The recent bill of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy was passed on Tuesday, 21.03.2023 and its final text, as it emerged from the voting process, was posted today on the website of the Greek Parliament. Among the prospective amendments to the legislation on environmental protection and urban planning identified in our last month’s post, those concerning the determination of common-use roads within Special Planning Plans (including ESCHASEs), the unification of plots in non-urban areas and the validity period of pre-approvals of building permits actually made the final cut; those referring to land uses within conservation areas and to the content of Special Environmental Assessments did not.
This time, we would like to draw your attention to art. 252 of the newly adopted bill. It is a provision that repeals art. 83 par. 8 of Law 4495/2017, which prescribed that attached to the notarial deeds establishing or modifying divided properties (horizontal or vertical) be copies of the topographic and coverage plans of the relevant building permit, as well as the floor plans. In other words, this regulation imposed the necessity of issuing a building permit before the execution of a deed establishing divided properties.
It is, however, unclear what exactly was intended with the repealing provision. On the one hand, the repeal could mean that, from now on, the deed establishing divided properties could be executed before a building permit is issued. However, the Regulatory Impact Assessment accompanying the said provision does not confirm this argument. Therefore, it is a crucial question how exactly the repeal of art. 83 par. 8 of Law 4495/2017 will be applied in practice and what will be the requirements for the execution of notarial deeds establishing or modifying divided properties.