The commitment to satisfy its standing request, to automatically suspend the charge of cleaning and lighting in empty and non-reliable properties, without the obligation of the owner to submit the relevant statement to the HEDNO was undertaken by the Deputy Minister of Interior Mr. Vassilis Spanakis speaking today (24.11.2024) in the 27th year – a meeting of the POMIDA and the Association of Owners of Achaia Prefecture held in Patras, as part of the Multi-session “Forum Development”. In particular, the issue was raised in his speech by the President of POMIDA, Mr Stratos Paradias, stressing that many owners do not know that they have an obligation to submit a declaration of interruption of electricity in order to stop the imposition of municipal charges and consider that since the property is empty and unrestrained, there is no question of a debt. “If a property remains vacant for many years, when it is rerented it will reveal a debt of many years. And if the area is large, the debt may be five digits or even greater than the value of the property,” said Mr. “This trap must be closed legislatively. The power outage should automatically mean stopping charges without the citizen having to declare it to the municipality. A state of good administration cannot have such an open trap.” Mr Spanakis said that on 5 November a proposal for funding to create a uniform system for managing municipal fees and the TAP was issued with the implementation of which as he said “a final solution will be given to the request of POMIDA for the automatic interconnection of municipalities with the DEDNO and the automatic submission of declarations”. Spanakis also said that he would proceed with a single information centre on municipal fees dues to the municipalities throughout the country, proposed the establishment of a working group on the relationship of owners with local government and the Ministry of Interior and finally called on owners who have debts to the municipalities to join the voting debt regulation in up to 60 instalments. In his speech Mr. Paradis stood on the main outstanding demands of the property owners, pointing out, inter alia: 1. The reduction in the offer of housing for renting a main residence is due to the ageing of the building potential, the high cost of its upgrade, the impunity of a portion of alleged “rents”, but largely also to the excessive taxation of rents, combined with the FFIA, which leads to the complete inability to lease them or to flee to short term lease. “It is a pan-European phenomenon to discourage owners from renting their homes which should be overturned,” said Mr. Paradias. The government’s housing measures are moving in the right direction, which is the creation of housing acquisition and renovation programs rather than the imposition of rent commitments that would ‘lock’ the available homes, since the message to the owners would be “If you rent it, you will lose it”! A direct bold transitional tax intervention, which will bring tens of thousands of homes to the market, is absolutely necessary until these measures are implemented. In particular, and without giving up our basic request, which is to reduce tax rates for all types of real estate rents, since their tax scale is the only one that was not relieved by the governments of the South West. From 2019 onwards, PROPOSAL the three-year tax exemption of owners from income tax, of vacant dwellings throughout 2023 and of those dwellings, currently allocated for short-term rental, are leased as principal residence for at least three years. The regulation will cause the immediate and massive reintegration into the market of main housing leases, many thousands of vacant and renovated homes throughout the country, without creating a financial problem for the Ministry of Finance, since it will concern future leases rather than existing ones. 2. The mandatory energy upgrading of existing buildings is the biggest challenge and the greatest risk of their full claim. The new provision for tax reimbursement from costs for energy, functional and aesthetic upgrading of buildings is a measure that can effectively help society where it hurts: the renovation of existing properties. Regression and its re-essential ‘cancellation’, as we unfortunately learn, would be a major blow to every attempt by society to follow… 3. In short term leases it is positive that the total rental days are not reduced, which would turn the successful into forced tax evaders. However, we see that both an accommodation fee of 0.5 % of the income, but also an enormous increase in daily fee of up to 10 euros (10€) in single houses of more than eighty (80) sq.m. that will concern both owners and guests. 6. Real Estate Contracts. The regulations of yesterday’s bill to extend the deadline for correcting inaccurate records and “unknown owner”, the abolition of the TAP certificate, the modernisation of the contract transcription system and other useful interventions – initiatives of the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Mr. K. Kyranakis. But there is much more to be done to correct contracts and horizontal properties so that property is not blocked. It is also necessary to abolish the unfailing presumption of the State (what has not been declared by the State) as the non-participation of the citizen in an administrative process cannot lead to loss of property. 7. The discount rate of 10-20 % in the ENFIA due to residence insurance is a correct measure but it is not enough to induce the large mass of owners to be insured. That is why the percentages must be doubled. 8. Urban legislation. There is a need to solve the problem of off-plan legal construction, as well as the problems created by the building identity in the apartment buildings, where we claim the possibility of unilaterally correcting all errors in ownership titles and amending the recommendations of horizontal properties, in order to respond to the constructed and legalised reality. 9. Legitimate law: POMIDA does not disagree with the possibility of drawing up a digital will but is vertically opposed to the abolition of the internationally guaranteed right of owners to draft a manual will, which is inexpensive and without bureaucracy.
Automatic termination of municipal charges for empty and non-electric properties
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