Unfortunately, the bill again does not include a provision to solve the ownership problem of off-plan properties, with the result that hundreds of thousands of owners across the country remain hostage to their claims Public at the expense of their properties, and the Land Registry to be cancerous for decades from the hundreds of thousands of objections and endless trials…
For a great reform he made Mr. Hatzidakis spoke during his introductory speech, describing the main features of the bill:
-Supports the national effort for development and investment, with measures such as the modernization of the land use regime and the encouragement of business development activity in organized business parks
-Combines the previous objective with environmental protection, as -among other things- it limits off-plan building and facilitates the performance of common spaces in citizens.
-Protects the right to property with interventions such as the transfer of the building coefficient and the clarification of the regime of street expropriations.
-Accelerates and modernizes spatial planning with tools such as certified private engineers for the evaluation of urban plans and the withdrawal of floors in buildings.
-Gives the final push for the completion of the cadastre, by imposing fair fines on those who negligently obstruct the completion of the cadastre.
The Minister of Environment and Energy then analyzed the 11 most important changes that ” brings” the bill as follows:
1. We speed up spatial planning and specifically the preparation of local and special urban planning plans, and through them the determination of land uses. In this direction, we use certified private engineers for the evaluation of urban studies. In this way, we speed up the preparation and approval time of urban plans from 12-15 years to about 2.5 years. “This change is one of the conditions for the success of the Ministry of the Interior’s large program for the development of urban plans throughout the country, within a decade”, he said characteristically.
2. We limit the outside of the plan building with the aim of protecting the environment and the natural landscape.
- Specifically, we reduce by 10% (on average) the building factors in off-plan building . Especially in industry, this reduction amounts to 33%
• Changes the regime with the deviations of efficiency. Until their final abolition, they will only be valid for the next two years, for reasons of avoiding surprises. Within this period the owners must have obtained a building permit.
• We also stipulate that for each permit in an off-plan area, a percentage of 5% of the cost of the permit will be paid to the Green Fund and will be earmarked for dealing with side effects of anarchic off-plan building.
• The limitation of off-plan building is combined with a significant strengthening of organized zoning. Both in the business parks for industry and in the organized receptors for other activities (supplies, tourism, etc.) the building factors increase noticeably. This is a practice that is applied all over the world and creates significant synergies and added value for the economy, as well as environmental benefits. until the approval of urban plans, i.e. for a period of about one and a half years. The aim is to put a brake on the building activity of these saturated areas until clear rules compatible with the bearing capacity are put in place. These rules will be included with special urban planning plans for the two islands, which will be assigned in the near future by the Ministry of the Interior.4. We are laying the foundations for the simplification of land uses, with the aim of combating bureaucracy and enhancing development.
- With a Presidential Decree that will be promoted immediately after the new law is passed, we reduce the general uses, so that the system is more flexible, and facilitate mixed land uses, as is done throughout Europe. The aim is to make the legislative framework for uses more functional and respond to the real needs of the economy and society. uniform way.
• We match the land uses with the relevant KAD (Activity Code Numbers) and with the environmental licensing categories. The goal is to have a ‘common language’ between spatial planning, environmental policy and economy, so that citizens and investors know where they can build what, without getting lost in the maze of different terms and licensing systems.5. We activate the building rate transfer by applying the relevant jurisprudence of the Council of State.
- Specifically, we determine the conditions for the siting of Rate Acceptance Zones (ZYS). In other words, we are saying that the transfer of the building factor will not happen arbitrarily, but only in specific areas and with clear rules. This way we ensure that the character of entire areas is not altered. At the same time, we exclude the legalization of arbitrary through the transfer of building factor.
• We are also creating a mechanism, the Digital Land Bank, which will allow the acceptance and offer of building factor digitally, quickly and impersonally, without it becoming the object of a transaction.
• With the provisions of this bill, the possibility of compensation for the owners of preserved buildings will finally be realized. Until now these owners are unilaterally shouldering the increased maintenance costs of these buildings and at the same time they cannot benefit from the building rates applicable in the neighboring areas. With the regulation we are bringing, both cultural heritage and property are protected, as through the Digital Land Bank the owners of preserved properties are compensated for the restrictions on the use of their property.
• With these measures, the foundations are also laid for creating common areas provided for by the town planning plans. And this is because, through the offers that will arise from the Contributor Reception Zones, resources can be found to compensate the owners of properties that have been seized and have not yet been utilized. public areas for the benefit of the urban environment and without binding for many years the property of the citizens who currently own the plots on which the areas in question are planned. to the municipality an additional 5% that will be intended for the creation of public spaces.6. We speed up the issuance of building permits and strengthen the electronic issuance process. Now all building permits are issued automatically after the electronic submission of the file with the required supporting documents and the necessary approvals.
