I would like to be reporting that a new week brings positive news and fresh hope for the residents of Kulaksiz 5, however sadly, this is not the case.
Two of the villas appear to have now been occupied by workers, believed to be employed by Akfinans Bank. Sadly, I suspect this is in an attempt to intimidate the residents of Demokrasi Sokak. Unfortunately, their occupation of the villas has even more consequences for the residents.
The residents are still on ‘builders electric’ (the builder didn’t pay for the properties to get connected to permanent electric, and unless the residents pay another £20,000 they will not get connected to permanent electric), meaning they pay three times more for their electric and one bill is issued to all of the residents. The residents then have to read their metres and each put in their share. My question is will the new ‘residents’ of the two villas pay their share or will the residents have to foot the bill for their electric too?
According to two Northern Cyprus newspapers, Akfinans Bank have requested a court hearing on the 29th March 2011 for an injunction to stop two newspapers in Northern Cyprus (Kibris and Cyprus Today) printing any news report with reference to the Kulaksiz 5 case which could be considered negative towards them, and to sue them for previous reports that they consider to be damaging to their profile.
The residents have issued a statement in response to the statement released by Akfinans Bank last week and this is due to be printed in Kibris newspaper, however, due to the hearing tomorrow, we are unsure as to whether or not Kibris will print the statement. Once we know the outcome of the court hearing, we will post a copy of the residents response.
In the UK, we have contacted various media outlets, MPs and MEPs to try to get the awareness of this situation raised. Unfortunately we have yet to have a positive response, or indeed a response, from many of them. If you have any advice, or names as to who we can contact, please get in contact at trncpropertyhell@hotmail.co.uk
This is especially important now that the Bank is trying to stop all reporting of the case.
Finally, Bob and Jan French, along with the other members of Kulaksiz 5 would like to thank you for your support. It really is appreciated.
This situation beggars belief. It is heartbreaking to helplessly watch as your family are subjected to such awful stress due to the collective greed, incompetence and callousness of others - builders, solicitors and banks. This has not only caused upset to my family but has ensured that I would never consider retiring to or investing in Northern Cyprus. The area benefits financially from residential tourism so it seems ridiculous that their government allows this unjust treatment of foreigners to continue.
ReplyDeleteIs it worth writing to Watchdog? Or posting the facts on a forum used by people planning to retire to TRNC? Just today I read a post on such a website from a couple planning to retire. Should they nmot be made aware of the reality lest they make what could be an irreparable mistake?
I hope we see some sensible resolution to this problem.