A bill submitted by Parliament’s Interior Committee to tackle the problem of dangerous buildings has begun to be discussed, providing for measures including cutting off electricity and water supply, full or partial demolition, registering a lien on the property, recovering support costs, and tougher penalties.
The bill will also be examined from a legal-drafting standpoint to ensure it does not conflict with the Constitution, and will be discussed further with the bodies involved on that basis.
Elikkos Elia, director-general of the Interior Ministry, said the bill’s core approach, which the ministry supports, keeps responsibility for fixing dangerous buildings with owners, as is currently the case, but under stricter legislative provisions.
He said District Local Government Organisations should intervene only in individual cases where public safety is at risk, not in every case involving a dangerous building, and that under the proposed provisions, cases requiring DLGO intervention were expected to be limited. He added that the ministry had approved a fund of two million euros for DLGOs to support work on dangerous buildings.
The president of Nicosia’s DLGO, speaking also on behalf of the other DLGOs, said the government should approve a two million euro fund for ten years to allow the organisations to operate.
The president of Larnaca’s DLGO said an estimated seven million euros would be needed for 351 potentially dangerous buildings. He said a total of 1,087 buildings had been identified in Larnaca.
A representative of Limassol’s DLGO said 150,000 euros had been spent since 2025 supporting work on two dangerous buildings, funds it had not yet received from the Interior Ministry.
