BUYERS in Cyprus need to start their property search by looking at history books, rather than sales brochures. Values are still attractive, though rising fast in the south of the island, but northern Cyprus offers the kind of bargain-basement prices not seen for years in most of the Mediterranean, coupled with beautiful scenery. Should buyers be tempted or should they beware?

As far as Greek Cypriots are concerned, buying a house from a Turkish seller in northern Cyprus is tantamount to handling stolen goods. Yiannis Kalyvites was nearly 11 years old when the Turkish Army forced his family to flee from their house on the eastern coast of Cyprus. "I still remember it clearly," he says, 30 years after the invasion. "We fled our homes at once, leaving all our possessions behind."

The Turkish version of the events of that summer is very different. What the Greeks see as an act of unprovoked aggression, the Turks see as a liberation. Its army came to the rescue of Turkish Cypriots who were under threat of genocide from a nationalist Greek leadership. By the end of the offensive Turkey controlled more than a third of the island. In 1983 the Turkish republic of northern Cyprus was declared, although no country except Turkey recognises it. For the Greeks it is a sad accident of geography that the most beautiful part of the island is the side closest to Turkey, the area that captivated the writer Lawrence Durrell, whose former house "Bitter Lemons", where he began the Alexandria Quartet, is in the village of Bellapais.

Kyrenia is the highlight of northern Cyprus. Overlooked by a chain of limestone hills, speckled with churches and castles, the old fishing port keeps the grandeur it had in happier days. Stretching out away from Kyrenia is the Karpas peninsula, a long, thin spit of land with fine beaches and lots of pretty churches, many of which have been sadly neglected, or, in some cases, desecrated by the Turks.

And then there is Famagusta, with its thick Venetian walls enclosing wilderness and abandoned cars. Yiannis’s family was one of many who had to leave their home here, but they haven’t lost hope of getting it back. "Eighty-nine per cent of land in northern Cyprus belongs to Greek Cypriots," Yiannis, now the marketing manager for the property developer Cybarco, says. "There needs to be some arrangement for returning that to the rightful owners."

In the south of the country houses have gone up in value by almost 10 per cent a year since 2000. British buyers attracted by the year-round good weather, the history and the laid-back lifestyle can still find plenty of value. For example, Cybarco is selling three-bedroom houses in its Pissouri Villas development, between the towns of Paphos and Limassol, for between £164,000 and £194,000. A four-bedroom property on the flagship Aphrodite Hills golf development, however, will cost you £366,000. Northern Cyprus has been slower to catch on, but there is now a smattering of agents for the foreign market. Unwin Estate Agents has a range of properties from a shabby two-bedroom cottage for £17,000 to a five-bed villa with pool for £349,950, which boasts "original Turkish deeds".

This is telling. There are three types of title deeds in northern Cyprus. The most secure are for houses that belonged to foreigners before the invasion — but these are rare. Then there are the pre-1974 Turkish-owned properties, which technically should be theirs to sell, although some Greeks argue that by entering into a legal arrangement you are falsely recognising the illegal state.

Finally there are the title deeds for Greek Cypriot properties, which Turkish Cypriots claimed as compensation for the land they left in the south. Peter Harrell, from Unwin, says that the buyer must be aware of the risk. "There may be future claims for compensation," he says, "but prices are so cheap that people might feel the risk is worth it for the location."

The Greek response is unequivocal. "The purchase of immovable property in the Turkish- occupied areas is an illegal act," says the Government’s press office. "Anyone buying land from an illegal owner will at the end lose his or her money." Greek Cypriots argue that houses that were formerly owned by Turks in the south have been registered and maintained by the Cypriot Government to be handed back in due course and so Turkey has no right to claim Greek-owned property as saleable.

The status of property continues to be a thorny issue as Cyprus prepares for EU entry. Turkey may make concessions over the island in exchange for easing its own entry into Europe and any Britons who have bought or are considering buying in northern Cyprus should get themselves a good lawyer. Two test cases in the Court of Human Rights have already found in favour of Greek owners of land in the north.

Gradually barriers are being knocked down. Last year Greek Cypriots were allowed to cross the UN-patrolled border for the first time and see their former houses. For Yiannis it was an emotional experience. "It was like a ghost town," he says. "A lot of things were left where they were, but it was very overgrown.

"We don’t want compensation or any more arguments. We just want our land back."

Cybarco: 020-8371 9700

Unwin Estate Agents: www.unwinestates.com

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