Written question asked by Phyllis Starkey (Labour) on Thursday, 22 November 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 November 2007. It was answered by Jim Murphy (Labour) on Thursday, 6 December 2007 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Northern Cyprus: Overseas Property

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions UK citizens have sought advice from his Department in relation to property disputes in (a) Northern Cyprus and (b) illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the last five years.

Answer: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has not kept a record of the number of occasions UK citizens have sought advice in relation to property disputes in northern Cyprus over the last five years. The FCO does, however, receive a significant number of inquiries from members of the public relating to property in northern Cyprus. The FCO is not able to directly intervene in private property disputes. However, we continue to warn potential purchasers of the risks of purchasing property in northern Cyprus, both through our online travel advice—available at www.fco.gov.uk—and in response to inquiries from the public. We also advise UK citizens in the travel advice section of our website to seek qualified legal advice from a source that is independent of the seller before purchasing property in Cyprus. Similarly, should a dispute occur as a result of a property transaction, we advise members of the public to seek qualified independent legal advice on their rights and methods of redress.We are not aware of any occasions in which UK citizens have sought advice from the FCO on property disputes in Israeli settlements in the last five years. The Government do not advise or encourage individuals, companies or organisations to market or sell property in the settlements.We regard all settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as illegal under international law and have repeatedly raised our concerns about settlement activity with the Israeli Government.

Secondary information