Cyprus Municipal Fees and Sewerage Bill: What Owners Pay

A home owner in Cyprus gets two kinds of yearly local bills. The municipality (Δήμος) — in a village the community council (Κοινοτικό Συμβούλιο) — charges the municipal fees (δημοτικά τέλη): the refuse collection fee (τέλος αποκομιδής σκυβάλων) and, in many towns, the municipal property fee (δημοτικό τέλος ακίνητης ιδιοκτησίας). The sewerage fee (τέλη αποχέτευσης) comes, since the reform of 1 July 2024, from the District Self-Government Organisation (Επαρχιακός Οργανισμός Αυτοδιοίκησης, ΕΟΑ) of your district, which took over the sewerage boards and in many areas the water supply. Neither is the state's immovable property tax — that was abolished from 2017.

What the fees are based on

• Municipal property fee — the registered owner pays a rate per mille of the property's value in the Land Registry's general valuation, by law at most 0.5‰.
• Refuse fee — a yearly amount the council sets for the owner or the occupier, within a cap in the law.
• Sewerage and stormwater fees — the owner pays a rate for every euro of the general valuation at 1 January 2021 prices; the rate differs by area.

When to pay — and if you do not

No law sets one period: each council and ΕΟΑ fixes the last day every year, prints it on the bill and often extends it. After that day the ΕΟΑ adds 10% by law; a municipality adds a surcharge too — the bill says how much. Both can sue, and the ΕΟΑ can pass it to the Tax Commissioner to collect like a tax. Ask for the bill if none arrives: the ΕΟΑ of Limassol, for example, sends them only by e-mail.

Check before you pay

• The property, the year and the owner — and whether older years are added.
• The value: if you think it is wrong, ask the District Land Office to check it.
• Pay on its own website, at its office or through JCC Smart — never through a link in a text message.

Selling or giving away the property

The Land Registry transfers a property only with a certificate that the municipal fees are paid (from the municipality or the community council), a certificate that the sewerage fees are paid (from the ΕΟΑ) and one for the water supply — besides the tax clearance of the Tax Department (see a Cyprus Tax Department letter). Unpaid fees hold up a property sale.

A lawyer for title deed transfer can obtain the certificates and settle old fees with the municipality and the ΕΟΑ for you.