Is There an Annual Property Tax in Cyprus? What an Owner Really Pays Each Year (2026)

Short answer: Cyprus has had no annual state property tax since 1 January 2017, so owning a home does not trigger a bill from the tax office. Owners still pay a small municipal property tax on the official valuation, charges for sewerage and refuse, and the communal fee of their building. For a €300,000 apartment in Limassol the yearly total comes to about €1,560, or 0.52% of the price (as of October 2026). Tax becomes a large item only when the apartment is let, because the rent is taxed as income. One-off purchase taxes are covered in our property tax calculator; this article deals only with the bill that comes back every year.

Annual property tax in Cyprus: what ended in 2017 and what did not

Until 2016 owners paid the immovable property tax, a state tax calculated on property values from 1980 and collected by the Tax Department. It was abolished with effect from 1 January 2017, and a Big Four tax summary reviewed in August 2026 still lists it as abolished. That is the origin of the popular belief that a Cyprus property carries no recurring tax at all.

The belief is half right. The state tax is gone, but the municipalities collect their own property tax, a separate levy that continued after the abolition. Press coverage of the 2025 bills from the enlarged Nicosia municipality made the distinction explicit: the municipal tax and the abolished state tax were never the same charge. The opposite belief, that Cyprus owners pay a heavy yearly property tax, overstates the scale: for a €300,000 apartment the municipal tax is between roughly €76 and €105 in the four municipalities whose rates we could check. The full list of taxes at purchase and sale is in our guide to taxes on real estate in Cyprus.

Yearly charges on a Cyprus property: which are taxes and which are fees

A bill that arrives every year mixes four different things: a tax, public charges, private fees and, for landlords, taxes on income. The table sorts them, because only the first and the last group are taxes in the strict sense. The bands behind a landlord's income tax are in our guide to Cyprus tax for individuals.

Every council sets its own municipal rate, and the rates have been creeping up. For 2026 Limassol charges 0.264 per mille (0.264‰, up from 0.24‰), Paphos 0.28‰ (up from 0.26‰) and the Strovolos municipality next to Nicosia 0.253‰ (up from 0.23‰); Nicosia's own 2025 rate was 0.35‰. A per mille is a thousandth, so on a valuation of €300,000 these rates give €79.20 in Limassol, €84.00 in Paphos and €105.00 in Nicosia. Late payment adds 10% in the municipalities that publish the rule. We could not verify the current rate for Larnaca; the bill states the rate and the valuation it was applied to.

All of these charges run on the general valuation of the Department of Lands and Surveys, fixed at 1 January 2021 price levels. The department states that the valuation figure is not a market value, so a flat bought in 2026 for €300,000 can carry a lower valuation than its price. The example below uses €300,000 as the valuation and therefore overstates the municipal and sewerage lines slightly.

Worked example: the yearly bill for a €300,000 apartment in Limassol

Assumptions for all three cases: a new two-bedroom apartment in a complex with lift and pool, bought for €300,000 with no mortgage, owned by one individual who is a Cyprus tax resident, rates as of October 2026. Electricity, water and internet depend on use and are left out of every case. Lines marked as an assumption are our estimates from the ranges named beside them.

Property costs per year when you live in the apartment yourself

With the low end of each assumption (refuse €150, communal fee €600, insurance €180) the total is €1,140, or 0.38% of the price. With the high end (refuse €300, communal fee €1,200, insurance €320) it is €2,030, or 0.68%. The communal fee is the line that moves the result most, and it is set building by building.

Cross-check with our own running-cost model. The model in our rent-or-buy comparison uses €935–1,650 a year for a typical apartment, about €110 a month. That range covers communal fees, waste, sewerage and municipal charges. It leaves out insurance, utilities and any pool or garden service. In the example those four lines add up to €79.20 + €130.80 + €200 + €900 = €1,310, which sits inside the range and next to the model's €1,320 (€110 × 12). The €1,560 total is higher because it adds insurance. Reading the sources, the low end of the range fits a small block with modest communal costs and the high end a complex with a pool and lift; this is our own interpretation, and no published statistic gives that split.

Yearly bill when the apartment is let for €1,300 a month

Now the same apartment is let on a long-term contract for €1,300 a month, which is €15,600 a year and a gross yield of 5.2%. The rent is an assumption set slightly below the Limassol two-bedroom band of €1,400–1,500 in our rent-or-buy comparison, because this unit costs less than the one used there. The tenant pays utilities, the landlord pays the property costs above, and the landlord has no other income and no loan.

