How the Greek government drove millions of property owners to despair

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It seems that the government has set its sights on Greek property, not only “burdening” it with unbearable taxes, but also, in fact, preventing it from being sold, since the introduction of the electronic building identification system, few can start buying and selling.

Tens of thousands of properties, especially apartments in multi-apartment buildings, remain unclaimed across the country, driving their owners to despair. The reason is that the real estate market still resembles a… minefield. And the fact is that although… mines have been discovered, none of the responsible parties, at least so far, have bothered to defuse this field, rendering them harmless.

In particular, as noted in a conversation with “NEA” the president TOMATO Stratos Paradias, even today, despite the fact that the problem is well known, tens of thousands of properties remain unclaimed. It may seem absurd, but the main reason for the problem is the minimal discrepancies in the declared areas, discovered during the measurements for the building identification, which is valid from April 1, 2022. For this reason, before the final signatures are made, the transactions are cancelled.

A tangled ball

Thus, if the owner of an apartment, for example, in 2000, finds during the current detailed survey by the engineer that his apartment has a difference in area with the neighboring apartment, he must convince his neighbor to sign a deed of change of horizontal recommendation of the condominium on the property, which they will transfer legally, in which they will restore the actual areas of their possessions, in order to then make a parental contribution to their children or sell them. If the neighbor does not agree or is simply not interested, or asks to consider co-signing, the property is blocked without the possibility of transfer (!).

At the same time, the situation is much worse if in the given example we are talking about an apartment on a floor, i.e. it is the only one on the floor and there is no neighboring property. In this case, the act on changing the horizontal constitution of the property must be signed by all co-owners (1000/1000) of the house, which in practice is completely impossible, especially in old and multi-apartment buildings.

Moreover, in the case of a single-family home, if there is an error in the measurement of the area of ​​the plot and/or the building, the transfer agreement must be corrected with the participation of the seller or donor of the property, which in practice is very difficult, even if the latter is still alive. For this reason, according to sources familiar with the real estate market, the number of owners who have found that they have lost all possibility of transferring their property is huge and constantly growing.

There seems to be no solution in sight

Despite the fact that notaries and real estate agents insistently demand a solution to the problem, according to the same sources, it will not be solved in the near future, which will lead to the cancellation of many thousands of contracts and transactions throughout the country. Officials of the Ministry of Environmental Protection justify themselves by saying that this is not only an urban development issue, but also a legal one.

In a trap

Meanwhile, POMIDA says protests are growing across the country as more and more owners interested in selling or even granting parental rights realize they are in a complete trap.

“It is necessary that each owner could correct the area and contour of his plot in accordance with the actual, without being dependent or extorted by others, provided that the actual state of affairs corresponds to the drawings of the building permit within the electronic identification card of the indivisible property, and the format is not changed, millimeters, rights and obligations of the real estate and neighboring objects, as well as common and joint areas of the building are not affected,” the president of POMIDA says. At the same time, the crossword puzzle for strong crossword solvers seems to be recognizing land as private if the state claims it (!). Another mine revealed in the minefield of transactions.

Given the number of objections forest mapsapproaching to 400 thousandtens of thousands of owners are still in a difficult situation and are forced to file objections to the recognition of their lands as private, despite the claims of the state. Why? Because, as sources in the market say, today it is already “confused” what is considered a private forest and what is forest land. The state automatically appropriates everything that is a forest, so the number of objections and statements about obvious errors on forest maps is huge and has not yet been reviewed.

Threat from the air

Another mine is the “air”, threatening the property of thousands of owners who, without knowing it, will be forced to share their property with the state (!).

Why will this happen? Because thousands of owners – mainly due to the economic crisis – in order to avoid taxation, have unfairly deleted from their E9 the millimetres corresponding to the unfulfilled “right of ascent”, or have not declared them either there or in the land register.

Note: In apartment buildings built in previous decades, the developer or the landowner, or both, usually retained as a special horizontal holding a percentage of co-ownership of the plot to be assigned to future floors δικαίωμα υψούν (the right to build another floor or floors), with the right to unilaterally redistribute the percentage of co-ownership of this right on the plot. However, in the vast majority of cases, the building rates were exhausted from the outset or reduced later, with the result that it is no longer possible to exercise these rights.

How does the problem arise?

The above-mentioned share of joint ownership, classified for tax purposes as a share of land with an exhausted development coefficient, although in reality it no longer has any real use or value, must nevertheless be entered in the land register, subject to tax ENFIA and other taxes on capital as a separate asset.

And this is where the problems begin. Thousands of owners, in order to avoid this unfair tax burden and the bureaucratic formalities associated with registering these “rights”, did not declare them in the Land Registry, as a result of which they are now listed as “unknown owner“.

What does this mean in practice? That after the first registrations are completed they will go to the state, which will become a mandatory co-owner of “δικαίωμα υψούν” in thousands of apartment buildings across the country (!), which is another “thorn” in the side of the deals.”

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