Things got worse when 20 years later, the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court, with its decision number 23/2000, although with a strong minority, ruled that these are also old spaces invalid (!), creating an unsolved legal impasse for their owners and subsequently for the Land Registry, but also heaps of Homeric disputes in apartment buildings with such parking spaces. This also had the result, due to this nullity, that the contracts for these positions were not transferred to the Mortgage Office and today to the Land Registry Offices, and that the thousands of undivided co-ownership on the plots of these positions remained “up in the air”, and as therefore, not to “close” the thousandths of the plot in the Land Registry.
Thus, according to this amendment, the following will be legally allowed:
*The integration of such a position in a main use property as its follow-up,
*The possibility of transferring such a position to the applicant of a main use space of the same building, as its follow-up , and
*The possibility of assigning such a position in the open parking of the pilot or uncovered space as a follow-up to the exclusive use of the horizontal property of the principal use space thereof building.
The full text of the amendment is as follows:
Article 3 Ownership of open parking spaces in the pilot – Addendum no. SA in Article 1 of Law 960/1979. align: justify;”>In article 1 of Law 960/1979 (A’194), after par. 5 a new par. SA is added as follows:
“SA. a) The owner of horizontal property-space of main use of an apartment building who has a right in rem to an open parking space in the parking lot of the same apartment building, which constitutes an independent horizontal property at the time of establishment, unilaterally amends the deed of horizontal ownership, in order to convert the open parking space into the parking lot as a follow-up to the exclusive use of the horizontal property of the main use area and at the same time to incorporate in the last percentage of ownership in the plot that had during the establishment of horizontal properties the open parking space in the pilot. In this case, the consent of all the co-owners is presumed.
b) Open parking space in the pilot house of an apartment building which is an independent horizontal property at the time of establishment and on which does not have a real right owner on the horizontal property-space of main use of this apartment building may be transferred exceptionally and only to another owner on the horizontal property-space of main use of this apartment building. In this case, the owner of the horizontal property-space of main use makes a unilateral amendment to the horizontal property deed, in order to convert the open parking space in the pilot as a follow-up to the exclusive use of the horizontal property of the main use space and at the same time to incorporate in the latter the percentage of co-ownership in the plot that the open parking space in the pilot had during the establishment of horizontal properties. In this case, the consent of all the co-owners is presumed.
c) The owner of a horizontal property-space of main use of an apartment building, to whom the right of exclusive use was also transferred on an open parking space in the pilothouse or a space in the uncovered area of the same apartment building, in which place, in accordance with the deed of establishment of horizontal property or the regulation of the apartment building, an independent right of exclusive use has been established without being connected to a specific horizontal property-area of main use of the apartment building, unilaterally amends the deed of horizontal ownership, in order to assign the open parking area of the pilot or uncovered space as a follow-up to the exclusive use of the horizontal ownership of the main use space. In this case, the consent of all co-owners is presumed.”
According to the explanatory statement, the proposed provision attempts to resolve the long-standing issue of the ownership status of open parking spaces in pilot apartment buildings by providing that the specific spaces can be converted into monitoring by unilaterally amending a horizontal property deed and incorporating into it the percentage of ownership of the parking space on the plot, by owners who have (another ) horizontal property-space of main use (apartments) in the same apartment building, as well as the question of matching such parking spaces with horizontal properties, which was not already done with the original deed of establishment of horizontal property.
Article 3: The proposed provision is a standing, joint request of both the Panhellenic Federation of Real Estate Owners (P.OM.IDA.) and the Coordinating Committee of Notarial Associations of Greece (SESSE), in order to facilitate the owners of tens of thousands of open parking spaces of apartment buildings, which have become “things out of transaction” hindering both real transactions, parental benefits and donations and the completion of land registration. Since the jurisprudence has invalidated the recommendations of independent horizontal ownership when they concern open parking spaces in a pilot, they cannot be transferred as independent properties, nor can the apartment buildings in which they are located be cadastrally settled, as the percentages of co-ownership on the plot of each apartment building concerning these positions. As, however, the same jurisprudence has recognized, by invoking Article 182 of the Civil Code, that an invalid deed, such as that of the creation and transfer of an open parking space to a pilot as independent horizontal property, can be valid as a valid grant of the right to exclusive use of this space , the proposed provision gives way to the treatment of these positions, as long as they constitute a follow-up and are integrated into another horizontal property located in the same apartment building, also occupying the corresponding percentage of the undivided co-ownership of the plot {see AP 454/2017, AP 23/2000). Also, the provision attempts to remove the conflict found in the jurisprudence regarding the nature of the right to the exclusive use of a parking space in the pilot, when it has not been initially assigned to a specific horizontal property.
