Got Land in Greece? Registration Extended
Tuesday August 26, 2008
As I predicted a few months ago, Greece has extended the deadline to register property with the new national registry system until October 31st - and I expect another extension after that, though Environment and Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflas insists there will be no more extensions.
In any case, please don't wait. The processing offices have been overwhelmed and only about a fifth of the properties have been registered so far. Remember, it doesn't matter if you've owned that family farm for literally centuries - it still needs to be registered now as Greece attempts to come into line with EU-mandated land registration practices.
More on Registering Land in Greece:
Register Your Land in Greece
Firstly de Traci, congrats on all of your excellent work here .. As a veritable Grecophile I drop by from time to time and thoroughly enjoy your informative comment.
This whole Greek Registry thing still has my wife and I a bit flummoxed though.
She is Greek having been born on Samos and we live in New Zealand. She has two plots of inherited family land on Samos. I was given to understand that folk living outside of Greece have until 30 December 2008 to register .. and per your earlier post. But when we have approached Greek family to set the wheels in motion for us, they tell us that on Samos the registry has not yet been set up and that they will receive advance warning of when this occurs. Apparently, the registries are only in the main metropolitan areas.
What they have told us seems to be backed up by info I read on one of the Greek Embassy sites (I cannot recall which). This suggested that advance warning will be posted up on signposts etc of when a certain registry is to be opened and then folk have up to 6 months from that date to register the land they own.
So, truth to tell .. we are most confused. Much of the info on the net is a month or two out of date, and I cannot even make much sense of the Greek land registry site itself.
Any help you can provide would be appreciated.
Thanks ..
Dale
Hi Dale,
Thanks for your comments. I think everyone is feeling their way on this and it is very hard to get a straight answer, even for Greeks living in Greece. The existing information is sparse, spotty, or contradictory. If anyone else out there has additional comments or problems, please let me know. I’d be especially interested in hearing from anyone who has successfully completed the registration process.
de Traci and Dale, thanks for your posts.
I too have just been informed by my parents that the re-registration process is underway (in Samos as it happens….the registry has opened in Vathy). They were told via greek radio in Australia that they had 2 weeks to register and despair because obviously there is no way they can register in two weeks.
Your posts suggest overseas residents have until 30 Dec 2008 to register the land but I cant seem to find any reference to that in the websites (mind you my greek is exceedingly rusty!). Do you have some sort of source that confirms the deadline of December 30th?
I take it also that there is no way to register other than presenting documents in person or via a trusted proxy (which seems risky at best in Greece when you have no family left there!).
I would appreciate any updates you could offer….thanks again
Hi Steve,
The deadline has actually passed. You will still be able to register but you’ll get to pay a hefty fine of 250 Euros minimum (per right on the property); that will be halved if you register by December 12th.
The December 30th date is reported widely, including by eKathimerini, the online version of Kathimerini, a major English-language paper of Greece. But your parents being on Samos itself might complicate the situation if they are in any way on the title.
Good luck, Steven!
What do you do if the property in question is in a village and has presumably never been titled? Said property is also now “owned” by numerous relatives. Do we have to contact them all, or can we just register our percentage of the property? Thanks!
Hi Laura,
My understanding is that each right must be registered, but I don’t know if that needs to happen in a group or not. In any case, your situation is way beyond my understanding and I don’t want to mislead you. Possibly the mayor of the village could tell you if the property has been or is going to be registered. A visit to Greece is probably in your near future either way….
We have just called Samos and been told that they are not set up for this registration process and that areas outside of Vathi won’t have to be registered for another 3 years. I hope this is really what is going to happen! (and not be lumped with a hefty fine now!)
de Traci, Steven, Laura and Katrina .. thank you all for your responses. Sorry .. that I have just managed to get back to this.
Maria’s land is outside of the township of Vathi and in her last conversation with family a couple of weeks back she was told by them, much the same as you were Katrina.
So, like you .. we are hoping we do not get lumped with a hefty fine also, 3 years or so down the track!