Buildings law ‘problematic’

Civil engineers have asked the government to delay for a few months the implementation of the recently passed law allowing homeowners to protect illegal properties from demolition because they have identified several problems.

According to the Civil Engineers? Association (SPME) the law is vague regarding homes that have been built on forestland or by the sea, as well as those declared to authorities during a previous amnesty in the 1980s.

?There is no standard format when it comes to illegal construction, so there are a number of cases that need to be addressed in more detail,? SPME president Nikos Zygouris told Kathimerini. ?Civil engineers cannot take the responsibility and put their signature on documents based on responses that we receive over the phone from the help center.?

The law allows those who have either built without a permit or have built on land where construction is forbidden to pay a fine to protect their properties from demolition or further fines for another 30 years. SPME criticized the legislation as simply an attempt by the government to raise much-needed revenue.