"Fire protection of property" – new "tax" on property introduced by the government and no one realized it

A new property “tax” has been introduced by the government through the Clearing Registry, and not one of the millions of property owners in the country has yet realized it.

In effect, with this trick, the government is absolving itself of responsibility for any disasters that may occur in the future due to fires, while at the same time impoverishing Greek citizens, who will have to pay exorbitant amounts of money each year for their properties. The system media seems to have deliberately kept the public silent all this time so that the Greeks would not understand the game the government is playing against them.

As reported by the Panhellenic Federation of Real Estate Owners (ΠΟΜΙΔΑ), along with the immediate implementation of the “Regulations for the fire protection of real estate in or near forested areas” of the Ministry of the Environment, which relate to residential real estate, the implementation of the “National Register of Fire Protection Measures for Real Estate”, which is legally approved by the Ministry, is expected climate crisis and civil protection, Law 5075/14. 12.2023, which provides for the creation of another electronic database to annually record landowner obligations during the fire season.

What will happen according to ΠΟΜΙΔΑ, and who does it concern?

As stated by ΠΟΜΙΔΑ, the corresponding circular has not yet been issued, the online platform has not been opened, an information campaign for citizens has not been carried out and no consultations have been held with ΠΟΜΙΔΑ. In her statement, she notes:

“The problem is that the introduction of this new real estate “registry”, added to a number of already existing registrations (National Land Register, Electronic Building Identification, E9 Property Declaration, Electronic Fire Regulations Database), is accompanied by unprecedented penalties for violators: fines ranging from 1,000 to 54,000 euros and two years’ imprisonment…

The new legislation concerns owners, usufructuaries, tenants or subtenants of plots of land and therefore uncovered areas located in areas within the boundaries of approved urban development plans, in areas within boundaries without an approved urban development plan and in areas within a radius of 100 meters from the boundaries of the two above-mentioned cases , in addition to land with an off-plan building, for areas not subject to the provisions of forest legislation, according to the forest map of the area and after informing the competent forest service.

All these persons, in accordance with the provisions, must clear the above-mentioned areas from April 1 to April 30 of each year and maintain them during the fire season, i.e. from May 1 to October 31 to prevent the risk of fire or its rapid spread.

Submitting a declaration of liability

In the future, all these persons will be required to submit to the National Register a declaration of responsibility for fulfilling obligations to protect their facilities from fires by April 30 of each year. At the same time, as stated, “in order to effectively monitor the fulfillment of the obligations provided for in the first paragraph, an electronic complaint form is created.”

Fine of 1000 euros for failure to submit a declaration: those who do not submit a declaration will be fined 1,000 euros “per head”, that is, not per plot, but, apparently, per co-owner. At the same time, the owner will be deemed to have consented to the municipality entering the site and paying the cleaning costs. Please note that this declaration must be repeated by April 30 of each subsequent year.

Fine of 54,000 euros and two years’ imprisonment for “false statement”: There will be intensive inspections by fire officials and municipalities to ensure that owners are in compliance. Those who falsely claim to have cleared their plots in April face up to two years in prison and a hefty fine of up to €54,000.

However, since the question of whether the cleaning has been carried out correctly is relevant, and since throughout the fire season, owners must constantly check that grass has not been re-seeded, etc., which is not easy for those who live far from their plots and cannot exercise constant control, they may be subject to penalties and fines at their discretion.

Responsibilities and Examples

Considering that there are not many teams performing this work, the owner, who lives, for example, in Athens and has a plot of land in Kefalonia or Serres, must must find, as he does every year, a worker to clean his area. The owner can be calm, because he did what the law requires. But the inspecting authority may be dissatisfied with the way the employee has restored order.

Or if it rains too much and the grass has grown, the owner located in Athens does not see it, and the neighbors who filed the complaint (and they, according to the law on financial incentives for informing, will definitely do this) see. In both cases, the regulatory authority will be able to impose a fine of 12 to 54 thousand euros and put (and if the fine is not paid, the property will be auctioned and sold at a special price) the unsuspecting owner for two years in prison for “false statement”…

As we have already noted, the key element for citizens to comply with their obligations is knowledge of them, as well as having the time and real opportunity to fulfill them.

In theory, of course, ignorance of the law cannot be justified, but in practice, unless citizens are widely informed of this important obligation and notified of it individually, it is impossible to imagine that a measure would be applied against them that would create an annual “industry” of fines of a thousand eurosnew field for potential corruption, an avalanche of criminal prosecutions and large fines, fair and unfair…

Especially when two ministries pass laws for the same purpose, each with separate measures, subjecting citizens to new endless annual bureaucracy and actions that they know are far beyond their actual ability to comply with, but with the obvious real purpose of removing take state and political responsibility for what they want to happen…

So this “registry”regardless of the good intentions of its initiators, which are beyond doubt, will in fact represent another “a well laid trap” state at the expense of an unimaginably large number of unsuspecting citizens throughout the country. Who will practically not know about its existence and about all these heavy obligations and fines without first seeking advice from the relevant ministry, without widely informing the population and especially the millions of owners who are responsible…

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