Significant change in the ownership of the State
Of the most important regulations, announced is the overhaul of the process of correcting obvious errors marked “unknown owner”. With the proposed draft law, the consent of the Greek State for the correction of a manifest error will be presumed from the failure to raise objections within sixty (60) days of the application being served on it, instead of the express consent required by the current framework.
This means that the properties, which are registered as “unknown owner” in the Land Registry, will be able to get out of the “quarantine” more easily, the which so far amount to more than 170,000 and with the progress of land registration, their number is expected to increase. The public obligation within 60 days to document ownership objections to the property marked “unknown owner” will lead to faster procedures to correct obvious errors to the detriment of private properties and will free up their utilization for transfers, issuance of building permits, etc. now the process has resulted in the public side, in order to express explicit consent for the “unknown owner” not even to respond in the relevant cases and to create the consequences of the ownership of legal and unjust properties being held hostage.
Three bundles of interventions
As announced by the Ministry of Digital Governance, the proposed draft law, which in the next few days it will be posted for public consultation, it aims to speed up land registration, simplify and digitize the procedures, as well as reorganize the body, so as to make the Land Registry more functional both for citizens and for its executives. In detail, the draft law foresees three sets of interventions:
Intervention one: Rapid transition and simplifying the operation of the Land Registry
The proposed draft law will speed up by at least two years the start of operation of the Land Registry in the areas where the land registry has not yet been completed land registration process. Thus, citizens will have access to the new electronic services of the Land Registry throughout the territory. In particular:
- The land registration is completed before the decisions of the Land Registration Affairs Committees are issued.
- All applications and opposing views on the application will be filed within the prescribed deadlines and will be heard normally.
- For the first time, the pending rights (applications and opposing opinions) will be listed on the cadastral sheet of each property.
- The possibility of concluding programming contracts with the TEE for the provision of supporting technical services to the Agency
- Creating a register of accredited engineers to support cadastral chart updates
- Providing a “second chance” to unpaid mortgagees and employees of salaried mortgagees to transfer to the Agency.
- Faster completion of the Land Registry
- Better service to citizens with access to electronic services for all rights in the territory
- Rise of the country in the “Doing Business” ranking of the World Bank
- Investment attraction, development and extroversion
- Quick correction of inaccurate first cadastral records
- Quick resolution of cases where there is consent of the parties
Full access to cadastral data will ensure transparency in transactions, allowing both owners to exploit their property and prospective buyers to be able to know exactly what is in force status of each property.
According to the statistics of the already cadastral areas, 98% of the properties in an area could be registered in the Land Register after posting, without other procedures are required. Nevertheless, according to the current institutional framework, in order for the Land Registry to function, all applications and opposing opinions must have been heard. Thus, with the new framework, all the rights of those who consider themselves affected based on the data of the post (which roughly amount to 2% of all owners) are fully guaranteed, without this translating into a significant delay for the remaining owners.
Furthermore, with this specific intervention it is clarified that an inaccurate first cadastral registration can be corrected through the mediation process and the framework and rules for the way of registration in the cadastral sheets are defined. Finally, the procedure for correcting obvious errors marked “unknown owner” is reformed. With the proposed draft law, the consent of the Greek State for the correction of an apparent error will be presumed from the non-provision of objections within sixty (60) days from the service of the application, instead of the express consent required by the current framework.
Intervention two: Electronic Property Transfer File
The proposed draft law introduces the Electronic Property Transfer File, significantly facilitating the process of transferring a property in all its stages. This is an intervention aimed at simplifying and digitizing the individual processes in a purchase and sale.
In particular, the process will start and be completed electronically at the notary’s office, providing all parties with all guarantees that the purchase and sale will be completed correctly. The acceleration will be achieved primarily through the digitization of more than 17 certificates: these documents, which until now are sought in paper form by a number of services, according to the proposed draft law will be granted electronically, through an extensive framework of interconnections between registries of the State.
Intervention three: Organizational restructuring of the body
The proposed draft law also includes provisions of an organizational nature with which the Land Registry acquires flexibility and adequacy in personnel and other resources. In particular, with the new provisions, among others, are introduced:
The benefits expected with the proposed draft law are summarized as follows:
