The laws in Cyprus (the southern half) are very similar to the UK laws and they even drive on the left. This makes moving or retiring to Cyprus and buying property on the island safe, familiar and consistently popular amongst Brits looking to move abroad.
However, as the flight time is around 4 hours from the UK you will want to ensure you do not have to keep returning every few weeks during the purchase to sign documents and/or brief advisors. As the process for buying property in Cyprus is well regulated and local professionals tend to be highly reputable and professional it should be possible to delegate much of the procedural input to a local lawyer through a power of attorney, thereby keeping the travelling costs and accommodation expenses down.
For those looking to move permanently to Cyprus you will need to be able to prove to the local immigration officials that you have sufficient income (from pension, investments or other sources) to be able to support yourself whilst there. The alternative is to be moving there in order to take up employment on the island in some form. It is worth noting that if you are on a pension the tax on pensions in Cyprus is only 5%.
On the whole English is widely spoken in Cyprus so finding tradesmen able to speak and understand English should not prove difficult but they may charge more than locals in some instances. If you can find a way to compare the costs with indigenous tradesmen prices this may be worth doing.
If you buy a property in Cyprus and fail to get permission as a foreigner for the transaction you are likely to be prevented from exporting the proceeds in the future should you sell up (you will not have the title deeds). Again, this highlights the importance of being properly advised at all stages when buying property abroad as the costs of getting it wrong can be enormous. If you need a mortgage on a property in Cyprus you need to be aware that they can only loan yuo 60% of the property value.
A buyer of property in Cyprus needs to make a will locally as Cyprus law states that property on the death of an owner passes equally to the spouse and any children.
Finally, and most importantly, don’t forget to plan how and when to transfer your money across. Leaving this to the last minute and assuming your bank will always give you the best prevailing rate can cost you another 2%-3% of the price compared to planning it in advance and using a specialist money transfer company. Similarly, if you are moving to Turkey and planning to have money (e.g. a pension) transferred over regularly these companies can save you a bundle in the course of a year.