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| Multiple ownership problems |
It has been a difficult struggle the last two years dealing with the Greek system regarding property. Many of the regulations are easier to handle than even in the UK, but others have made an otherwise easy transaction difficult.
For example building approval regulations are more simple here than in the UK. Here one engineer employed by the central government - and not the council committee - will approve your plans. As long as you adhere to all the planning rules you can be guaranteed approval.
We also have put gazumping to bed. Even if we have a very few unhappy gazumpees, this system will not stand up here.
Then there’s the good news about capital gains tax. There isn’t any. You buy, fix and sell and what you make is all yours. A good way to make good money without sharing with Big Brother. In a very heavily taxed country, this is one that has so far eluded the tax man. So don't tell him.
But Greece in general has a bad reputation for buying property. One major reason is the magic hrisiktisia, the right of ownership because of usage. No wills, no contracts. Many people bought from someone with user ownership rights and no proper paperwork, only to find that another brother or cousin comes to claim a share of their recently purchased property later.
About 25% of the property in Corfu is owned like this, without deeds, so when it comes to purchase of one of these I would say: Don't bother. Leave it alone. Find something from the other 75%.
However, it can be done, but with a lot of caution. And we do go ahead if the property is worth it, using the system we have worked out to safeguard our clients from trouble later.
The law states that if someone goes to the notary with a topographic drawing and two witnesses to swear that the property belongs to the person claiming
it, he gets a contract in his name. But why is it that Greek banks who lend easily don't touch property with user ownership rights?
Who are the witnesses? If it is inherited without a will, how about the other relatives? Do they agree?
Here we have to intervene and ensure that the solicitor searches for all the relatives. Like a sale in Peroulades. Two cousins approached us saying they owned the property but, since they had no deeds, they would have to use the law on ownership rights. Under our system, we searched for all the relatives that could possibly make a claim as well, and nine months later we made the sale, with a contract signed by the nine relatives who all had a claim on it. This one was worth the wait because it was a magnificent two storey house with sea view and big garden.
You can recognize a property with a problem from the symptoms. One man approached me to sell his land at a very good price. According to him, he had it from his mother, without deeds or a will. He wanted to get ownership rights but on the condition his sister didn’t find out!!!
The obvious comment ‘your sister also has to sign on the day of the contract’ sent him running away.
The Greek law on inheritance does not help. In Byzantine times descendants of a property owner who died without making a will would have seen all the rights going to the government, and this encouraged people to make a will.
Today if an owner dies without a will his property is automatically divided between the living spouse and all the children. But what happens one generation later, or, worse, two down the line?
The result is cases like one we had in Paxos where 18 descendants had to come to sign the contract of sale.
Well, don't get me wrong. It's absolutely safe to do it - but under the conditions we impose. Be cautious and ask your agent the right questions.
Make sure your lawyer puts our system into use. Not the one they’ve followed up to now.
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