Dear friends,

With legislation that was introduced in 2011, every property transaction requires a certificate, from a Greek engineer that has a special permit, in order to certify that the property doesn’t have any unauthorized (illegal) constructions. If there are any such constructions the property is rendered in essence useless.

The fine for the engineers that will certify any falsehoods is 50.000 euros and loss of their permit.

As an illegal construction is considered anything that is built after 1955 without a permit or anything that has been built in excess of the permit.

Even a water tank, a pergola, a bench or a warehouse is considered an illegal construction.

The state since 2011 up until now with postponements (until Oct. 2016), offers the opportunity to be exempt of demolishing such constructions and the continuous substantial fines that follow, with the payment of a government fee. The submittal of such petition takes place with electronic means only, by a civil engineer who is going to attain the special permit. In the end the interested party receives a file of permit, including a GPS layout with full static charts, diagrams and top views of every construction, legal or not.

It would be wise to tend this issue soon. An associate of our firm is available to inform you on any potential issues considering your property and therefore not to miss the favorable acts that the legislation provides. If the deadline expires, in case of any discrepancies your property will be problematic and no transactions will be allowed in the future and of course there is always the risk of having to demolish the illegal constructions and to be fined on top. At that point, you may issue a normal permit if that is allowed which would solve the problem (but it would cost at least 3-4 times more). However that is rarely allowed and the only way to legalize such constructions is through this process, unless the latter are in area considered a forest or a beach.