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Limassol Upcoming Skyline Fears

Skyline Fears

Limassol Upcoming Skyline Fears

Welcome to IM Valuers. From precise valuations to strategic counsel, we are dedicated to your property prosperity.

Limassol’s construction ambitions are rising vertically, but many argue that the new high-rise buildings are unsightly and clutter the landscape, but it seems that the problems are far more serious.

There is a rumbling of discontent among local Limassol residents as they see their city skyline transforming from day to day.

Many argue that the new high-rise buildings are unsightly and clutter the landscape, but it seems that the problems are far more serious than that.

The incentives introduced for land development in order to kick-start the Cyprus economy following the catastrophic events of 2013 was taken up by property developers and, coupled with the government’s passport for investment program for foreign nationals has led to the current ‘boom’ of tall buildings mushrooming along the Limassol coastal road.

The development has been welcomed by the government and political parties who say that, thanks to foreign investors, current and future projects will inject much-needed cash into the local economy.

Greens MP Charalambos Theopemptou believes that carte-blanche development without a strategic housing and development policy will, in the long-run, be problematic, but at the same time gives an objective view to the development of tall buildings in Limassol.

“Usually high-rise development takes place where there is a good public transport network. In Cyprus, with our lack of public transport, the resulting high concentration of individuals in a small area will exasperate the problem of traffic congestion,” said Theopemptou, and consequently, one must assume that pollution levels will rise accordingly.

Another point which Theopemptou makes is that there seems to be a lack of a planning policy.

“There must be a carefully-selected area where these buildings should be built, based on exacting scientific and environmental impact studies,” he added.

Constructing buildings along the beach front has other negative impacts to the quality of life to the people in the immediate vicinity of the tall buildings and to the city in general.

“Having high-rise buildings on the waterfront Island will also mean that properties behind these buildings will lose their market value because the tall buildings will be obstructing their view of the sea.”

He added: “High-rise buildings will also mean a lot of material that will get hot in the summer and will also block the cool air coming from the sea. The effect known as Heat (Island effect should be very carefully considered, because otherwise, it will affect the microclimate of the area. Abroad, this effect is used as the basis of city planning and development.”

The sentiments expressed by Theopemptou are shared by Nigel Howarth, owner and editor of the online news magazine Cyprus Property News.

“Individually, there are some really nice-looking buildings, but they do not fit into the setting,” said Howarth, adding “The skyline will be a hotchpotch of buildings.

“There is no planning and the designs take no consideration of the surroundings, while the people living behind these buildings suddenly find their view of the sea obstructed and the subsequent drop in the value of their property,” he added.

Although the tall building ‘boom’ has helped the economy, Howarth doesn’t believe that the properties are going to be bought up, “Who is going to buy all the available units?” he asks, “There hasn’t exactly been a rush of foreign investors snapping up the properties,” he elaborates.

A similar train of thought has been expressed by other professionals in the field who, like Howarth, believe that, even if the units are sold, many will remain empty and eventually fall into disrepair.

“There is no law making it compulsory for foreign nationals taking part in the passport-for-cash scheme to actually live in these properties,” they say.

The Cyprus Architects Association (CAA) supports high-rise development but it believes that it should be more transparent.

“Density is more efficient and ecologically responsible,” said Michalis Kosmas, board member and responsible for planning matters for the CAA.

“We would, however, like the process to be more transparent.”

“It’s one thing having somebody build a house next door to you but quite different if somebody decides to throw up a 40-storey apartment block,” he said.

“Although planning exists, it can be improved and the people must demand to have a more active role as they do abroad.”

Not all doom and gloom

Although problems exist, there are some positives coming out of the introduction of tall buildings.

“The fact that the city develops vertically will mean that water, sewage, electricity and other infrastructure services can be much easier designed and maintained,” added Theopemptou.

Furthermore, he believes that it will be easier to provide public transport while the city does not spread into the country, providing more protection for nature and lastly, he believes that “if the planning permits and policies are carefully designed so that floors are exchanged with land (i.e. we don’t give the building coefficient for free) then we can have better streets and more open spaces and parks”.

It seems that there is a collective agreement that vertical development is good, but a definitive planning strategy is sorely needed.

“Cyprus must move on and develop, but it’s not doing it in the proper way,” said Howarth.

Read more at: http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers.com/2017/07/07/limassol-upcoming-skyline-fears/id=00152631

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General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

GDPR

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Welcome to IM Valuers. From precise valuations to strategic counsel, we are dedicated to your property prosperity.

Ioannis Michalaki & Associates Valuers and Property Consultants LLC (HE 151076)

Privacy and security policy

Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC is a Chartered Surveyors Firm offering extensive property valuation and town planning services. As Chartered Surveyors Firm , we are committed to preserving your personal data that we handle in an open and transparent manner. Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC Firm considers the data privacy as a fundamental component of the business activity. Our privacy policy and practices focus on processing, sharing and storing personal information properly and legally, while granting privacy, integrity and availability.

