Beware property boom bandits
SO FOREIGN property hunters are being targeted by moneygrabbing estate agents? Nothing new there. What the head of the Estate Agents’ Union, Hasan Sungur, is really worried about is that foreigners might hand over their cash to unofficial scam merchants, as opposed to official ones.
There are many ludicrous figures heading state departments and the myriad so-called unions and associations that try to micromanage every aspect of life here, but Mr Sungur takes the biscuit. The idea that he or many of his members give two hoots about the rights of foreign buyers is as likely as the Foxes’ Union caring for the welfare of chickens.
He claims there are more than 200 “illegal” estate agencies “mushrooming out of control”. Some have fancy offices, he says, while others operate with just a mobile phone, all keen to get their mitts on foreign currency by duping British, Russian and Arab buyers.
He may have a point. The cesspool that is the property market here has always attracted charlatans. I once knew a Turkish Cypriot woman who operated such a business from the boot of her car. The story goes that one furious landowner held her at gunpoint until she would hand over the proceeds of his sale. In the villages, there has always been a selfappointed local agent, with maps rolled under his arm, who marks out plots with a rod in the ground and concludes deals at the coffee shop.
But Mr Sungur has never been too troubled by these bit-part players. He’s worried about the big bucks now flowing into this country on the back of the latest property boom. He should save his crocodile tears for the many wellintentioned foreigners who have already fallen victim to moneygrabbing, unpitying estate agents; the innocents who did all the “right” things and still managed to buy themselves nothing but trouble.
What has Mr Sungur ever done to discipline his own members’ malpractice? His Estate Agents’ Union is just another TRNC closed-shop sham with no purpose other than to protect its members. They’re everywhere, from the bigger organisations representing public sector employees, to minnows such as the Artisans’ and Shopkeepers’ Union. I wouldn’t be surprised if we still have a Wheeltappers and Shunters out there somewhere.
There are very few jobs or professions you are allowed to undertake in North Cyprus without becoming a member. For instance, you can’t start a car hire rental business without signing up to the relevant “union”. It’s a cosy cartel that pegs nationwide rates (also insisting, by the way, that visitors must hire vehicles for a minimum of three days). Try going independent and undercutting prices and the law will shut you down.
The unions all share the same antiquated ideals; resisting change, strangling enterprise and perpetuating the culture of No Can Do. Don’t, for a minute, run away with the idea that they spend any of their fees and subsidies on enforcing professional standards. If you should become unlucky enough to fall foul of a rogue agent, the last people who will help you is the Estate Agents’ Union. “You don’t get me, I’m part of the union.”
I am keenly aware that, along with politicians and second-hand car dealers, we journalists are also not highly regarded by the public, so I should perhaps say that there are, of course, a few decent estate agents (and, remarkably, lawyers) out there. Those of us who have lived here a while know who they are. It’s not their fault that they get lumped in with Mr Sungur’s lousy lot. They’ve got no choice.
There is a law that is supposed to control property sales. The Estate Agents Law was brought in 11 years ago, but as with everything else, it is not being enforced. Even Mr Sungur admits the commission of the Interior Ministry supposed to oversee the sector hasn’t met for the last six years.
His answer is to issue fresh certificates to his paid-up members, supposed to reassure buyers their agent is “authentic”. Or as they say in the bazaar in İstanbul “a genuine fake”.
HAS inflation got so bad that some supermarkets have given up putting price tickets on goods, in case they have to print another one just minutes later? Of course not. I reckon it’s deliberate, in the hope that shoppers will be too embarrassed to turn back once they discover the jacked-up price at the till.
I was looking for a quick and easy evening snack last week and found one price that was clearly marked: a little box of frozen battered cod, originally from Iceland, was just short of 80TL. A no-brainer. For just 70 lira, my wife and I enjoyed two freshly cooked cod, with plenty of chips and peas and no washing-up, at an open-air café half a mile from the shop.
I made another price-driven shopping decision this week. With our favourite brands topping 20TL a packet, I bought a pack of Turkish butter for the very first time. Not as luscious as Kerrygold or Lurpak, but very acceptable all the same and about eight lira cheaper. Perhaps President Erdoğan has a cunning plan to force us all to buy Turkish goods?
IT WASN'T planned, but we have recently taken in a puppy, bringing our dog quota to three. We found this tiny scrap of bones on the road near the Karşıyaka olive mill, just three or four weeks old and so thin its skin was translucent; you could see its ribs and heartbeat.
Luckily for her, we didn’t take the advice of the Turkish Cypriot women living there: “We don’t feed it, we don’t want it. Take it somewhere else and leave it there.”
Two months on and young Daisy is playing happily with our spaniels, but as we know, there are hundreds more out there who will never be so lucky. That is why I was so sad to hear of the demise of Hope 4 Pets, the animal charity which has done so much to alleviate the suffering.
They are running out of cash and can only continue to fulfil existing commitments before closing for good. “We have never turned anyone away, but it has never been enough,” one of the founders, Stephanie HarrisonCroft, told me.
The cruelty and ignorance that spawn the problem will continue until someone in authority has the guts and compassion to tackle it. But then again, dogs don’t vote.