Real Estate: Construction Outside Urban Plans Thaws Out

Construction on ‘blind’ plots over four acres in out-of-plan areas is thawing with a new legislative regulation.
The Ministry of Environment has finalized the bill, set to be presented to Parliament next year. Until December 31, 2025, a temporary resolution is in place, awaiting a presidential decree. This addresses construction issues on these plots, especially those facing unrecognized communal roads, within the urban planning framework.
The upcoming urban plans will encompass 800 municipal units in Greece, governing land use, building guidelines, restrictions, inhabited zones, protected areas, and special urban centers.

Insiders knowledgeable about the issue indicate that the transitional regulation outlines specific conditions concerning:
The existence of a road serving the properties visible in aerial photographs before July 27, 1977.
Road width of at least 3.5 meters.
Provision of an environmental equivalent, to be deposited before the issuance of a building permit, in a special account of the Deposits and Loans Fund, allocated exclusively for infrastructure projects and adaptation to climate change within the municipal boundaries where the plot is located.

According to the same information, until the issuance of the presidential decree, plots of at least 4,000 square meters can be developed, outside city planning schemes, or beyond the boundaries of legally existing settlements, provided that:
A) They were created between May 31, 1985, and December 31, 2003, and are adjacent to or face a road of at least 3.5 meters width, which:
1) is visible in aerial photographs before July 27, 1977, has a width of at least 3.5 meters, connects to an international, provincial, municipal, or community road, or abandoned sections thereof, and either has been opened by a decision of a state authority, is registered in land registries with the indication ‘EK’ (special area), or has had road paving work carried out by an authority responsible for road maintenance and improvement or passes through a public utility network.
B) They were created before May 31, 1985, and are adjacent to or face a road of at least 3.5 meters width:
visible in aerial photographs before July 27, 1977, with a width of at least 3.5 meters, which has been opened by a decision of a state authority or is registered in land registries with the indication ‘EK’ (special area), or has had road paving work carried out by an authority responsible for road maintenance and improvement or passes through a public utility network, or
legitimately formed passage route, existing before 1985, with a width of at least 3.5 meters, connecting to an international, provincial, municipal, or community road or abandoned sections thereof.
Compliance with the specified conditions will be demonstrated by any appropriate means, and all relevant documentary evidence will be compulsorily entered into the ‘e-Permits’ information system upon application for pre-approval or certification of building conditions by the application administrator, with mandatory reference to these in the engineer’s statement on the relevant topographic diagram.

Additionally, based on the design, compliance with the conditions for construction is not required for:
a) Fields created before May 31, 1985, for which building permits or building licenses or their revisions were validly issued before the entry into force of this regulation.
The aforementioned building permits and pre-approvals may be revised even after the entry into force of this regulation without the requirement to comply with the above conditions.
b) Fields created before May 31, 1985, which were the subject of litigations settled in the last five years before the publication of this regulation, and the relevant contractual deed states that the field is fit for construction.
c) Cases where a timely request has been submitted (as defined in paragraph 1 of Article 40 of Law 4759/2020).
Road width requirement waiver The road width requirement for constructing fields created between May 31, 1985, and December 31, 2003, which were the subject of litigations settled in the last five years before the publication of this regulation, and the relevant contractual deed states that the field is fit for construction, will not be mandatory.”