Land Registry: Risk of remaining incomplete • Pending Studies • Extensions & Costs • Court Decisions

The country’s cadastral survey processof the country has reached a critical juncture, with limited citizen participation leading to constant delays, which are expected to significantly increase the cost of the project and risk delaying its completion, which is scheduled for 2021.

It should also be noted that five of the 32 cadastral surveys have not yet been commissioned due to legal appeals by contractors. These are the studies concerning the areas of Rethymno, Chania, the Cyclades, Thesprotia-Corfu, and the remaining half of Heraklion.

It should be noted that recent legislation has made it possible to extend the deadlines by up to six months by ministerial decision. In this context, the deadline in 18 regions has been extended by approximately 3 months, until September 15.

According to initial estimates by contractors, the cost of a possible six-month extension of the 32 contracts, which have been costed at around €300 million after the discounts submitted, could reach €40 million. Although it is impossible to calculate the exact amount in advance, given that it remains unclear how many and how long the extensions to the initial deadlines are expected to be, it is certain that in the end it will increase the bill. This is why the ministry’s leadership has ruled out the possibility of a six-month blanket extension for all regions.

In waiting

So far, however, there has been no announcement regarding the extension of contracts or the signing of supplementary agreements on this issue: “We have been informed of the extensions, but we have not been given any instructions as to what will happen next in terms of additional staff or public information offices,” the contractors’ representative, Sotiris Liaros, told Ethnos tis Kyriakis, adding that the researchers will soon be writing to the Land Registry to request further information. adding that in the near future, the researchers will write to the Land Registry to clarify the issue.

For his part, the president of the Hellenic Cadastre, Byron Nakos, notes that “an extension of 1-2 months does not pose a problem. However, if the six-month period is exhausted, it could set the studies back.” According to him, however, the pace of declarations is not so slow, given that approximately 60% of those interested have made their initial declaration and obtained a protocol number so that they can submit the supporting documents at a later date.

From the contractors’ side, it should be noted that for contracts with a specific timetable, discounts totaling approximately €150 million had already been granted, while approximately 2,500 people are employed in land registration. Therefore, the extensions will result in additional operating costs.

It should also be noted that there have been some “dead periods” during the process, such as delays in the delivery of cadastral offices of up to four months in some cases.

At the same time, the extensions granted in several cases only serve to confuse citizens even more. The reason for this is that the studies for each area under cadastral registration began separately and not all at once, with the result that extensions are granted per regional unit on different dates, creating confusion.

So far, however, citizen participation in the process remains relatively limited in terms of its completion, as only 21.03% of the total rights in the areas where cadastral surveying is currently underway have been declared, i.e. 2,651,090 rights out of an estimated total of 12.6 million rights in these areas.

The already low participation rate declined further following the regulation allowing for up to a six-month extension of deadlines, while the prolonged election period further reduced the rate of filing.

Positive is, however, the fact that for approximately 60% of the rights has already been the first step. The owners have received a protocol number and have made an appointment in order to submit the necessary supporting documents.

From the outset, the contractors’ representatives had pointed out to the Greek Land Registry administration that the initial deadline of six months (3+3) for domestic residents to submit their declarations would not be sufficient for the areas covered by this phase: “These are difficult areas, rural and mountainous, where it is more difficult to locate land parcels, while in many cases there are no titles and the ownership status has not been clarified,” points out George Dimitriou, coordinator of the Athens cadastral survey project and representative of the contracting consortium.

At the same time, it is still unclear when the five remaining studies will begin, with the corresponding projects now considered unlikely to be completed in 2021. “In particular, the contract for the Cyclades could have started after the provisional measures of the Council of State. However, the Hellenic Cadastre decided to wait for the main trial, which has been postponed three times so far, with the latest postponement until November,” notes Mr. Dimitriou.

The trials for the remaining four contracts took place in November 2018 and decisions are pending. It appears that it will be difficult to finalize the contracts before 2020.

Another “thorn” is the lack of certified forest maps throughout the country, but this process is expected to be completed by the time the data for the surveyed areas are posted.

The pre-hanging in Athens

The participation of property owners in the Municipality of Athens in the pre-registration process currently underway, which essentially involves the re-examination of declarations already submitted, has been lukewarm.

Although participation in the pre-announcement is not a necessary step if there are no errors or changes in the initial declaration, it is advisable for interested parties to double-check the information in order to avoid additional hassle and expenses in the future.

To date, 505,844 property owners have been notified of the pre-notification for Athens by email, text message (SMS), and regular mail. However, with the deadline for pre-registration in Athens just around the corner, on June 24, more than 18,200 requests for data review have been recorded, of which 11,102 were made electronically and more than 7,100 were received by the Cadastral Office. According to data from the Hellenic Cadastre, a total of 13,595 citizens visited the cadastral office, while approximately 80,000 owners checked their data through the electronic application and Taxisnet codes.

From the requests for review:

• 41% concerned corrections to beneficiary details.
• Fourteen percent concerned the type of right. The majority concerned rights of usufruct and bare ownership, which is now declared as full ownership following cases of death.
• 12% on title documents, transcriptions, registrations, etc.
• 33% concerned other issues (registration of inactive rights, non-registration of declared rights, cases of co-ownership in divided properties, etc.).

It should be noted that approximately 3.4% of the additional data concerned changes in area following the regularization of spaces such as semi-open spaces, etc. However, this data is not recorded, as the Land Registry only records ownership and not the nature of the property.

After the expiration of the deadline for pre-registration it is provided that the data of the information from the pre-registration shall be updated of the data by the contractor is something which is expected to last two months. Subsequently, the updated database will be delivered to the agency of the contractor delivered to the agency of the Land Registry and within three months will be carried out the control of. According to Mr. if everything goes according to schedule, the posting, which is and the next step, can be done by the end of the year.