We would like to assure you that your personal data and privacy are extremely important to us and are absolutely safe and protected. We therefore want to be open about how we use them in order to offer you the best possible services.

Practical politics

The way we collect, use and protect your personal data is done in full transparency and with your awareness.

The basis of our policy is as follows:

1) Personal data processing takes place in a lawful, fair and transparent manner.

2) The collection of personal data will only be made for defined, explicit and legitimate purposes and will not be further processed in a way that is incompatible with those purposes.

3) The collection of personal data will be sufficient, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purpose for which they process.

4) Personal data should be accurate and, when necessary, up-to-date.

5) Any reasonable step should be taken to ensure that personal data that is inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, deleted or corrected without delay.

6) Personal data should be kept in a format that allows the data subject to be identified for no more than is necessary for purposes which personal data are processed.

7) All personal data will be kept confidential and stored in a manner that assures appropriate security

8) Personal data will not be shared with third parties except when it is necessary to provide services for them upon agreement. 9) Data subjects will have the right to require access and correction or deletion of personal data, or a limitation of processing, or an objection to the processing as well as the right of data portability. The Personal Data Protection Policy of Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC covers any personal information that the Office may collect when contacting Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC or when you use the Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC Firm Web site. In no case does it describe any information collection policies on other sites, including those linked to or from the Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC Web site.

Personal information

Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC Firm is sensitive to the privacy of your personal information. Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC will not collect personal information about you when you visit the site or use our office services unless you choose to provide this information to our office via mail, telephone, fax, e-mail or other media. Any information requested by Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC, which can be categorized as sensitive or personal (name, company, e-mail address, telephone number and address), will be provided only as part of a valuer-client relationship.

With the establishment of a valuer-client relationship, the collection of information by Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC will be handled with absolute confidentiality. The Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC will only collect personal information that will help your office work effectively for your benefit and protect your legitimate rights. It is likely that the office will need to forward your emails to other jurisdictions to respond and offer its services to you. It should be noted that any information provided in the context of a valuer – client relationship between you and the Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC can and will be used if necessary to answer your questions or to inform you of services that may be useful and are offered by or by any other entities related to us.

Advertising messages from Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC will be created and sent only with the explicit consent to this purpose and will always provide an automated deletion option from any further marketing communications from Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC. Any response to marketing or promotional communication from the Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC does not automatically create a valuer-client relationship.

Any information you send to our office before the office agrees to take your case and represent you will not be covered by this policy of protection.The Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC for the management of websites, statistics and management systems can collect random and anonymous technical information sent from a web browser (eg IP address,location, date and time of access to the site, address of the website from which you directly linked to the Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC Web site, the operating system you are using and the sections of the website you are visiting, etc.).

Cookies

The Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC may use “cookies” only with your permission. A cookie is a text that only transfers a series of information about a site to the browser’s cookie file on your computer’s hard disk so the site can remember who you are. A cookie will typically contain the domain name from which the cookie arrived, the cookie ‘lifetime’ and a value, usually a randomly generated unique number. This helps us provide you with a good experience while browsing our site and also allows us to improve our site and services.

Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC reserves the right to collect and communicate to government authorities or other relevant information in order to protect themselves and its clients from any illegal activity, always in accordance with the duty of confidentiality created from a valuer-client relationship. The Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC may transfer all or part of the data held by the Office in accordance with an obligation stemming from a valid law or court order.

In which way your personal data are shared

We would like to inform you that your personal information we collect is updated in a reliable and fully-fledged software guaranteeing that your personal information is not leaked with full details.

We may share personal data with other organizations if the law or a public authority determines that we need to share personal data or share personal data in order to exercise or defend our legitimate rights.

In addition to the disclosures referenced in this Policy, we will not disclose any personal information without your consent unless you are legally entitled or required to do so (for example, if required by the court or for the purpose of preventing fraud or other crime).

How do we protect your privacy?

At the Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC Firm, we are committed to respecting, protecting and preserving your privacy.

Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC Firm will take any appropriate technical and security measures to protect your personal data / information held by the office. However, the Internet is not 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot promise that the use of our website or software will be absolutely safe. We apply security measures to prevent unauthorized access to the information we collect on the internet. We recommend that you be careful when using the Internet. We retain personal information if it is necessary or relevant to the practices described in this Policy.

We retain personal information if it is necessary or relevant to the practices described in this Policy. We also maintain information as otherwise required by law or for purposes of internal compliance or record keeping.

We only allow access to your personal data to employees who need them to handle legal affairs.

Any questions about the Policy can be addressed to the company’s address or to info@imvaluers.com or telephone at +357 25 660092.

In accordance with the GDPR European Rules on the processing of your personal data, the Ioannis Michalaki Valuers and Property Consultants LLC informs you that it collects and processes these.

Your personal information may be erased from our data if requested.

For more information and guidance please email Michalaki, Pitsillidou & Co LLC – iMPK Global Business Law Firm – Cyprus Lawyers, at info@impklawyers.com or visit our website at www.impklawyers.com

Tel. +357 25660092 – Fax +357 25 660097.

