Size of lands in North Cyprus

1 Donum = 4 evleks= 1,388 m2 (a third of an acre) = 14400sq ft
1 evlek = 3600 ayak = 3600 sq ft
1 ayak = 1sq ft

At present non Turkish Cypriots cannot own more than one donum of land per individual or married couple in their own names.

In most areas you are only allowed to build on 20% of the land and only 2 stories high (these figure vary from area to area). What this means in practice is that on the ground floor you can have a covered area of 10% and on the 1st floor a covered area of 10%. A basement is not included in these calculations.

It is important to understand the concept of covered area. Simply put, it is any area that is covered, so any inside room, or the area under a balcony counts as covered area. The reason that this is important is that once the property has been built it requires a final approval and it is at this stage that the covered area is measured and must be within the legal requirements i.e. no more that 20% of the plot size. So if you are taken to a villa and you want to add another room or a garage then you will not be allowed to build this as the original builder of your property will almost certainly have used up all of the permissible covered area. Of course swimming pools and patios do not count as covered area.

This is applied strictly and will mean that Property in North Cyprus will not be overdeveloped in the way that South Cyprus has.