The process of correctly recording property assets in the Land Registry is a source of confusion for many real estate owners. Many struggle to familiarize themselves with the required technology and new terminology, making it challenging to follow the procedure until the final registration of their property ownership in the Land Registry.
The complex new landscape of the Land Registry
With the full operation of Land Registry Offices, a complex new scenario is emerging, particularly for older property owners. The rise of new digital bureaucracy makes it almost impossible for a property owner to secure their property rights in the Land Registry alone without the help of an engineer, lawyer, and accountant.
Risks and errors in the Land Registry
Errors during land registration, combined with “fast track” procedures to complete the Land Registry by the end of the year, are expected to lead to the finalization of thousands of erroneous or inaccurate initial registrations. This could put thousands of owners in jeopardy, threatening even their property itself, often without their knowledge. Unfortunately, most will realize this too late, when they attempt to transfer their property or obtain a building permit.
To help you navigate this complex landscape, the newspaper “Ta Nea,” with the assistance of surveyor-urban planner engineer Grammati Baklatsi, answers 11 basic questions about the Land Registry:
1. Until when can corrections be made to initial registrations?
The exclusive deadline for correcting first registrations depends on the start date of operation of the Land Registry Office for the specific area – OTA. The deadline for correcting first registrations is December 31st of the 8th year from the start of operation of the Land Registry Office.
An example: The Volos Land Registry Office began operating on November 8, 2023. Thus, the exclusive deadline for correcting inaccurate registrations expires (based on the aforementioned eight-year period) on December 31, 2031.
2. Until when can corrections be made to initial registrations for old land registrations?
For areas where the correction deadline expired on November 30, 2011, corrections can be made for one year from the start of operation of the Land Registry Office.
3. For which other areas does the aforementioned deadline apply?
It also applies to areas where first registrations were recorded from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2016. Given that there are still areas in the initial stage of land registration, it is estimated that by the end of 2025, the decision of the Land Registry Board of Directors will be published in the Government Gazette for replacing mortgage offices throughout the country with the operation of Land Registry Offices. Consequently, the end of the correction deadline for these areas is estimated to occur by the end of 2026.
4. What applies to the completion of land registration for each area?
With the completion of land registration for each area, the mortgage office system ceases to operate and the Land Registry system begins functioning.
5. What does this mean?
It means unified maintenance of not only legal information but also technical information (regarding the location and boundaries of properties). The Land Registry system is maintained by the Entity’s Land Registry Offices or by the competent mortgage office, provided it has not yet been integrated into the Entity, which operates transitionally as a Land Registry Office. Additionally, all legal and spatial information is maintained in a unified digital database, the National Land Registry Information System (SPEK), to which the country’s land registry offices are connected via the Internet.
6. How can an owner find out when the correction deadline expires for their property?
The interested owner should visit the Land Registry website, specifically at: https://www.ktimatologio.gr/pliroforiako-yliko/ktimatologio-se-leitourgia/16. Then, they can download the Excel file with correction deadlines for initial land registry entries, by pre-Kapodistrian prefecture and OTA, for the entire country.
7. What does closing registrations in the Land Registry practically mean?
It means that if registrations close and become final, with the property registered to one person, then the property now belongs to that person. Also, if a property appears as “unknown owner” and remains so after the finalization of registrations, then it becomes the property of the State.
8. What should property owners be careful about to avoid confronting the State?
Apart from properties for which no timely ownership declaration was made, it has been found that in urban areas, a large part of registrations as unknown owner comes from so-called “forgotten” property rights. Such rights include, for example, building “air rights,” easement rights, parking spaces in pilotis, new plots created or allocated after approval of implementation acts, etc. Example of how a problem can arise: if an heir did not submit an ownership declaration and let the correction deadline pass, then the State will become a co-owner of that property. A common case is also air rights, which beneficiaries do not declare (obviously because building rights have been exhausted), resulting in the State becoming a co-owner with percentages in the apartment building plot.
9. When does the procedure for correcting initial registrations with final court decisions apply?
It applies in the following cases:
If it concerns an ownership dispute issue, i.e., the property has been registered in the Land Registry in the name of a third party or in favor of the Greek State, which does not consent to an application for correction of obvious error. In this case, filing a lawsuit (declaratory or vindicatory) before the competent local Court is required.
If it concerns a property marked as “Unknown owner,” i.e., a property that for any reason was not declared during land registration, which does not fall into the categories of correcting obvious errors and requires State consent. In this case, the simple and brief judicial procedure of “Voluntary Jurisdiction” can be followed, whereby an application is submitted before the Land Registry Judge at the Single-Member Court of First Instance of the property location, and the Court decides without adversarial proceedings.
If it concerns a property marked as “Greek State,” a lawsuit must be filed before the competent Court of First Instance, requesting recognition of the right challenged by the inaccurate registration and correction, wholly or partially, of the first registration.
10. What corrections can be made through extrajudicial procedure?
- Correction of obvious errors (incorrect recording of beneficiary details, errors in contract details, building area, etc.).
- Correction of property geometric elements (area, boundaries, coordinates).
- Correction for change of right due to new contract, mortgage, administrative act, court decision, or other procedural act recorded in mortgage office books before the date of first registration recording.
- Correction of property characterization as forest land, after forest map approval.
- Correction following decisions of objection committees.
11. Which corrections must be made judicially?
When it concerns challenging a real or other registrable right, then by filing a lawsuit, the holder of a registrable right can be protected from inaccurate first registration that wholly or partially disputes the right they have over the registered property.
