The number of empty lots – properties without buildings – not declared to the national property registry is about 3.3 million, or 22% of the total. Similarly, undeclared built properties, including flats in apartment buildings, exceed 147,000.
According to the existing legislation, undeclared properties become state property after eight years since the completion of the registry in a municipality or a district. In the case of empty lots, of the 3,300,517 undeclared ones, 334,765 (10.14%) lie in areas where the registry has been completed, while among built properties, 90,260 of the 147,225 undeclared ones (61.3%) lie in areas with a completed registry.
The compiling of the property registry started in the 1990s and, after many delays, the first 35 areas were completed in 2017-18. This means that, pretty soon, some 14,000 undeclared properties are to pass over to the state. At the end of 2023, the Digital Governance Ministry passed an amendment giving the owners of these properties – if they exist – until the end of November 2024 to declare them to the registry. Still, many of the properties are expected to remain undeclared.
“We are in discussions with the Finance Ministry to see what we will do with these properties,” Deputy Digital Governance Minister Kostas Kyranakis told Kathimerini. “Some of the empty lots that are located near villages or cities, we will give to the municipalities to become public spaces. The flats could become social housing, especially for young couples,” he said.
