The Council of State has ruled as legal the draft Presidential Decree merging two existing housing regulations: one that sets the criteria for demarcation and building conditions in settlements outside the urban plan before 1923, and another that governs building conditions and restrictions for settlements with up to 2,000 inhabitants across the country.

The regulations and conditions governing the conditions and rules for the construction of housing estates with a population of 2,000 inhabitants.

First, there are currently two Presidential Decrees in force. One is that of 2/13-3-81 which relates to pre-1923 settlements in off-plan areas, which defines the boundaries of pre-16-8-1923 settlements lacking an approved town plan, and at the same time, the same decree defines the conditions and restrictions on building on these plots.

The second Presidential Decree in force is the one of 24-04-1985 which defines the boundaries of the settlements of the country up to 2,000 inhabitants and at the same time defines the conditions and restrictions of their construction.

In particular, this second decree (24-04-1985) concerns the settlements of the country which, according to the last census, have a population of up to 2,000 inhabitants. A settlement is defined as “any distinct residential group which is referred to in the last census as a settlement with a population of up to 2,000 inhabitants regardless of whether the municipality or community to which it belongs has a population of more than 2,000 inhabitants.”

Now, a draft Presidential Decree has been submitted to the Council of State for, on the one hand, the definition of the criteria for the delimitation of settlements with a population of less than 2,000 inhabitants, including settlements that existed before 1923 and, on the other hand, the definition of land use and general conditions and restrictions on building.

These provisions of the draft decree “aim to oblige the administration (i.e. the competent ministry) to comply with the decisions of the Council of State and to serve the need to unify the two decrees on the delimitation of settlements”.

This “to remove any misunderstandings of the past, to simplify the adoption process, to eliminate obsolete provisions that in practice have caused many problems, by establishing a single framework for the delimitation of urban planning land use planning for all settlements created until 1983 and with special care for the protection of pre-1923 sections where they are located.”

The 5th Section of the Council of State (opinion 74/2024), chaired by vice-president Margarita Gortolidou and rapporteur Zoe Theodorikakou, considered the 18-article draft decree legal and made some technical legal remarks.