In an environment of intense political confrontation, as after the finalization of the European ballots the pre-election decibels rise noticeably, in the government they continue to promote the battle of everyday life as one of the main missions of the second four-year term of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In this context, the ongoing digital transition of the state since the first term of the government of the New Republic (2019-2023) is one of the most important reforms, with apparently beneficial ramifications within our country, but also in terms of image and its prospects abroad.
By SPYROS MOURELATOS – SOURCE: Realnews
As a senior government official points out to Realnews, the spearhead of this effort is the ongoing digitization of the Land Registry, under the auspices of the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Constantinos Kyranakis. In fact, the difficulty of the project is reflected in the remarks of the prime minister in the programmatic statements of the government last July, when he referred to the Land Registry characterizing it as “the jewel of Arta, which was built all day and demolished at night”.
The ultimate goal of the Ministry of Digital Governance is to put an end to the “paper kingdom” of the Land Registry and, with the completion of its digitization, all real estate transactions will now be done digitally. The digital property transfer file has already been operational since January 1st. The ministry’s ambitious goal was, with its operation, to have digital property transfers completed in one working day, a commitment that was delivered, with the first digital transfer completed in just 14 minutes. Despite this, there remains a large backlog of previous applications to the properties, which were made in the old way, that is, in a paper envelope.
Ministry sources characterize, however, as a small miracle what is happening now with the transfers. The balance is positive for the first time, as the services, alongside new applications, are rapidly processing old applications. K. Kyranakis estimates that within six months all the old acts, which were submitted in a courteous manner and amount to a few tens of thousands, will have been processed, giving thousands of citizens a breath of fresh air.
At the same time, the ministry aims to immediately expand digital processing to all transactions, beyond the transfer, related to real estate, with the most typical examples being donations, parental benefits and constitution amendments. The ministry estimates that the digital processing of these transactions could be ready by the end of July.
Digital map
The new service of the digital cadastral map is the… pride of the new Cadastre, as, as the Ministry of Digital Governance says, “it is the first time that the whole of the country divided into land parcels, with a separate Code Number of the Hellenic Cadastre (KAEK) in the each property, with the result that citizens now have a clear picture of their real estate and can take the necessary actions digitally in view of the completion of the Land Registry in 2025”.
In particular, those interested can use the new maps.ktimatologio.gr application to see in real time the cadastral phase in which their area is located and the property they are interested in. In addition, users will be able to see the relevant deadlines for the declaration, pre-post and post processes, while zooming in on the property-parcel they want to declare or correct, as well as relevant links to the corresponding online services.
Also, each citizen will be able to activate the display of forest maps and Natura areas, in order to see possible overlaps with their property, while this service will also be accessible to Civil Protection, in order to more easily locate a property entitled to compensation. It is worth noting that through this specific application, each interested party will be able to make a 3D projection through Google Earth for the specific area of their interest, while they will have the possibility to redraw their parcel of land with the application’s tools, in order to automatically issue a cadastral diagram .
Rapid progress
In more detail, officials of the ministry reveal that the goal is for all property rights in the country, i.e. 39.1 million, corresponding to 131 billion square meters, divided into 21.7 million plots, to be after the suspension stage by the end of 2025. The same sources cite the numbers to demonstrate the significant progress recorded since the June elections to date.
Specifically, by July 2023, 39% of the ownership rights had been included in the Land Registry. Today, this percentage reaches 46%, with the responsible deputy minister having pledged that by the end of this year, this percentage will have exceeded 80%. The importance of the political bet undertaken by K. Kyranakis is reflected in the rate of increase of the specific percentage which in the last 10 years was around 3% per year.
The government estimate is that in 2025 we will have reached 100%. A major blow to the suffering of millions of citizens for decades is also the ongoing reform of the closing of mortgage repositories throughout the territory, which was a constant request of the European Commission to our country. People familiar with government planning say 270 of the total 390 mortgage offices have already been closed and efforts are being made to have the remaining 120 closed by the end of 2024, in order to complete the transition to 92 land registry offices across the territory.
By the end of March, 85 of the 92 cadastral offices and branches had been opened. Competent officials point out that at the end of 2024, throughout Greece, a single system of compliance with deeds on the country’s real estate will operate, with all that this implies for the economy, development, acceleration of investments, reduction of citizens’ suffering but also legal certainty for property owners.
The milestone
Government officials place particular emphasis on the fact that for the first time since the operation of the Land Registry there is a positive balance of incoming and completed legal audits due to digitization and better utilization of human resources. In fact, through targeted interventions, such as the recruitment of private lawyers and the motivation of Land Registry employees with efficiency bonuses, the certainty is expressed that 2024 will be the year when the more than 150,000 backlogs that have accumulated in the Land Registry will be completed.
The Deputy Minister of Digital Governance points out to “R” that the Land Registry will operate in 2025, just as the Prime Minister had promised after last June’s elections, while declaring that the deadline of November 30, for citizens to declare their properties, is not is about to change. The government emphasizes, after all, that the operation of the integrated Cadastre will, among other things, give our country a dynamic development perspective, decisively contributing to the establishment of a friendlier environment for investors, as JP Morgan also pointed out at the Greek investment conference it organized in beginning of the year in New York, in the presence of the Greek Prime Minister.
Read the Realnews article here
Read the Realnews article here
