A settlement for the Land Registry comes to resolve a years-old pending issue that has plagued thousands of property owners who are unable to transfer their property.

The hourglass for submitting property declarations to the Land Registry with the final date for this remaining November 30, 2024 has been turned upside down, as the Ministry of Digital Governance responsible has made it clear in no uncertain terms that no new extension will be granted.

The latest window of opportunity until November 30 gives a breather to many thousands of property owners in 111 areas across the country where Land Registry Offices are already operating, including 23 areas in Attica, in order to correct inaccurate first registrations and save their properties.

According to the provision, which has been included by the responsible Deputy Minister of Digital Governance, Konstantinos Kyranakis, owners will now have the opportunity to proceed to monolateral modification of the surfaces of their property, with the basic condition, however, that the rights of other owners will not be affected.

The new regulations which are expected to “unblock” transfers of properties that have been classified as forest, but also others that have been …stuck due to urban planning violations will be included in the new bill on the Land Registry of the Ministry of Digital Governance and is expected by September to become a state law.

The main body of the new legislative initiative will deal with cases of properties that appear as forests or woodlands for which the state will not claim ownership rights. The same bill will also include a provision that will unblock purchases and other transfers of properties that were “frozen” due to minor urban planning violations.

Already through the new cadastral tool, maps.ktimatologio.gr those interested can see the cadastral phase in which all areas of the country are located.

“The reform of the Cadastre is a key priority for our government, because it serves the main objective set by the Prime Minister, which is none other than the improvement of everyday life,” Konstantinos Kyranakis has said, adding that within 2025 the reform will be fully completed.

The government has stated several times to date that the Land Registry will be completed in 2025. However, it remains an open question how complete and how reliable in terms of legal certainty this Cadastre will be since corrections, judicial and extrajudicial procedures will continue.

What if someone else has declared the same property?

If someone else has registered the same property, the objection review committee may prefer the other owner’s right to the first registration and then an appeal to the courts is required to change the first registration.

What corrections can be made at any time;

Incorrect entries relating to personal or civil registration details of the beneficiary (date of birth, VAT number, ID number, etc.) can be corrected at any time. Also, the correction of the geometric data of the property is not taken over by the finalization and can be done at any time.

What corrections can be made through the out-of-court process?

Out-of-court corrections can be made involving:

(i) obvious errors (incorrectly listing the beneficiary’s details, errors in the contract details, the area of the building, etc.)

(ii) geometric data of the property (the area, boundaries, coordinates)

(iii) the change of the right due to a new contract, mortgage, administrative act, court decision or other procedural act, registered in the books of the mortgage office before the date of registration of the first entries.

(iv) the designation of a property as a forest, after the forest map has been ratified.