Couple win court fight over villa
A Sussex couple seeking to keep their dream holiday villa near Kyrenia have won their battle in the High Courts of the United Kindom.
Linda and David Orams, from Hove, built their dream property in the TRNC after buying the plot with retirement funds.
They were taken to court by Meletios Apostolides, a Greek Cypriot, who  claimed his family owned the land, near Kyrenia, in the 1970s.
He demanded that either the villa was knocked down or the Orams handed their property in Sussex over to him.
Mr Orams, 61, and his wife, 59, spent their £160,000 savings on buying the plot and building the villa with a swimming pool.
The couple purchased the land from the registered owner in accordance with the laws and land registry system of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
A statement issued on behalf of the couple said the judgment was a "total vindication" of their position.
It said: "It is a substantial victory in a battle by them to maintain and retain their retirement home and their home in England“.
In a later statement Mrs Orams said the couple were very happy.
"It's been two years and a hard struggle. We feel we've never done anything wrong and we are very happy with the result," she said.
Their counsel, Cherie Booth QC, had argued that the case raised a matter of fundamental importance for people who lived in the TRNC (Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus) in relation to property dealings.
The judgment allows others in the same position to invest in the TRNC without the threat of enforcement of judgments rendered in the Republic of Cyprus in the EU.
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