If you own property or recently inherited the rights to property in Greece, you need to be aware of a major change taking place in the way property rights are registered in Greece. In fact, you need to register your property by December 30th of this year or risk the possibility of forfeiting your rights.
What are the changes?
Greece is instituting the Hellenic National Cadastre (Ktimatologio) – a unified system of legal, technical and other information pertaining to all property throughout Greece. The goal of the cadastre is simple, yet colossal: to record all existing property rights and their holders. The cadastre will eventually replace the existing system of land registries (Ipothikofilakia), in which properties are registered under the name of the owner, with a system based on the property itself.
The first phase of registration in the cadastre has been completed. Ninety-five cadastral offices are in operation throughout Greece. The second phase, which recently began, is intended to expand the cadastre to 107 new areas, namely the entire Attica region, the prefecture of Thessalonica and all capitals of prefectures not already recorded. In less than four years, an estimated 6.7 million property rights will be registered, covering two-thirds of the country’s population. The cadastral survey of the new areas is scheduled to be completed by 2011.
Property owners residing outside of Greece have until December 31th, 2008, to register their property. Failure to register within the time frame will result in a fine ranging from 50 to 1,500 euros, based on the type and value of property right. More importantly, failing to register your property in time will result in it being listed as of “unknown owner” or “state owned.” Reclaiming it would necessitate costly and lengthy judicial proceedings. A three-month extension may be granted, but it is not advisable to exhaust the deadline.
Who must file?
The law applies to any person or legal entity (companies, institutions, foundations) with property rights of any kind (including, but not limited to, ownership rights, easements, mortgages, leases of more than nine years, encumbrances, etc.). Whether the property is within or outside the zone plan, urban or rural, is irrelevant; all property rights must be registered. The cadastre, in essence, aims to organize the land and the rights upon it, not the existing buildings on the land.
If the property rights have recently been acquired by inheritance, the right holder can register his right even before completing the Acceptance of Inheritance procedure, thus formally becoming the owner of the property.
What is the process?
The cadastre process is two-fold. First, once the applications are submitted, properties are located and archived in an electronic database (in the existing Ipothikofilakeion system properties are recorded by hand). In the second phase, property rights are legally verified and each piece of property is precisely defined. Property rights are posted on a list, thus giving property right holders the opportunity to object in the event the property they believe they own is listed under someone else’s name or as of “unknown owner.”
A precondition for submitting the application is payment of the required fee (35 euros per property right in urban areas and 20 euros per property right on auxiliary spaces, such as storage rooms, garages, etc.). Note: in rural areas, owners need to pay for a maximum of two property rights regardless of the number of rights to be registered.
Once the property right is registered in the cadastre, the right holder will be called upon to pay an additional amount (a variable fee of 1/1000 of the property’s value exceeding 20,000 euros, up to a maximum of 900 euros. In cases where there are multiple owners, the fee is apportioned among the co-owners.
Should any information regarding the property change, the right holder must submit an additional statement. (The penalty for submitting false statements include imprisonment of three months to 10 years.) No transactions, including the issuance of a building permit, are permitted until the property is declared.
In cases where a person acquires a property right during the period when the area is undergoing cadastre registration, the right holder should file an application, even if the previous owner had already done so.
Foreign residents must submit their applications by December 31th, 2008, either by granting power of attorney, or by proxy, in which case they would have to print the application off the Internet, fill it out, sign it and send it to their proxy. The proxy then pays the cadastral fee and attaches the payment receipt to the application and supporting documents (tax certificate, the property’s deed, valid passport/identification, and, in certain cases, additional documents). An attorney can handle the entire process.
What is the appeal process?
If upon filing your application you discover the property has already been registered – under another name, under “unknown owner” or, worse, under “the State” – you can file a lawsuit. Residents of Greece have five years (foreign residents have seven years) to file a lawsuit against the party that has registered the property. The property is then awarded to the one who proves to have the better title.
DISCLAIMER. The information contained in this article is solely for general guidance on matters of interest. Given the changing nature of laws, rules and regulations, there may be delays, omissions or inaccuracies in information contained in this article. Thus, the information is provided with the understanding that the authors and publishers are not herein engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice and services and is not to be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisers.
Tags: 2008, December, Greek, Property, Register