- More specifically, in the case of category 1 and 2 building permits, we institute a light mandatory pre-approval procedure. During this process, the service checks some basic elements of the license and then the license is issued – at the responsibility of the engineer, of course – at the push of a button.
• This is a digital section that saves citizens time and money. In addition, transparency is further ensured as the contact with the public administration is significantly limited.7. We introduce innovative urban planning tools in the context of the new Building Regulation. In particular, we give incentives to owners to “retire” buildings in order to renew the building potential, while the state gains the ability to expropriate floors. These are measures that will lead, for example, to the “lowering” of buildings in sensitive areas, at no cost to the public and with fair compensation to the owners.
8. We are streamlining the system of systematic expropriations, with the aim of protecting of citizens’ property that today remains hostage to the bureaucracy.
- Specifically, we provide for the automatic lifting of administrative expropriations if a long period of time has passed since their submission.
• We also stipulate that an administrative expropriation can be re-imposed only once.
• This is how we free the owners who remain trapped in an endless process of re-imposing ritomatic expropriations of their property.9. Buildings constructed with high energy efficiency standards will be entitled to an additional building factor. This intervention is combined with other initiatives of the Ministry of Interior that promote the prevention of climate change and energy saving.
10. We stipulate that the fine someone will pay for late declaration of a property in the Land Registry will now depend not only on the value of the property, but also from the time of the delay. The amount of the said fine will vary from 300 to 2000 euros depending on the value of the property and will be increased according to the time delay of the declaration. It is a measure to finally complete land registration in our country.
11. Finally, we give incentives to strengthen the accessibility of buildings for our fellow citizens with disabilities. In this context, we envisage the possibility of installing constructions, such as special ramps outside the curb line, but also the addition of elevators to buildings, where there was no relevant provision in the original building permit. Also, constructions that serve people with special needs (escalators, elevators) are not counted in the building factor. These arrangements are part of the general effort of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for our country to cover the lost ground in this area and to ensure that none of our fellow citizens will feel excluded in their daily lives.
The Deputy Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, Mr. Dimitris Oikonomou, stated that: “With the modernization of spatial planning and urban planning legislation, an attempt is being made to speed up and improve spatial planning. It is not a bill that will remain on paper, as it has been the case with many older provisions of urban planning legislation. We are ready with its approval to put forward immediately.
In the context of the improvement of the planning, the Local and Special Town Planning Plans are enriched with new items, adapting the Greek legislation to key priorities of the European Union and central government commitments, such as adaptation to climate change and the prediction and response to natural disasters.
In addition, a single regime is established demarcation of the settlements with a simpler procedure than the current one and with all the institutional and environmental guarantees.
Basic provisions of the bill will be activated immediately, through specific programs, which have already formed and funding secured. In addition to the program for the preparation of Local Urban Plans, which has already been announced, a program for the rapid determination of settlement boundaries will be run, as well as a corresponding program for municipal roads.
As an important acceleration tool, the institution of the registry of certified private evaluators of urban and spatial plans is introduced, which will drastically reduce the enormous times required today, reaching 12-15 years and finally making the plans obsolete.
For the first time after 60 years, we are putting the brakes on off-plan construction. Today, it is possible to build in areas without land use plans and with factors often more favorable than what happens in city plans and other organized forms of development.
The abolition of all regardless of the deviations, after a transitional period of 2 years, and the immediate reduction of the building factors constitute one of the biggest intersections in Greek urban planning, reversing the vicious attractiveness of off-plan building against organized”.
The General Secretary of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment, Mr. Efthimios Bakoyannis, underlined that: “With the zoning/town planning bill, the method of issuing building permits is reformed with the aim of speeding up the process, while all building permits will issued almost automatically. At the same time, however, mandatory sample checks of the legality of the submitted studies and data will be carried out, at a rate of at least thirty percent (30%) of the building permits.
In addition, with the simplification and rationalization of the New Building Regulation are specified and problems of interpretation that have arisen with contradictory documents between the Construction Services (YDOM) and the Decentralized Administrations are addressed in an effort to increase legal certainty in the administrative acts they will issue, while citizens are treated with the same rules and without misinterpretations, throughout the territory.
Finally, important incentives are given for the environmental upgrade and improvement of the quality of life by reducing the height of existing buildings, speeding up expropriation procedures for public and public spaces, while barrier-free accessibility for disabled and disabled people is strengthened by establishing special provisions for “vertical” movement, i.e. access first to the ground floor and then to the upper floors of buildings.
Plan Law “Modernization of Spatial and Urban Planning Legislation”
