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Responsible Owner in Cyprus
When you publish an advert to rent out a holiday home on VRBO, you must respect the relevant legislation in force. For the avoidance of doubt, please note that our site does not provide any legal advice on this topic and that the information below only constitutes general guidelines on the main requirements applicable in Cyprus accompanied by links that provide information on the applicable principles and obligations you may be required to respect.
Obligations for operating a holiday home in Cyprus (declarations, registration number etc.)
What is a holiday home?
On the VRBO help pages, we use the term “holiday home” as a generic definition that should not be regarded as a legal definition.
By holiday home, we mean any accommodation facility, property, or home that, according to Cypriot Law fall under the category of “self-catering/self-service accommodations’ and are defined as:
(a) Tourist furnished villas: It includes furnished villas which have independent and direct external access, privacy and present autonomy of plot and building, to which belongs exclusively the landscaped garden. They are not classified in classes.
(b) Tourist furnished residences: Includes tourist furnished houses in a row or in a complex of detached houses that have independent operation, private shared or public external access and privacy. This category does not include tourist furnished houses or apartments in apartment buildings or areas with shared staircase because independent access and privacy are not guaranteed. They are not classified in classes.
(c) Apartments: It includes apartments which constitute a unit as this term is defined in the provisions of the Law on Real Estate. They are not classified in classes.
What are my obligations as an owner of a holiday home?
If you would like to host tourists by opening a holiday home, please be aware that you will be required to fulfil certain administrative obligations.
Below you will find some of the main obligations that you may be required to respect as an owner of a holiday home, however we recommend that you specifically check all the obligations applicable to you by visiting the official Cypriot website.
a) Characteristics and specifications of the holiday home
In general, anyone who intends to begin running a holiday home is obliged to rent a property that has the characteristics and specifications of an individual residence and / or an individual tourist furnished villa and / or an individual apartment as defined by the Law. We invite you to check the features of your property before to rent it through our website.
b) Obligation to register into the Register of Self-catering Accommodation
As an owner of a holiday home, you are required to register your property into the Register of Self-catering Accommodation and to show your registration number when you rent your property through our website.
We recall you that both administrative and criminal sanctions can be issued in case of non-compliance.
c) Insurance coverage
To manage a holiday home, it might be necessary to take out an appropriate insurance policy that covers you for civil liability against guests, in proportion to the number of guests your accommodation facility can host, how many square meters it covers, and the type of property.