Presenting this regulation to the Parliament, the competent Deputy Minister of Lands, Mr. Theodoros Livanios, emphasized the following:
“The third article of the amendment concerns pilots in open parking lots and it is very important because it concerns a large portion of our fellow citizens.It is a common request submitted by POMIDA and the plenary session of the country’s bar associations and concerns parking spaces in pilots that had been excluded from transaction matters, with the result that the transfers are rejected, effectively trapping too many owners who could not utilize or transfer their property. Many times these pieces of horizontal property belonged to an unknown owner and would be handed over to the Greek government when the Land Registry ended. This is exactly what the specific provision is going to solve in collaboration with the most directly interested parties, which are the Property Owners Associationbut also the bar associations and the notary association. So let’s go to cure this problem that existed, there were also decisions of the Supreme Court, there were also a series of decisions in order not to reject the contracts. We are, in effect, turning the parking spaces into monitoring so that they can become objects of transactions and close this pending issue that concerns too many of our fellow citizens.”
And an extension until 31.7.2023 for declarations in the Land Registry without a fine
According to the explanatory report, theproposed provision extends by seven (7) months, from 31.12.2022 to 31.7.2023, the deadline for issuing the joint ministerial decision for the imposition of a fine for late declaration of registered rights in the Land Registry against property owners who did not submit on time, according the duration of the land registration by region of the country, the statements about their real rights.
The proposed provision seeks to relieve the citizens of the country from the financial burden of the fine of the untimely declaration of their properties during the land registration process, for seven (7) additional months, so that they can register their properties free of charge, taking into account both the time and financial constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on previous two years.
The text of this provision is as follows:
Article 2. Deadline for issuing a joint ministerial decision for the imposition of a fine for a late declaration of registrable rights -Amendment of par. 8 of article 2 v. 2308/199S
The eighth paragraph of paragraph a’ of paragraph 8 of article 2 of v. 2308/1995 (A’ 114) is amended with regard to the deadline for issuing the joint ministerial decision on the imposition of a fine in case of late declaration of registrable rights and paragraph 8 is formulated as follows:
“8. a) If no declaration is submitted, it is prohibited to draw up a deed in rem for the right that was not declared, as well as the granting of a building permit in the name of the person who failed to submit the declaration. The proof of submission of the declaration is mentioned and attached to the contract, it is mentioned in the building permit and it is kept in the file of the service responsible for issuing the permit. By decision of the Board of Directors a fine is imposed on the Entity.
The fine is calculated based on the type of registrable right declared on the value of the real estate, based on the system of objective determination thereof, as well as the time who delayed the submission of the declaration in relation to the deadline determined in accordance with the provision of par. 5. The fine for ownership rights (small and full) and usufructuary is calculated for all properties that have not been declared on time even in the agricultural areas of sub a’ of para. a’ of par. 10, the basis for calculating the fine is the value of the declared right. The basis of calculation corresponds to an amount that cannot be lower than three hundred (300) and higher than two thousand (2,000) euros. This amount is increased, depending on the delay in submitting the statement.
By joint decision of the Ministers of Finance and Digital Governance, which is published by 31.7.2023, the more specific way of calculating the fine per type of right, including the surcharge factor due to delay, and any other necessary details are defined.
The decision comes into force one (1) month after its publication.
If the deadline for paying a fine has passed, it will be collected according to the provisions of the K.E.D.E.
b) Any prohibition and invalidity from the application of this is lifted either by the subsequent submission of a statement by the person who failed to submit it in a timely manner, provided that he was not completely alienated from the his right on the property, or by the one who acquires a registrable right with the above legal act. The submission of the declarations is proven by a relevant certificate, which is issued free of charge by the competent land registry office.
By decision of the Board of Directors. of the Body, the content of which is included in the announcement for the posting provided for in article 4, the date by which late declarations are allowed to be submitted in the area being expropriated is determined. With a similar decision, this deadline can be extended. Decisions of the Board of Directors of the N.P.D.D. Greek Land Registry issued after 9.12.2020 and until 18.6.2021, pursuant to which it was decided to extend the deadline for submitting overdue declarations in cadastral areas, are considered valid from their publication.”
