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How to choose an interior painting company in Cyprus

What you can verify about a Cyprus interior painting company before you sign, which questions separate the quotes, and what a complete quote has to itemise.

8 min read

How to Choose an Interior Painting in Cyprus — illustrasjonsbilde

Photo: Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels

ByStavros Loizou· Editor, kitchens, bathrooms and finishes

Stavros covers the rooms that carry the most cost per square metre and the finishes that go into them. He tracks the order trades have to arrive in, which moves a Cypriot renovation bill further than any hourly rate does.

Published

There is no painting licence in Cyprus. No register will tell you whether a decorator is any good, because no qualification is needed to pick up a roller — so anyone advertising as a "licensed" or "certified" painter is either confused or hoping you are. What you can check is the business behind the brush: that it is registered, that it charges VAT and knows which rate applies to your flat, that it carries liability cover on your dates, and that its quote describes a system of preparation and coats rather than a colour.

What can actually be verified

That there is a company. The Registrar of Companies keeps a public search — registered name, number, directors, filing history — and registration under the Companies Law Cap. 113 is checkable in a couple of minutes. Plenty of good decorators here trade as sole proprietors instead, which is not a mark against them, but you should know which you are dealing with before money moves. It decides who you would pursue if half a flat gets painted and the crew stops answering.

That it is registered for VAT. Registration is compulsory above €15,600 of taxable turnover in any twelve-month period. A company painting whole apartments with no VAT anywhere on the paperwork is either much smaller than it looks or is not accounting for it — and that becomes your problem too, because the reduced renovation rate only exists inside the VAT system.

That the insurance is current. Ask for the certificate, not the assurance, and read the dates before the sum insured. Interior work carries its own risks: paint on somebody else's parquet, a ladder through a glass balustrade, a leak from a radiator moved to get behind it, and in an apartment block everything that happens in the communal stairwell on the way in. If a crew turns up rather than the person who quoted, ask whether they are the company's employees or subcontractors with their own cover.

None of this tells you whether the finish will be good. We publish no reviews, ratings or testimonials, for painters or any other trade, because a rating is the one item here that cannot be checked against a document. Ordering on our painting and decorating listings comes from registrations, district coverage and years in business, with the weighting published on our methodology page. If you want evidence of the work, ask to see a flat finished a couple of years ago rather than a photograph taken the morning it was handed over.

Registrations that matter

Tax Department. Ask for the VAT number, and ask in writing which rate the quote assumes and why it applies to your property.

ETEK. Worth knowing about mainly so you can ignore it. The Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber registers engineers and architects, not decorators, so a painter who volunteers an ETEK number is quoting somebody else's qualification at you.

Manufacturer applicator schemes. The nearest thing to a real credential in this trade. Several coating manufacturers keep lists of approved applicators, and their system warranties depend on the work being done by someone on that list to a specified build-up. It matters less on a plain repaint than on anti-mould systems, decorative plasters and anything sold with a warranty attached. The supplier confirms membership over the phone.

The management committee. Not a registration, but the same kind of gate. In an apartment, anything outside your own front door — stairwell, corridor, balcony soffit, external railings — is common property and the committee decides. Owners in the 1970s to 1990s blocks around Strovolos meet this constantly: one balcony repainted alone leaves a patchwork the committee then has to unpick.

Questions to ask

Ask everyone the same questions, in the same words. The answers separate the companies far better than the totals do.

  1. How many coats, over what primer, on what surface?

    The biggest variable in the price, and the first thing quietly reduced when a company sharpens a quote. New plaster, a strong existing colour, an old distempered ceiling and bare plasterboard all need different build-ups. A quote with no coat count is not a quote.

  2. What preparation is included, and is it priced or an allowance?

    Filling, sanding, raking out cracks, sealing new plaster, removing coating that has lost adhesion, taking off old wallpaper. In an occupied Cypriot flat this is where most of the hours go, and it is the item most often left vague and priced later.

  3. What are you doing about the cracking, specifically?

    Hairline cracking where plaster meets the concrete frame is normal in this building stock, and inland around Nicosia the temperature range is the widest on the island, so the movement is greater there than on the coast. Ask whether they are raking out and filling, taping the junction, or simply covering it.

