Transfer fees will be cut by 50% after the unanimous passage of the bill by the parliament.

The passage of the bill signals 50% lower transfer fees payable on all property sales and registration of leases or subleases that will take place until December 31, 2016.

Also the transfer fee payable on immovable property transfer from parent to child is abolished and the property transfer fee for donations up to third degree relatives is adjusted taking as a basis the January 1, 2013 estimated values.

With the approval of the bill by the parliament the fee payable in cases of exchange of immovable property of equal value is abolished.

At the same time, the refunding of fees on property transfer in cases of family companies after the period of five years is abolished and so is the right to reduced fees from a family company to a shareholder thereof.

The government estimates that the reduction of transfer fees will stimulate transactions and the volume of an-issued deeds will be reduced, as well as of the accumulated titles that are not received by property buyers.

The reduction of transfer fees is part of the reform and modernization of the tax framework governing the immovable property to make a more equitable distribution of the tax burden by widening the tax base and adopting the new property valuations of 1 January 2013, as well as to encourage economic activity in the property sector.

Due to the summer holidays and the complexity of the bills, the legislations for the consolidation of real estate tax with the imposition of a tax of one per thousand were referred for further discussion in September.

AKEL’s amendment for excluding from the 50% reduction of transfer fees in case of a property resale due to liquidation was approved.