Cadaster: Cretans just don’t register

The administration of the Hellenic Cadaster has its eyes on Crete, where those “revolting” against the cadaster are holding fast. With the percentage of citizens who maintain property outside urban areas of the island being the lowest recorded in Greece, concerns about the fate of the studies that are evolving on the island are intensifying.

In Rethymno, last Tuesday, the extension given for the first phase of the collection of declarations expired, however, only 15% of the property rights were collected. As for Heraklion and Chania, the relevant deadlines expire on April 8 and 18, with the cadaster officials sending strong messages of concern as the percentages are in single digits.

In Chania, in the Municipalities of Apokoronas, Kantanos-Selinos, Kissamos, Platanias, Sfakion and the rest of the Municipality of Chania, only 5% of the 570,000 property rights have been collected. In Northern Heraklion only 3% of the 700,000 rights that are estimated to exist in areas of the Municipalities of Heraklion, Hersonissos and Malevizi have been declared.

Information campaign

But it is not only the collection of claims in rural areas of Crete, below 55% – a percentage that is a conventional goal in order for the cadaster to proceed safely to the next phase of pre-posting. A small number of citizens showed up at the offices in the Cyclades (30%), Western Attica and islands of the Attica Region (37%), Lemnos and Lesvos (52%). However, especially for Crete and the Cyclades, a targeted information campaign is being prepared in the near future, as well as a “tour” of a cadre consisting of cadaster executives for contacts with local bodies.

Extensions and postponements

The issue has caused “headaches” to company executives, who are investigating the “phenomenon”. The reasons are first found in the reproduction of perceptions such as “never put off for tomorrow what you can put off for the day after,” which are reinforced by the constant extensions and postponements given by the state. It has already been 27 years since the first introduction of fines for those who declare their properties beyond the deadline, but have not yet been activated – permanent extensions now remove for 2023 the fines for deferred citizens. But also in the various cadastral cycles the extensions are given. Besides, on Friday a new treaty was given until June 30 in the cadaster of the Cyclades and Rethymnon.

Lack of titles

However, apart from the “relaxation” of the citizens due to their “addiction” to extensions, major problems are found in the lack of titles or in the ambiguity regarding the type of topographic diagrams that are required, as well as in the difficulties that arose due to pandemic.

“Precise topographies are not needed for the declaration of ownership. Scholars realize that for an owner who owns three, four, or more plots of land, usually of low value, it is particularly costly to produce dependent topographic schematics. That is why the citizens can make their statements even by presenting diagrams that they have used for the agricultural subsidies,” notes an official of the Land Registry.

Adding to the difficulties is the delay in the submission of documents by the mortgage offices, the Court of First Instance, as well as the workload of lawyers who have been burdened with a plethora of affidavits due to many usury cases, or the simultaneous involvement of engineers, surveyors, other contractors, parental benefits, arbitrary settlements, forest maps, etc.

The collection of statements

Regarding the fact that in the rest of the studies of the rural areas of Crete the participation of the citizens was satisfactory (89% in Lassithi and 82% in South Heraklion), with the consequence that in a short time the first Post is expected, the explanation according to its experts Land Registry is clear.

“The cadaster had started in 2019, six months before the pandemic. So a small “wave” of statements had preceded Covid-19. Extensions followed which expired. But, in fact, the collection of statements never stopped, as all the cadaster officials accept overdue statements and in fact without fines “, explains a source of the Land Registry. He concludes: “In the rest of the regions, due to court involvement, the collection of statements began last summer in Rethymno (as well as in the Cyclades), in September in Chania and in December in Heraklion. However, the time margins for the completion of the Land Registry have narrowed “.