Auditor general: planning law still not enforced at a Nicosia venue

A reception venue in Nicosia has kept operating since October 2023 without meeting key conditions of its planning and building permits, the Audit Office said in a memorandum published on Friday. The premises are used for music and dance receptions.

Auditor General Andreas Papaconstantinou called it evidence of a slow and ineffective enforcement system. Failure to act, he warned, creates unfair competition and undermines public confidence. The office first looked at the building’s licensing in a special report in 2025. Friday’s follow-up asks whether the authorities then put the violations right. The findings say they did not.

Essential conditions imposed by the Council of Ministers in 2022, when it approved an exceptional planning permit, remain unfulfilled. While the venue stayed open, the authorities kept examining successive applications to change fundamental requirements the Cabinet had set. The Audit Office called this a “slow and ineffective model”, reflecting an inability or reluctance to enforce the law promptly. “Despite the actions taken following the publication of the Special Report, the effective restoration of legality had not been achieved by the completion of the audit,” it said.

Papaconstantinou said the case was chosen because it had already been investigated, reported and widely discussed, so it tested whether the state responds when a violation is known. “If legality cannot be restored even in such a case, reasonable concerns arise about those that are not investigated or do not become widely known,” he said. Six planning applications have been filed. In his view, that process appears to have given the authorities a reason not to pursue administrative or judicial enforcement. He also criticised enforcement notices that are not followed up, and the practice of considering unauthorised development after the fact.

He pointed to relatively low penalties and slow court cases, warning that unauthorised construction can become practically consequence-free. Dropping prosecutions once a retrospective permit is issued weakens the deterrent, he added. Businesses that ignore the rules can gain an edge over those that comply. “This sends particularly negative messages, gradually eroding citizens’ trust in the state,” he said. He rejected the idea that a weak statute can be a standing excuse: “The claim that the existing legislative framework does not provide sufficient tools for more decisive intervention, even if valid, cannot serve as a permanent excuse.”

The Audit Office recommends that the district local-government organisation use the enforcement powers it already has, without further delay, wherever non-compliance continues. A new planning application should not, by itself, be treated as a reason to pause enforcement. Where the powers are not enough, it says, the law should be changed, and the rules for buildings used by the public without a certificate of approval should be reviewed.