Audit Service report on building permits and derogations

What the sources report

The Audit Service, with special report EE-EY 30/2026, warns that the process of building permits under derogation risks functioning as a parallel route to licensing. Haravgi / Dialogos

According to the Auditor General, the findings raise reasonable concern that the exception risks becoming the rule. Phileleftheros

The report cites cases of developments that were carried out without permits and approved after the fact, despite negative recommendations from the competent services. Haravgi / Dialogos

In an industrial zone in Larnaca, premises licensed as warehouses were operating as a supermarket; SYMEPA recommended a temporary permit of four years, and the Council of Ministers adopted the recommendation. Haravgi / Dialogos

The report also records the approval, on 8.2.2023, of the construction of 20 homes, between the first and second rounds of the presidential elections. Phileleftheros

Where they differ

Phileleftheros presents the approval of the 20 homes as the culmination of the report's findings, while Haravgi / Dialogos writes that the matter was not the subject of the present audit. Phileleftheros Haravgi / Dialogos