Unlicensed settlements created without the required paperwork from the town planning departments are, unfortunately, commonplace in Greece and a “Gordian Knot” for an often inept state to handle.

Urban planning has been chaotic over previous decades, as unlicensed buildings spurt over the countryside given that Greece still lacks a unified and functional land registry (cadastre).

Modern Greeks have a tendency to build in forest areas, on family farmland in areas not registered as residential, and often times where they consider an ideal location for a holiday home.

The otherwide picturesque little harbour municipality of Rafina, on the eastern coast of Attica prefecture, has 13 unlicensed settlements with 2,408 unregistered buildings, followed by Nea Makri, also in East Attica with 1,513 unregistered buildings on 12 settlements.  Other areas notorious for their unregistered buildings are Megara (1,005 buildings in 23 settlements), Anoixi (935 buildings in 4 settlements), Kalamos (625 buildings in 14 settlements) Mt. Penteli (496 buildings in 7 settlements), the upscale Kifissia district (82 buildings in five settlements) and so forth. All of the above are located in Attica prefecture, which hosts the greater Athens area and roughly half (!) of Greece’s population.

The fact that nothing is being done to deal with this problem is the sheer size of it. The state is unable to handle or keep track of the abuse.

Alternate Reconstruction of Production, Environment and Energy Minister Yiannis Tsironis is determined to protect forest areas and find a solution to the problem of unlicensed settlements. Data that the ministry has includes 145 settlements in 23 forest regions that have literally sprouted over the last few decades. Many of these regions are fully functional with their own networks, roads, schools etc.

All up, 25,000 hectares have been illegally constructed. Oftentimes, data is contradictory. For instance, at Rafina, the total area included in the town plan is 3,000 hectares whereas illegal dwellings cover over 5,890 hectares whereas the plan only includes 75. The same applies to the area of Kalamos where holiday homes have swallowed 1,200 hectares where just 647 hectares are included in the town plan.

The law for unlicensed settlements

Areas classified as forest regions but where there are no longer forests may be reclassified. The new minister is planning to review the law for unlicensed buildings until the end of Spring. One of his problems is that laws offering respite to owners of unlicensed buildings would have in the past being labeled unconstitutional. For this reason, the problem has been allowed to continue without a conclusion.

Tsironis, from the Ecological Greens, is a realist and knows that despite criticism concerning the legalization of unlicensed dwelling the state is also to blame for the creation of the problem. He plans to start reforms in the region of Agios Stefanos where he will created a digital reclassification of town planning boundaries as seen by the law.

145 illegal dwellings in Attica in forest regions: