Two bedroom apartments in Limassol with a private roof garden

What does a private roof garden actually give you?

It gives you outdoor space that nobody walks through, overlooks or shares. A ground floor garden in an apartment building is usually bounded by the building itself and by neighbours' windows. A roof garden on the top floor has neither.

The practical difference in Cyprus is how much of the year the space is usable. A roof garden catches breeze that a courtyard does not, and it is the part of the property most likely to be used daily between spring and autumn.

At A. DomeNik Residence each roof garden is fitted with a WC, a bathroom and a BBQ area, plus the plumbing and electrical provision for a jacuzzi. The provision is installed. The jacuzzi unit itself is not supplied, and is fitted by the buyer if they want one.

What does jacuzzi provision actually mean?

It means the roof garden has been built so that a jacuzzi can be installed without opening up finished work. The plumbing runs and the electrical supply are in place, terminating where the unit would sit, and the slab beneath has been designed for the load.

What it does not mean is that a jacuzzi is included in the price. You buy and fit the unit yourself, at whatever specification you want.

We are pedantic about this wording because the industry generally is not. Listings routinely advertise a jacuzzi where only a provision exists, and the buyer finds out at handover. The distinction costs a few thousand euros and a fitting appointment, which is not a disaster, but discovering it late is what damages trust in everything else the seller said.

If you do want one fitted, ask before you sign rather than after. It is far easier to agree while the building is still under construction.

How should I read the square metre figures?

Carefully, and this is the single most useful thing on this page. Property listings frequently advertise one large number that combines indoor and outdoor space without saying so.

A buyer who sees 151 m² and later discovers that 44.6 m² of it is open roof garden has good reason to feel misled. So both residences here are published with the breakdown, always, and the total is never shown without it.

Total area comprises covered interior, covered veranda and private roof garden.

When you compare these against another development, ask for the same three numbers rather than a single total. If a seller will not break it down, that is information in itself.

Why does the top floor matter?

Because it is what makes the roof garden possible. Both remaining residences are on the third floor, which is the top floor of the building. There is no apartment above either of them.

That has three consequences worth stating plainly: no footfall noise from above, direct access to the roof space, and the building's best light. It is also why these two are the last to sell rather than the first. Top floor units in a small development are a small subset of the whole.

The building has elevator access, so the top floor position does not come at the cost of carrying shopping up three flights.

What is the difference between the two remaining apartments?

They are close in size and specification. The meaningful differences are the roof garden and the position.

• Penthouse Suite, €370,000. 84.1 m² interior, 22.7 m² covered veranda, 44.6 m² roof garden. The lower price of the two.
• Rooftop Suite, €380,000. 83.8 m² interior, 22.6 m² covered veranda, 53.3 m² roof garden. A corner position, and 8.7 m² more roof garden.

The €10,000 difference buys 8.7 m² of additional private outdoor space and a corner aspect. Interior space is within half a square metre either way, and both have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

You can compare them in full on the Penthouse Suite and Rooftop Suite pages.

What does the A+ energy rating change day to day?

The building holds an A+ energy performance certificate. In practice the rating reflects the insulation, glazing and building services specification, and it affects two things a buyer notices: running cost in summer, and how stable the indoor temperature is. Cyprus has required every new home to reach category A since 2020, and where A+ sits relative to A is something we could not establish from a government source, so our guide to the A+ rating sets out what is and is not confirmed.

Top floor apartments are the ones where this matters most, because the roof is the surface taking the most direct sun. An apartment with a poorly insulated roof above it is the one that struggles in August, and it is exactly the apartment a private roof garden sits on. The insulation specification is doing real work here, not just earning a certificate.

The residences also have provision for photovoltaic solar panels. As with the jacuzzi, that is the infrastructure and not the panels: the conduit, the mounting provision and the electrical route are in place, and the panels are supplied by the buyer.

Two other things an energy rating affects that buyers tend to underrate. It is a factor at resale, because the certificate transfers with the property and buyers increasingly ask for it. And it affects comfort rather than only cost, in that a well-insulated building holds temperature for longer once the air conditioning is off.

We have not published a running cost figure here because we do not have a metered one to publish. Estimated annual costs for an unoccupied building under construction would be a guess, and a guess in euros reads as a promise.

What should I check before buying any roof garden apartment?

1. Get the area breakdown in writing. Covered interior, covered veranda and roof garden as three separate figures, on the floor plan, not just in the brochure.
2. Ask whether the roof garden is private or common. A shared roof terrace is a different proposition from exclusive use, and the title documents should say which.
3. Check what is actually installed versus provided for. A jacuzzi provision is plumbing and wiring. A photovoltaic provision is conduit and mounting. Neither includes the unit.
4. Ask about waterproofing and the warranty on it. The roof is both your garden and the building's weather envelope, so ask what the membrane specification is and what warranty covers it.
5. Confirm the handover date and the payment stages. Ours is July 2027, and the payment schedule is in the price list.
6. Establish who you are buying from. Buying directly from the owner of a development means no estate agent commission in the transaction.

Where exactly are these apartments?

On Patmou Street in Zakaki, on the western side of Limassol. The development is a three storey building with six residences in total, four of which are sold.

The Zakaki area guide covers what is around the development and how the area is changing. Non-EU buyers should also read the Cyprus permanent residency guide, since both residences sit above the investment threshold for that route.