The law 5142/2024 was published a few days ago, aiming to introduce significant conveniences in the daily activities of those involved in transactions, especially concerning Land Registry issues and real estate sales.
- FACILITATIONS IN THE CORRECTION OF ERRONEOUS RECORDS THROUGH A SUMMARY PROCEDURE
Initially, the new law introduces amendments to article 18 of Law 2664/1998 (“Correction of Obvious Errors”), expanding the ability of individual Land Registry offices to accept applications for correction of obvious errors even in cases where the error arises from a public document registered in the Mortgage Registry books before the publication of the cadastral data, or even after this, provided it is based on a prior act recorded in the Mortgage Registry books before such publication, on the condition that the correction does not replace (displace) a third party’s right.
Additionally, concerning properties where horizontal or vertical ownership has been established, the obligation is abolished to exhaust the co-ownership percentages from correlating the applicant’s title deed and their predecessors’ deeds with the act constituting the horizontal or vertical ownership, respectively, for the requested correction to be accepted by the Land Registry.
- UNILATERAL AMENDMENTS OF HORIZONTAL OWNERSHIPS
Another important facilitation introduced by the new law concerns property transfers. The ability to unilaterally modify the constitutions of Horizontal Ownership is expanded, as now each owner, under conditions, may proceed unilaterally with a notarized act to modify the horizontal or vertical ownership, as well as any appurtenances or exclusive-use areas, regarding the surface, perimeter, and use of the horizontal or vertical property, as reflected or described in the constitution of horizontal/vertical ownership, provided that the current actual situation has existed since the construction of the building and is recorded in the Electronic Building Identity or Independent Divided Property Identity of article 53 of Law 4495/2017.
- ACQUISITION OF OWNERSHIP TITLE ONLY WITH A PRE-AGREEMENT
Finally, based on Law 5142/2024, buyers who have signed a notarized pre-agreement before August 31, 2004, which grants them the right to self-contract, will now be able to draw up final sale contracts without the seller’s attendance and without requiring the seller to provide tax and insurance clearance certificates or a transfer tax declaration, which will be required only from the buyer in such cases.
