A bill introduced by Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis puts an end to long-standing claims by the Greek state on private property — including cases based on Ottoman-era decrees — drawing a clear line under disputes that have plagued citizens for decades.

The situation has often resembled a case of administrative absurdity rather than the practice of a modern European state: the government laying claim to houses, apartment buildings, and even entire neighborhoods decades after they were built and inhabited, invoking ownership rights rooted in centuries-old documents. The new legislation seeks to close this chapter by halting lawsuits and ownership challenges against properties held under old but properly registered titles, restoring — albeit belatedly — legal certainty for thousands of owners who found themselves in court against the state.

Presenting the reform, Mr. Hatzidakis cited characteristic examples illustrating how the impasse arose. In 2020, while serving as Minister for the Environment, the state laid claim to entire areas of Thessaloniki, despite the fact that these neighborhoods had been built and inhabited for many decades.

Similarly, during his tenure at the Ministry of Finance, the state initiated legal action against apartment buildings in the center of Karditsa, where families had lived for generations. These cases dragged on for years, creating prolonged uncertainty and social unrest.

Three Key Interventions

Based on these examples, the government is moving forward with three targeted interventions.

First, the state will no longer assert ownership rights or initiate legal proceedings where a properly registered title deed exists dating up to 1975 — that is, at least 50 years old and predating the current Constitution. These are not cases of mere possession or adverse possession, but properties with formal titles duly recorded in the land registry. In such cases, the state cannot retroactively challenge ownership by invoking rights from a different historical era.

Second, the bill definitively resolves the issue of refugee settlements established at the direction of the state, primarily following the Asia Minor Catastrophe. Individuals who were uprooted and resettled through state action cannot, decades later, be treated as “refugees for a second time” by facing lawsuits and property claims brought by the very same state.

Third, the legislation addresses cases involving citizens who hold concession deeds or other titles issued by the public administration itself. The state cannot overturn its own administrative acts decades later by taking legal action against citizens who relied in good faith on official decisions.

For all three categories, the bill provides for the dismissal of pending ownership disputes, not indiscriminately, but in a targeted and legally defined manner. It is explicitly clarified that the reform does not apply to public-use property, such as coastlines and archaeological sites, nor does it affect the enforcement of forest protection legislation in any way.

Limits on State Appeals in Socially Sensitive Cases

Within the same framework, a permanent rule is also established preventing the state from pursuing legal appeals in cases of particular social importance, such as claims for non-pecuniary damages due to mental anguish in cases involving death or severe disability, natural disasters, accidents on public infrastructure or public transport, terrorist attacks, accidents occurring in the line of duty for members of the security forces and armed forces, as well as medical acts or omissions in public hospitals.