“Why, at 28, I bought a Cypriot apartment to rent out”
At 28, Olivia Hearn was half of the age of our average house hunter. She’s also much older than the once-typical retiree buying a home in Cyprus. But two years ago, she snapped up a turnkey two-bedroom apartment in the Paphos area for £82,000 – with a plan.
Originally from Wiltshire, Olivia has been living in Munich, Germany working for the MoD for a stint. She’s planning on going travelling for a few months with her boyfriend Jordan, but then spending some time in Cyprus.
In June 2022, she went out to Cyprus with Ben Hillman and A Place in the Sun TV crew to find her property and took her friend Daisy to help – you may have seen the episode that went out this spring (7 May). Olivia was torn between a property in Peyia and one in Neo Chorion – choosing the latter and negotiating the £94,000 asking price down.
The elderly British vendor was keen for a quick sale, and the apartment came furnished. The purchase process went pretty smoothly, albeit taking six months. She’s been renting out the apartment for two year-long lets, for €650,000 and then €700,000 a month – in both cases to individual female expats. “As a non-resident I’m not allowed to rent it out for short-term lets,” she says.
It’s all gone pretty smoothly, and the rent more than covers her €60 a month community fees and social security contribution she has to make as a non-Cypriot landlord. “In Cyprus you can make €19,000 in rental income without paying tax, which is considerably higher than the UK level of £12,570,” says Olivia, now 30. “I pay a management company €50 a month to look after things as I’m in Germany. But when I’ve been there, everyone seems to speak English so it seems pretty easy to find anything I need.”
She and Jordan have spent just two weeks at her new apartment – over Christmas 2023. “It was mild weather and blue skies and we hired a car to see mountains, gorges – and cooked Christmas lunch in the apartment,” she says. “I’m looking forward to putting my own stamp on it when I get back from travelling. Jordan has EU citizenship so that will help if we want to spend a longer period in Cyprus.”
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