In Greece, account arrests and auctions are being accelerated

In Greece The procedures for arrests, electronic auctions and inheritance cases are changing. New digital rules will speed up collections and reduce the role of paper bureaucracy.

In Greece new electronic procedures are being introduced for arrests, enforcement, electronic real estate auctions and inheritance cases. The changes are provided for by amendments to Code of Civil Procedure and explained Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων (Independent State Revenue Administration, ΑΑΔΕ) in the circular Ο.3019/2026.

The new rules will affect thousands of debtors, property owners, heirs, lawyers, notaries, bailiffs, banks and service companies. Formally, the goal is to speed up procedures and remove unnecessary paperwork. In practice, this means a much less pleasant thing for debtors: seizures of accounts, claims and property will take place faster and with fewer manual delays. Digitalization, as always, is wonderful – especially when the figure comes not with a gift, but with an executive document.

Arrests from third parties are moving to electronic format

The main change concerns the so-called arrests from third parties. We are talking about cases when money or claims of the debtor are collected that are not directly with him, but with a third party: in a bank account, with a tenant, client, employer or other person who must pay money to the debtor.

According to the circular ΑΑΔΕ Ο.3019/2026the new system provides for electronic filing “third party statements” through the platform portal.odee.grwhich is led by Hellenic Federation of Bailiffs (Greek Federation of Bailiffs). This is fixed by changes to the articles 983 And 985 Code of Civil Procedure.

In the previous model, such procedures often depended on the physical filing of documents, paper notices, and timing of the transfer of materials between litigants. Nowadays, a significant part of communication is transferred to the electronic environment. This should speed up blocking and processing of claims, but at the same time give debtors less time to react if they already found out about what was happening at the last minute.

Platform portal.odee.gr and electronic notifications

Platform portal.odee.gr becomes one of the key tools of the new system. Through it, an electronic application of a third party will be submitted related to the arrest of a third party. As noted Newsitthe application will be drafted, signed and filed electronically by an authorized attorney or notary using a unique application code.

The use of electronic notifications is also expanding. Copies of deeds, arrest reports and enforcement documents will be able to be transmitted electronically, which should reduce the number of physical visits, paper transfers and procedural delays. This is more convenient for the system. For the debtor – faster and colder. The machine does not argue, does not wait and does not sympathize. It just sends a notification.

Electronic auctions will become harder to stop

The changes also affect electronic real estate auctions. Until now, one of the common causes of delays was the inability to appoint a notary in the region where the property is located, especially if organizational problems, refusals or professional actions arose in a particular area.

Now the procedure can be transferred to a notary from another region of the country. This should reduce the number of delays and situations where the auction is effectively “frozen” due to the absence of a local notary. As he writes Proto Themethe new system makes enforcement procedures faster and more automated.

This is good news for banks, funds and servicers: fewer procedural obstacles, more predictability, faster business movement. For property owners with debts, this is a completely different signal. Whereas previously isolated delays provided time for negotiations, restructuring or finding a solution, now there will be fewer such technical pauses.

Inheritance and wills are also going digital

The changes apply not only to debts and auctions. In hereditary procedures, new opportunities are introduced for adoption And refusal of inheritance through an authorized lawyer. This is especially important for Greeks living abroad, elderly people and citizens who find it difficult to appear in person at the relevant services.

It is also created digital register of willswhere the data of published wills will be recorded. The goal is to make documents easier to find, reduce delays, and reduce the number of disputes between heirs. In theory, this should make the system more transparent. In practice, let’s see how many years it will take for the next “digital reform” to stop working like a website that opens only in the presence of a notary and holy patience.

Who needs to be more careful?

The greatest risk of change is for citizens with overdue debts to the state, banks, funds and servicers. If the debtor has bank accounts, rental income, claims against clients or other amounts held by third parties, the new electronic procedure can speed up their blocking or foreclosure.

Property owners already facing enforcement proceedings should also closely monitor notices, deadlines and legal actions. Transferring some procedures to electronic format does not cancel the right to defense, but makes delay more dangerous. In such a system, the loser is the one who “didn’t see the letter,” “didn’t understand the notification,” or decided that everything would somehow resolve itself. It won’t resolve. The digital auction has no regrets.

For heirs, especially those living outside Greece, the new rules can, on the contrary, make life easier: accepting or refusing an inheritance through a representative will avoid travel and lengthy procedures. But here too it is important to take into account the timing, debts of the testator and tax consequences. An inheritance in Greece sometimes looks like a gift, until it turns out that there is a debt inside, and the bow was just for fun.

Editorial comment

New electronic procedures are presented as a fight against bureaucracy. And this is partly true: paperwork delays, physical transfer of documents and procedural gridlocks have long turned foreclosures, auctions and probate cases into a slow-moving legal maze. But digitalization also has a second side: when the system speeds up collection, it is not the bank or the state that becomes weaker, but the debtor, who often finds out about the consequences too late.

For authorities, banks and servicers, this is a step towards more effective control over debts and property. For citizens, this is a reminder that in the new system one cannot live by the old habit: not reading notices, postponing consultation with a lawyer and hoping that the procedure gets stuck somewhere between the notary and the folder with papers. Now it may not freeze. She might just pass.

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