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Requirements in the European data protection, cybersecurity and consumer protection legislation

EU Data Protection

Requirements in the European data protection, cybersecurity and consumer protection legislation

Welcome to IM Valuers. From precise valuations to strategic counsel, we are dedicated to your property prosperity.

Regulation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) (679/2016/EU)

Purpose Limitation

This criterion requires financial institutions to be able to justify the use of certain data categories as well as ensure the data is accurate and updated over time. This is done by defining a purpose for the collection of personal data and ensuring that any further processing is compatible with the original purpose.

Data accuracy and data minimization

According to GDPR, data must be accurate and up-to date, adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are processed. Further to these requirements financial institutions should be able to justify the use of certain data categories as well as ensure the data is accurate and updated over time. This consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, and given a clear, affirmative action that shows the data-subject has given his/her consent.

Meaningful consent

According to an Article of GDPR, the processing of personal data must be carried out with the unambiguous consent16 of the individual whose data is being used (the “data subject” or, for the purpose of this report, the consumer).

Right to Access Data

According to GDPR, consumers have a right (i) to exercise the right of access to their data, in order to verify the accuracy of the data and the lawfulness of the processing, (ii) to request modifications or even (iii) to object to processing in certain circumstances.

Furthermore, consumers should be informed in advance, if data about them is to be used in an automated decision-making process, including profiling, and should be given information about the consequences of such processing.

Organisational and governance requirements

The protection of consumers’ rights with regard to the processing of personal data also requires that appropriate technical and organisational measures are taken, both at the time of the design of the processing system and at the time of the processing itself, particularly in order to maintain security and to prevent any unauthorised access and processing. Financial institutions are also expected under the GDPR to be able to demonstrate that they have taken the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the GDPR. Among the measures that many firms may be required to take under the GDPR are the adoption of internal policies and measures that meet the principles of privacy by design and by default, the appointment of a data protection officer and the carrying out of data protection impact assessments.

For more information and guidance please email Michalaki, Pitsillidou & Co LLC – iMPK Global Business Law Firm – Cyprus Lawyers, at info@impklawyers.com or visit our website at www.impklawyers.com

Tel. +357 25660092 – Fax +357 25 660097.

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What A Typical Property Valuation Report Includes According To RICS Standards

RICS

What A Typical Property Valuation Report Includes According To RICS Standards

Welcome to IM Valuers. From precise valuations to strategic counsel, we are dedicated to your property prosperity.

The Valuation Reports include mainly the following information:

Date of Inspection

The Report states the date of the onsite inspection of the Property by our Surveyors.

Purpose of Valuation

The Purpose varies according to the clients instructions. It may be instructed for Bank Purposes, or informationalpurposes or for the client to know the value of his property, or tax purposes or even for any court purposes or government procedures such as land compensation etc.

Updated Title Deed Information

The property may have a Title Deed with updated Land Registry Details, which we will acquire and state on the valuation report.

Location of the Property

There will be a detailed analysis of the address and location of the property including google map location.

Description of the Property

In the valuation report there is a detailed analysis of all the characteristics of the property and its surrounding area.  The square meters of the property, the amenities and the existence for electricity and water.  Also if the valuation is done for a building such as  house or flat or factory etc, then a detailed description of the areas is including analysis of the measurements of the building. In case that the valuation is referring to land and the land falls in various building zones, then analysis will also be given of the area and value of each zone separately.

Updated Building Zoning and Zoning Characteristics

A search will be made regarding the zoning of the property and an updated analysis of the zone and its characteristics are set in the report.

Local Market Description

The local market will be analysed as to the prospective of the property if it will be given to the market for sale or rent or whether it is considered a good investment. The prospects of the surrounding area will be analysed and it will be stated what exists in that area which might affect the value of the property in the immediate future.

Valuation Methodology

The value of the property is calculated following according to the clients instructions and always according to various methodologies approved by RICS.

Market Value

The property is evaluated and a price is given which represents its current Market Value or if its needed past values. Past values are mainly needed for court purposes and mostly in divorce cases or land compensation cases.

Forced Sale Value

This is a percentage over the Market Value that the property valuer will determine that this property can be sold to the property market with no delays.

Insurable Value

This price is given for the client or for insurance in order to know how much to insure the property.

Attachments to the Valuation Report:

Cadastral Plan

An updated cadastral plan from the Land Registry Department showing the property under valuationis always attached.

Building Zone

An updated building zone is added showing the zone of the property and the zones surrounding the property. In this way the future zoning expansion potentials can be somehow extracted only by viewing this attachment.

Comparable Sales

A list of all the comparable sales of the surrounding area of the property with the same type of property under valuation, is attached to show to our clients how we concluded to the Market Value of the property.

Satellite ‘Picture’

A satellite ‘picture’ showing the property and its boundaries  acquired from the Department of Land and Surveys.

For more information and guidance please email Michalaki, Pitsillidou & Co LLC – iMPK Global Business Law Firm – Cyprus Lawyers, at info@impklawyers.com or visit our website at www.impklawyers.com

Tel. +357 25660092 – Fax +357 25 660097.