120,000 Greek homeowners are in the air from January 1, 2015, and in danger of losing their mortgaged homes as the Ministry of Development and Competitiveness did not fulfil its pledge to for a legal framework for first home ownership. Incumbent Konstantinos Skrekas did not fulfil the commitments of former development minister Nikos Dendias concerning the regulation of red mortgages that had been made in November. The reason for this turnaround could be due to the banks’ reluctance for this regulation due to technical issues whereas the idea is also shunned by the troika of Greece’s international creditors from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On his part, Mr. Skrekas points to the delay as a result of the upcoming presidential elections to be held in three rounds on December 17, December 23 and December 29. Furthermore, ministerial sources point to the fact that the four major systematic banks will not resort to auctions to pay off mortgages. This, however, is not true for all homes as those over 300,000 euros are at risk. Furthermore, though banks may be positive about protecting homes, however a serious society cannot leave such matters to the discretion of banks and moods of bankers.

Legally speaking, non-payment of debts could result in homes being auctioned off. Policy change could create new circumstances that would leave people with mortgages in the lurch. Due to the intervention of the Justice Ministry, legislation under the prevailing conditions until the end of 2015 gives a basis for the calculation of property value at auctions under objective values bearing in mind that the Civil Procedure Code had originally provided for the starting price to be formed at very low commercial property values.

Thousands of homeowners are seeking legal advise to see where they stand in 2015 in order to deal with the risks. Meanwhile, no statement has been made by the Ministry of Development and Competition.