  4. Where is the damp coming from?

    Black spotting in the corner of a bedroom is a moisture problem, not a paint problem. Near the salt lake at Oroklini the humidity is high enough to change damp-proofing decisions, and in coastal flats around Kato Paphos condensation on cold external corners is a familiar pattern. A company willing to coat an active damp patch without asking where the water comes from has answered a bigger question about itself.

  5. Which product, in which finish, and why this one?

    Not "good quality paint" — the product name, the sheen level and the reason. Matt hides a wavy old wall and marks easily; a wipeable finish survives a corridor with children in it. Kitchens, bathrooms and north-facing bedrooms are where the anti-mould question is worth asking.

  6. Who moves and protects everything?

    Furniture, floors, sockets, switch plates, door frames, curtain tracks, air conditioning units. Cheap quotes usually assume you have emptied the rooms yourself.

  7. What happens where painting meets the other trades?

    Decoration is normally the last trade, with somebody returning to make good after the kitchen, the flooring or the second fix. Ask who comes back, when, and whether that visit is in the price.

What a good quote looks like

Work from the unit, not the total. Our recorded ranges are per square metre of wall and ceiling area, with preparation priced separately, because those two figures move independently and a lump sum hides which one you are paying for.

A quote you can act on states: the rooms and the areas; ceilings priced separately from walls and woodwork separately again; preparation described as work rather than as an allowance; the primer or sealer and the number of finish coats; the product name and sheen level; who moves furniture and protects floors; a start date and a duration in working days; a deposit proportionate to the materials being ordered; and the VAT rate with the reason it applies.

Give every company the same written scope — same rooms, same coat count, same preparation. Three quotes describing three different jobs give you three numbers and no comparison. Our painting and decorating project pages set out what a repaint involves room by room, and the district pages show who already works near you. Travel time is priced into day rates, so a Nicosia crew quoting for a flat in Polis Chrysochous is quoting the drive as well as the walls.

One scheduling note worth having early: interiors are easiest to book between November and March, because that is when exterior work stops. It is also when seasonal accommodation in the eastern resorts closes and refurbishment is concentrated there, so around Ayia Napa that window is the busiest of the year.

Warning signs

  • A single total with no rooms, no areas, no coat count and no product name.
  • Cash only, no VAT number, no company name on the paper you were handed.
  • "It doesn't need a primer" on new plaster, on a patched ceiling, or over a coating that is already failing.
  • A price that drops sharply the moment you hesitate. Either the first number was padded or the second has fewer coats in it. Ask which.
  • A deposit larger than the materials being ordered.
  • Willingness to paint over an active damp patch or visible mould without one question about the source.
  • Claims of being a "licensed" or "certified" painter. There is no such licence in the Republic.
  • Reviews and star ratings offered instead of a registration number and an insurance certificate.

Common questions

How often does an interior need repainting in Cyprus?

There is no fixed interval, and rooms do not wear evenly. Corridors and children's rooms go first; a spare bedroom can look acceptable for years. What sets the cycle is the quality of the original preparation, the sheen level, whether the surface can be wiped, and how much sun a room takes through the summer — south and west rooms fade fastest, strong colours fastest of all.

Should I buy the paint myself?

Usually not. You lose the reduced VAT treatment on that portion, you take on the risk of choosing the wrong product for the surface, and you weaken your position if the finish fails. For cost transparency, ask instead for the product name and quantity to be written into the quote.

Can they paint over mould?

Not usefully. Anti-mould coatings help a surface resist regrowth; they do not fix the moisture that caused it. In humid coastal flats and near Oroklini the cause is often condensation on cold external walls, which is a ventilation, heating and insulation question. Deal with the source first, or you pay twice.

Do I need permission to paint my own apartment?

Inside your own front door, no. Outside it — stairwells, corridors, balcony soffits, external railings — the management committee decides, because that is common property.

Is new plaster ready to paint straight away?

No, and rushing it is one of the most common reasons a repaint fails early. Fresh plaster and new render need time to dry through, then a suitable sealer or mist coat before the finish goes on. Ask how long the company intends to wait and what they will do if the programme squeezes that time.

Painting and decorating companies with checked registrations

8 companies covering this area.

Sources

  1. Tax Department — VAT rates and registration — retrieved 2026-07-28
  2. Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property — retrieved 2026-07-28

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