Municipalities ignoring Land Registry
Around half of Greece’s municipalities have yet to declare their properties to the Hellenic Land Registry, as in many cases they do not have the necessary ownership deeds, according to the association of companies that undertake cadastral projects (SEGEK).
This was highlighted in a letter to Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis (to whom the responsibility of the cadastre was recently transferred) noting the reduced participation of public bodies in the cadastral areas, three years after its inception.
“The biggest problem are the municipalities that are looking for and cannot find ownership titles for schools, municipal buildings, squares etc,” said SEGEK President Sotiris Liaros.
“I estimate that 50% of the municipalities in the cadastral areas have not yet declared their municipal property. Many contractors have tried to help the technical services of the municipalities, only to find out that there are no documents,” he added.
However, he also noted that there are problems with real estate services, which in some areas are not participating in the cadastre effort.
These shortcomings are confirmed by the Hellenic Land Registry, which notes, however, that the real percentage of these properties is small.
According to company executives, the Hellenic Land Registry has sent letters to the state and to the municipalities that had not declared properties before the summer.
It is not uncommon for some municipalities to declare municipal service buildings through usufruct, as property titles cannot be traced.
There are also cases where some municipalities discovered that properties that they considered municipal had been granted to them through use and not by ownership.
Another issue is that many properties of the local real estate services are claimed by citizens.