After this bill the landlord keeps €15,600 − €1,973.40 = €13,626.60, which is 4.54% of the price, before the letting agent, vacancy and repairs. A management company charges 8–12% of the rent for long-term lets according to our guide to managing a Cyprus property from abroad. The example uses only the 20% allowance. The tax rules also allow a capital allowance of about 3% a year on the building cost and the interest on a purchase loan, which would lower the taxable profit further, but with a profit already under the tax-free band they change nothing here. Whether insurance and municipal charges can be deducted on top of the 20% allowance we could not confirm, so the example ignores them. The GeSY base is gross rent in the adviser summaries we read; we found no official page that states it.

Yearly bill when the landlord also earns a €40,000 salary

Rental profit is added to the owner's other taxable income, so the same apartment costs far more in tax for a working landlord. Assume €40,000 of other taxable income and the 2026 bands: 0% to €22,000, 20% to €32,000, 25% to €42,000, 30% to €72,000, 35% above.

1. Tax on €40,000 alone: 20% × €10,000 (from €22,000 to €32,000) = €2,000, plus 25% × €8,000 (from €32,000 to €40,000) = €2,000, so €4,000.
2. Tax on €52,480 (€40,000 + €12,480 rental profit): €4,500 accumulated up to €42,000, plus 30% × €10,480 = €3,144, so €7,644.
3. Income tax caused by the rent: €7,644 − €4,000 = €3,644.
4. Yearly total: €1,560.00 property costs + €413.40 GeSY + €3,644.00 income tax = €5,617.40, which is 1.87% of the price.
5. The two taxes on the rent come to €4,057.40, or 26.01% of the rent; the landlord keeps €9,982.60, or 3.33% of the price.

The same apartment therefore costs €1,560 a year as a home, €1,973.40 as a let property for an owner without other income and €5,617.40 for an owner on a €40,000 salary. The property itself accounts for the smaller part of the bill once it is let. Holiday lets follow separate registration and tax rules, described in our short-term rental guide.

What the 2026 tax reform changed for annual property costs

• The Special Defence Contribution on rent was abolished from 1 January 2026. Until 2025 it took 3% of 75% of the gross rent, an effective 2.25%. Rent now bears income tax and the GeSY contribution only.
• The tax-free income band rose from €19,500 to €22,000, with the bands above it as in the example.
• The GeSY rate on rent is unchanged at 2.65%, with the ceiling at €180,000 of annual income. Our GeSY guide explains who pays what.
• Stamp duty was abolished from 1 January 2026, including on lease contracts.
• Rent for property in Cyprus must be paid electronically from 1 July 2026, by bank transfer, card or another recognised electronic method, and landlords may not accept other means. Early reports mentioned a €500 threshold; later official guidance and law-firm notes describe no threshold.

Property costs per year by type: apartment, villa and let property

The lines above change with the type of property, which is why a single yearly figure for Cyprus does not exist.

• Apartment in a complex: the communal fee carries the lift, pool, gardens and usually the block insurance for the structure, so the owner insures only the contents and interior. Our property-management guide gives communal fees of about €500–2,000 a year depending on size and facilities.
• Villa: no communal fee outside a gated development, but the owner insures the whole building and pays for the garden and pool. One agency guide gives €80–120 a month for pool servicing and €50–100 a visit for gardening. Municipal and sewerage charges grow with the valuation, and, according to a council opposition group, Limassol grades its refuse fee upwards for larger properties.
• Let property: all the lines above, plus GeSY and income tax on the rent, plus the agent's share if the unit is managed.

Before buying, ask the seller or the developer for the last municipal and sewerage bills, the valuation recorded for the unit, the communal budget with the latest accounts and the block insurance schedule. The one-off side of the budget is in our cost-of-buying breakdown, and current new-build units are listed under apartments in Cyprus.

Summary: what an owner pays per year in Cyprus

There is no annual state property tax. The yearly cost of owning a €300,000 apartment is about €1,560, or half a percent of the price, and most of it consists of the communal fee and public charges. Tax on the property itself is the municipal line of roughly €79 to €105. Taxes of any size arrive with the rent, and their weight depends on the owner's other income.

Frequently asked questions about the annual property tax in Cyprus

Want this calculation for a specific apartment? Talk to our team and send the price, the municipality and whether you plan to let it.