Cyprus lawyers, facing a hard time and devoid of any work from their chums the developers and bankers, have started to tout for business from British homebuyers.
In an act of what some might say is outrageous impudence, many Cypriot lawyers suddenly profess themselves to be experts in all areas of bank related litigation. Usually there is an appealing gimmick connected such as “we will ask the court to stop all your payments” .
The touting has echoes of the lawyers who offered to resolve all title deed issues on payment of €5000 when the title deeds “amnesty” legislation was passed in Cyprus in 2011 . At that time they were charging €5000 for filling out a form which many people could fill out themselves.
More worryingly, even non- lawyers are getting in on the act. Christofi Law came across an example where, for a fee, a company was offering to broker a deal with a bank. Deft use of the internet meant that the legal sounding company was found to be …a language school.
So should you instruct a Cypriot lawyer? Of course people are free to do as they wish, but Christofi Law have in mind the words “once bitten….” . That will be €5000 then.