Red tape involved in property transactions only set to increase
At a time when cutting red tape should be a key objective for the government to boost Greece’s competitiveness, the state demands an average of 10 papers for property market transactions such as sales or inheritances, while the total number of documents that may be demanded from owners, depending on the transaction they wish to make, stands at 22.
This level of bureaucracy puts Greece on a par with countries such as Uganda, where exactly the same number of documents are required.
Now it is possible that this number will rise even higher as the government is set to restore the sole bureaucratic clause abolished in 2014: the requirement of a document ascertaining there are no Property Tax (TAP) debts among the papers necessary for a property transaction.
The Panhellenic Federation of Property Owners (POMIDA) complains that not only is that requirement about to be revived, but the penalty to be imposed for failing to submit the document will be the annulment of the transaction altogether.
The cost of covering the red-tape requirements of a transactions already amounts to or exceeds 1,000 euros, clearly working as a counterincentive for property sales in Greece.
