Retirement in Paphos

[Quiet-life!]

Many thanks for all the great replies. So the plan is be there ASAP , we had to push back our visit by a week so hope to be there by end of the month.
We will for sure rent in a residential area for 6 months to a year whilst looking at places to buy . Hopefully we can find a trustworthy agent whereby we could switch rental properties if we found we did not like the place ?

[trevnhil]

I have never heard of being able to switch properties if you don't like the place. You can of course but surely you would be liable for the rent for the whole of the contract you had signed..

[Quiet-life!]

Thanks....I just thought if a landlord had a number of properties and you wanted to upgrade there may be an option !
What is the taxi situation like in Paphos .....does Uber operate there ?

[Dominic]

These are the taxi services that have been recommended by forum members:

https://www.paphoslife.com/directory/ca ... i_services

There is a lot of useful info in the directory. Including a section on Information for Newcomers.

[Anarita John]

When we phone Cyprus from the UK using our cyta mobile, it costs exactly the same as it would phoning from Cyprus. Even before free roaming, when we used to use our Cyprus mobile to phone the UK from Cyprus, it was far cheaper than using a UK phone.

Since free roaming, we just use our contract minutes on our UK Vodafone to phone the UK. Do not know if free roaming will be allected by Brexit. If it is, it will be back to using Whatsap, Messenger and Skype, plus our Cyprus mobile for phoning UK.

[WHL]

Thanks....I just thought if a landlord had a number of properties and you wanted to upgrade there may be an option !
What is the taxi situation like in Paphos .....does Uber operate there ?

I dont think the Taxi mafia would allow that

[trevnhil]

No Uber here. Taxis are expensive, and a lot of them are a bit of a rule unto themselves. If you use them Agree a price Before getting in... Yes they have meters.. but most don't use them.

[Alewfin]

One thing to bear in mind if you own a property in the UK, is that it will necessarily render you subject to UK intestacy laws, which in turn may affect the tax due on your estate when you leave this mortal coil.

Do you mean IHT ? If so, HMRC knows know boundaries, if you are a UK citizen, and will come after you in Cyprus irrespective provided you have a large enough estate to make it worth their while.

However, I don't know what would happen if a person had a Cyprus passport and a GB passport as Cyprus does not have IHT. I guess the lawyers would be the only beneficiaries.

[Quiet-life!]

Dominic , thanks for the directory link .....I should have looked at it before. Lots of good stuff there

[Dominic]

You're welcome. And if you hadn't asked here I wouldn't have been able to plug it, so no harm done.

[josef k]

Back to phones. I have a dual sim phone. One sim is a PAYG MTN and the other is a PAYG British one (for use when in the UK mainly). When calling relatives in the UK, I tend to use WhatsApp or Viber. They are free and the quality is usually pretty good.

[Quiet-life!]

Ronk , great post ......
just saw the "thumb's up" thank you icon.....doh!.....will use it actively

[Alewfin]

re Alewfin's point above..a couple of useful links:
https://www.greenwoods.co.uk/knowledge- ... tance-tax/

I wonder, for those who have come here "for good" and "cut all ties with UK", what is the effect of having a will (or a codicil to a will) that their estate(s) are decided under English Law?, as many have done, to avoid the default local legal position re distribution of Estates on assets held in Cyprus.
I don't know the answer and would be interested if anyone has ever been advised on this issue in relation to the likely success (or otherwise) of persuading HMRC, when the time comes, that they have effectively changed their domicile of origin (UK) to a domicile of choice (Cyprus) and thus are able to avoid UK IHT.

The deputy to the High Commissioner said in a presentation last year that acquiring a Cyprus passport was relatively easy so I raised a question with the High Commissioner on his recent tour of his flock:

Does the clause in a Cyprus will that specifies probate to be carried out by English Law become null and void if a person has dual nationality. Basically which Law takes precedent ? He didn't know and declined to give a specific answer. I would imagine the situation is the same with regard to IHT.

[Lofos-Jan]

Just a note re documentation. When you apply for your immigration registration, they may ask for a copy of your marriage certificate. If so, it now MUST be legalised (apostille). This is a relatively new rule. Perhaps a retired couple who have recently been through the application process may come along and tell you if a marriage cert. was requested. If so, you will need to get one legalised via the Legalisation office in the UK https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised.

Jeanne

[Alewfin]

I'm sorry, but neither a High Commissioner nor independent willwriter are best-placed to give advice on country of domicile with regard to UK IHT liability.

If I wanted advice I would go to a qualified and experienced probate lawyer in Cyprus who is familiar with both UK and Cyprus inheritance laws. They are at the sharp end, day in - day out, handling estates after death, and will have experience of dealing with HMRC. That's why we engaged, and took advice from, probate lawyer Marion Carter in Larnaca when drafting our Wills.

I disagree. The High Commissioner represents the UK and as such should know the broad details of UK and EU law as it affects UK citizens in Cyprus. For specific and more detailed advice I agree that the appropriate professional should be seen.

He was not asked about IHT.

He was, however, asked in advance of his presentation whether the EU law that enables residents of EU countries (there are exceptions, UK being one) to have a clause in their will that specifies the probate law of their natural country would become null and void with dual nationality. He didn't know and wouldn't admit he didn't know even though his deputy has dual nationality.

At least a year earlier I asked my British lawyer in Cyprus who practices in Cyprus the same question. She didn't know what the outcome could be because as far as she was aware no case had come before a Cyprus court and therefore no precedent had been established. Which was a sound and reasonable answer without me having to spend money investigating it under Cyprus Law.

[Firefly]

We lived in Drousia, we had our fair share of wind, cold, grey skies, and snow, for a good few months over winter there.

Jackie

[Dominic]

I have split the debate about weather into it's own thread. This is a useful thread and it would be nice to keep it on topic.

[Quiet-life!]

The weather info was interesting .....but ...we have been trawling through rental properties on Online Cyprus and have been looking at properties mostly in Tala ,Chloraka, Emba ,Sceret Vally ,Peyia , Coral Bay , would these all be considered as residential areas ?......we have avoided Universal as it was mentioned that is is a tourist area .Any other areas we should consider? Looking forward to arriving this week .

[Yioula]

Coral Bay is a tourist area........Secret Valley has a large number of holiday rentals
Areas for consideration Anarita, Armou, Konia, Kouklia, Polemi and Stroumbi

When you arrive and start looking around the Paphos area you will get a much better idea what area you would like to live in.
Safe flight ........happy hunting.

[Dominic]

Also, it depends what you mean by a tourist area. Universal is a residential area, consisting mainly of apartments, from what I can tell. A lot of these apartments may well get rented out on occasion, but people renting them will be staying in a residential area, rather than, say, the main Kato Paphos strip.

We stayed in an apartment there two summers ago, while we were house hunting. It suited our purposes at the time, and the area was pleasant enough. Aside from the shared swimming pool, I certainly didn't feel surrounded by tourists. It was however, VERY humid in the summer nights, along with the rest of Kato Paphos. We were very relieved to escape to the hills of Polemi.

There are other places around too. Armou is close to Paphos, yet fairly remote. But your opinion will probably change when you are here anyway, so don't worry too much about it now.