The case was heard in June this year before the Senior Master, Master Whitaker, and involved British buyers of property, who involved in complex legal actions against entities that were involved in selling it to them: Alpha Panareti Limited, Andrea Ioannou and Roseberry Overseas Property Limited (ROPUK).
According to the Cyprus Property News, which has been following the legal dispute closely since it began some years ago, at least one of the defendants’ legal representatives – the QC representing Alpha Panareti – intends to appeal the judgement.
“It is now expected that the claimants will pursue their cases of negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract against their developer in the UK, subject to any appeal,” Cyprus Property News owner and editor Nigel Howarth wrote yesterday.
Today, he told International Adviser: "This judgement is a preliminary point of law, and is the first skirmish in the battle against the developer and estate agent.
"The major battle will come when the complainants’ cases for negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract are heard, when the court will hear evidence from all parties involved, and issue its judgement."
Howarth said the main advantage of having the cases heard in a UK court rather than a Cypriot court, besides the obvious one, that the Britons will not have to incur the costs of travelling to Cyprus to appear in court, "is the speed at which they will be dealt with".
He added: "The Cyprus courts are heavily overloaded, and according to the president of the [Cyprus] Supreme Court, Petros Artemis, there is a ‘risk of the justice system in Cyprus collapsing’ as it takes so long to process civil, criminal, administrative cases and appeals."
‘Even Scottish claimants may use UK’
In the 28-page judgement, senior master Master Whitaker noted that even Scottish claimants should be permitted to “join the group” of British claimants in a UK court, “on the basis that they have a very similar claim”.
As reported, an estimated 1,000 or more Britons and locals have been battling in court to get back the money they lost in property investments they say they were mis-sold, and to avoid having to pay more money to developers who claim that they owe it for having failed to keep up their payments.
Because many of the buyers were located in the North of England, the issue has been covered heavily by such media as the Darlington, County Durham-based Northern Echo. Politicians from this area have also been involved, and earlier this month, a number of them “agreed to join an all-party parliamentary group to help investors facing ruin”, a report in the Echo noted.
