Extension of deadlines for the submission of arbitrary

New deadlines for the inclusion of unauthorized buildings in Law 4178/2013 and the submission of the necessary supporting documents are set by a new ministerial decision of the Deputy Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Nikolaos Tagaras, with the aim of boosting the sluggish pace of legalizing unauthorized buildings. Specifically, Law 4178/2013 (Kalafatis Law) will allow for the late inclusion of unauthorized buildings that had been regularized under Law 4014/11 (Papakonstantinou Law).

Based on the new decision of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, in the event that the transfer application is submitted after the deadline but within the validity period of Law 4178/2013, the payment deadlines for the first half of the year shall apply. The unpaid amount of the fine will be increased by 1% for each month of delay.

It should be noted that the Kalafatis law served as an “umbrella” for those who had arbitrarily settled their debts under the Papakonstantinou law, which had been ruled unconstitutional by the Council of State. Specifically, it gave a six-month grace period, i.e. until February 7, 2014, to transfer overdue debts or those that were initially submitted with a paid fee.

However, the Kalafatis law has also been challenged and is expected to be ruled on by the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of Appeal in October. An extension has also been granted for the deadline for the electronic submission of the necessary supporting documents by the engineer for the completion of the application.

It is now required to complete the submission of supporting documents by the deadline for compliance with the provisions of Law 4178/2013, i.e. February 2015, and not within six months of payment of the fee.