you certainly don't wait until the end and ask for it back.

Your comment about a Greek hotel and breakfast is quite typical of the laid back way of life here.

On our first holiday here we stayed in an old village hotel. When we came down the first morning at the allotted time the owner said, "Ah, you will want breakfast, I will go and ring the waiters house and get him to come in"
But of course this is part of the charm of these type of places.

Trev..

[trevnhil]

Hi all.

Well I have been to our architects office in Limassol and collected all the documents to enable me to apply for electricity. The Electrical engineer has filled in most of the application form, so I will be bundling all things together and taking our application into the offices on Monday.

Here is a picture off all that we are enclosing, plus the form.



Cheers. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

What's the extra little square building all on its own Trev?