U.K. couple lose home in Cyprus

Bloomberg

An adviser to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said the southern Cyprus court had jurisdiction to order Linda and David Orams to demolish their home in Turkish Cyprus.

The case, which has bounced from courts in Nicosia to London to Luxembourg over the past two years, has implications for thousands of Britons who own property in northern Cyprus. The Orams, from Hove, England, invested 160,000 pounds ($246,000) in a holiday home in Lapithos, a region included in the northern area where Turkish troops intervened in 1974.

The decision of the Cyprus court should require the U.K. courts to act, regardless of whether it is practical to enforce the ruling at this time, the opinion said.

"A judgment of a court in the Republic of Cyprus must be recognized and enforced in other member states even where it relates to land in northern Cyprus," Advocate General Juliane Kokott said in her opinion.