Land use bill grants usufruct status to thousands of plots
File photo.
The Environment Ministry is on course to grant usufruct status to large chunks of some 690,000 hectares of land throughout Greece that was classified as farmland but was later abandoned.
A usufruct is a legal right accorded to a person or party that confers the temporary right to use and derive income or benefit from someone else’s property.
According to the provisions of a draft law submitted to Parliament last week, the state “withdraws” from claiming ownership of forested fields, allowing private individuals the right to use them for cultivation or for a range of uses including tourism and industrial facilities, but not housing.
