By T. Igoumenidi [email protected]
The Greek government is offering owners of illegal buildings a 20-percent discount on a penalty payment essentially legalizing the latter – mostly second residences in non-zoned areas around the country.
The deadline for taking advantage of the discount is Oct. 8, when the first phase of declaring an illegally built structure as part of a legalization process – under a 2017 law – concludes.
The discount’s timing aims to generate much-needed revenue for Greek state coffers, as the Tsipras government wants to exceed primary budget surplus targets this year.
According to figures released by Greece’s Technical Chamber of Commerce, which more-or-less represents building contractors and civil engineers, wholly or partially illegally built structures in the country that have been declared as part of the legalization process exceed 1.073 million, while the state has so far collected 2.171 billion euros from the latest round of building legalizations.
The scourge of illegal building in Greece dates back decades, with successive rounds of legalizations also legislated by successive Greek governments over the same period.
The fact that the east Mediterranean country lacks a functional, unified and digitalized land registry (cadastre), along with accompanying zoning in most areas, exacerbates the problem.
