Recordation of ownership rights
The recordation, i.e. the inclusion in public records, kept by public officials, of acts of any change of the real property ownership rights, ensures the compliance with the publicity of the property relations, as well as the protection of transactions.
According to article 1192 of Civil Code, the acts that must be recorded are the following: 1) the inter vivos transactions, including donations causa mortis, by which a real right on a property is established, transferred or abolished, 2) the adjudications or the annexations by the authorities or the award of ownership or other real rights on the property, 3) the judicial distribution of a property, 4) the final court decisions, that include sentence to a statement of will as far as a real right transaction is concerned and 5) the final court decisions that acknowledge ownership or other real right on a property, acquired by extraordinary adverse possession –usucaption.
The Civil Code also provides for the recordation of the act of the inheritance acceptance, when a property or a real right is involved, as well as for the recordation of the property leases for a period longer than nine (9) years (articles 1193 and 1208 of C.C).
Non recordation of the above mentioned acts of articles 1192 and 1193 of C.C has as a result the non transfer of the property’s ownership, and the non establishment or abolishment of any other real right.
Mortgages are not recorded, but are registered in special Books of Mortgages.
There are two different recordation systems in Greece, the system of Land Registry Office (“Ypothikofylakeio”) and the system of Hellenic National Land Registry (cadastre, “ktimatologio”). Their main difference, which leads undoubtedly to the supremacy of the second system is that the first system is based on registrations on individuals, while the second system, is based on listings on real estate, which facilitates the direct control of the legal status of a property and creates a greater certainty and transparency at the trading transactions.
In Greece, currently both of systems operate in parallel, but the purpose of the State is to abolish the system of transfers and mortgages of Land Registry Offices and replace it by the centralized system of Hellenic National Land Registry (cadastre). The cadastral survey has been completed for only certain areas of the territory, while the rest is in progress. For the inclusion in a Cadastral Sheet of an act that has to be transcribed, an application is required, filed at the competent Office of Cadastre.
Along with the application, the following documents must be attached:
a) the act that has to be transcribed at the cadastral sheets,
b) the summary of the aforementioned act
c) Documents proving the legalization of the person signing the application and
d) the official extract of the cadastral diagram.
After the payment of the transcription fees, all applications are registered on the same day in the calendar of the cadastre, followed by registration in the cadastral books in chronological order of submission.