The path opens for utilizing 7,000 unclaimed inheritances through the online integration of the Charitable Estates Information System with the Tax Authority’s Property Registry. This move accelerates the liquidation process, reduces delays, and facilitates document submission by will executors and liquidators. At the same time, it establishes the institutional framework for transparent and effective asset utilization, with part of these properties to be allocated for housing needs of vulnerable households.
According to the Finance Ministry’s draft bill, expected to enter public consultation soon, all charitable estates and unclaimed inheritances will be digitally mapped. An Electronic Registry of Charitable Estates and Unclaimed Inheritances Platform will be created, connecting with existing state registries. Additionally, plans include establishing a special purpose entity to manage and utilize these properties, aiming for better public asset utilization benefiting social and housing programs.
Unclaimed inheritances: Thousands of underutilized properties
Currently, the State doesn’t know the economic value of pending inheritances, how many and which properties remain unexploited or are deteriorating, while cases exist where recognition of the State’s inheritance rights is prevented by fake handwritten wills. Notably, only 100 properties from unclaimed inheritances were liquidated in the last five years, while an estimated 7,000 inheritances remain pending. The information systems integration represents the first step toward clearing properties inherited by the state, aiming to release them to the market for housing and social purposes.
Years-long delays to classify a property as unclaimed – Properties closed for up to a decade
Unclaimed inheritances are estates with no heirs or where heirs have renounced their claims. Today, it can take up to five years to recognize a property as unclaimed and transfer it to the State, while the liquidation process often lasts another five or more years. Consequently, thousands of properties remain unexploited and deteriorate, while the housing market loses valuable resources.
It’s characteristic that up to three years may pass before the responsible department learns someone died without heirs or that heirs renounced the inheritance. Even then, the property remains pending and unutilized, as liquidators and guardians must be appointed. Furthermore, the liquidation process can last another five or more years. Essentially, for a decade the property remains closed and no one pays the resulting obligations. The new bill’s provisions drastically reduce unclaimed inheritance liquidation time from the current 10 years to just a few months.
What the decision provides for unclaimed inheritances
The decision signed by Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou concerns providing an online service connecting the “Charitable Estates” Information System with the Property Registry, to provide property data of deceased taxpayers.
The service aims to:
• Allow will executors, liquidators and guardians of unclaimed inheritances to electronically submit to the responsible Charitable Estates Directorates property data belonging to inheritances favoring the State or charitable purposes, as well as inheritances without heirs.
• Enable responsible Finance Ministry services to cross-reference and verify properties belonging to inheritances under liquidation or unclaimed inheritances.
