The bill dealing with legal issues for the Social Housing Strategy (My Home Programme) to take effect from the start of 2023 put to a public consultation by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis. At the same time, it published the Guide with the basic parameters of this program.

For POMIDA, the enormous social value of this program is that it addresses the issue of housing in the right way, which is the renovation of old houses and the production of new ones, and not with the “old-fashioned” politicians’ favorite method of tenancy commitments, which is destructive for the whole society, and first of all , for the new generation of renters, since by definition it would exclude them from any possibility of finding a house to rent… Which means that the recent public letter – intervention of POMIDA to the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis on this topic, entitled “Incentives for the renovation and supply of houses for use as a main residence”!  

Legislative intervention, which will essentially “strangle” the institution of short-term rentals in our country, even though it constitutes 15% of the tourism product of our country, is expected to be carried out immediately by the government.

The direct regulation and demarcation of the market in question, also known as the “sharing economy” and its turnover is now estimated at 3.371 billion euros , is urgently claimed by hoteliers, who, presenting a study prepared on their behalf by the company Grant Thornton entitled “Short-term rentals: impact on cities and citizens”, records both the size of the short-term rental market and “the negative its imprint from the uncontrollable giantization of the activity”. It is also inferred from the data that the tourism expenditure of the sharing economy is growing at an average rate of 15% per year.

According to information, the government presidency in collaboration with both the Ministries of Economy, Environment and Tourism, as well as with the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises and other representative bodies of tourism, moves in two directions:

In public electronic consultation the Minister of Finance, Mr. Christos Staikouras introduced the draft law entitled “Emergency tax regulations – Amendment of the Value Added Tax Code, the Income Tax Code and the Tax Procedure Code – Institutional framework for the operation of the Central Unit of State Aid and the State Aid Network – Other regulations of the Ministry of Finance”, with many important provisions concerning private real estate and its owners, such as the two-year extension of the suspension of capital gains tax and VAT . in real estateand the reduction of income tax for building upgrade costs. Also with article 34 of s.n. the opportunity is given to the Municipalities of the country to submit until 31.12.2022 the opinion of the seventh paragraph of the law on the objective zone values ​​of their territorial jurisdiction, requesting their reduction, especially in areas where they have increased excessively. 

The circular of the Ministry of Internal Affairs entitled “Instructions for the implementation of the provision of Article 67 of Law 998/1979 on forested fields, as applicable after its replacement by Article 93 of Law 4915/2022 (A΄ 63)”, which defines how the Forestry Commissions will deal with the owners who have filed objections to the forest maps and at the same time for the same areas have initiated the procedure to enter the their possession as wooded fields. The regulation concerns 6.9 million hectares of forested fields throughout the country, approximately 6% of the total area of ​​the Forest Maps, which due to the abandonment of agricultural activities gradually turned into forest land, with the result that their ownership by the State is disputed . 

According to the new regulation, only for the lands for which the public holds specific title deeds will it display ownership rights, otherwise the competent Forestry Service will grant the interested party upon his request and in order to transfer the area, relevant “Certificate of the non-existence of fundamental elements of the State’s right of ownership”.

A very important Joint Ministerial Decision was published in the Official Gazette which provides for a series of measures to improve energy efficiency and save energy in buildings owned or tenanted by the State or public services Sector.

Article 3 par. 1 of the KYA expressly states that “In privately owned and leased buildings and facilities used by the bodies of article 1, the interventions of of this article to improve energy efficiency and save energy. Especially in rented properties, if required, medium-term measures are implemented with the consent of the owner.” 

Also in article 9 (“Costs”)of the decision it is expressly stated that “Costs for the implementation of this decision shall be borne, as the case may be, by the budgets of the Ministries or relevant bodies.”. 

The full text of the GPA is as follows: