By G. Palaitsakis
[email protected]
Electronic auctions of foreclosed real estate for arrears to the state - primarily back taxes, by taxpayers and legal entities - debut on April 27 in Greece, a date that will come nearly two months after a similar process commenced for properties put on the auction block by private lenders.
Electronic auctions have replaced the traditional courthouse and notary-supervised procedure, which over the previous period collapsed due to protests, judicial "red tape" and subsequent abstentions by notaries' associations, which decried the first two obstacles.
Based on recently passed legislation, the Greek state's tax and revenue-collecting agencies now have the capability of assigning private assessors the task of determining commercial values of properties up for auction. Previously, objective criteria - calculated and imposed by the tax bureau - were used for determining real estate value, which in Greece's now imploded property market often meant that the starting price for a property was significantly higher than the commercial value.
