“Frontline” of the public – municipalities for the new NOK (New Building Regulation). In the cancellation of no. Prot. 13289/26.03.2024 “Order of the Mayor” of the Municipality of Vari-Voulas, Vouliagmeni, regarding the partial suspension of the issuance of building permits based on the incentives given by the new NOK, the Secretary of the Decentralized Administration of Attica proceeded with his decision, Grigoris Zafeiropoulos.

Specifically, with a decision issued today, Friday, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of article 231 of Law 3852/2010, the collective and single-member bodies of the Municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni have the obligation to comply without delay, revoking their decision on the suspension of the issuance of building permits to the Municipality.

According to the rationale of the decision to annul the “Mayor’s Order”, “The document in question, which bears the title “Mayor’s Order” due to its content, constitutes a purely administrative act, as it introduces a regulation recommended in the prohibition of the issuance of building permits, which are based on articles 10 para. 1, 15 para. 8 and 19 para. 2 para. a’ of the NOK. This prohibition is illegal because it is not based on any provision of law and therefore it is in obvious opposition to the principle of legality that governs the action of the public administration. The municipal council decision 149/2024 referred to in the document in question does not constitute a legal reason for prohibiting the issuance of building permits for these cases. And this is because with the decision of the municipal council it is simply proposed to send a request to the Minister of Environment and Energy for the suspension of the issuance of building permits within the administrative boundaries of the Municipality, recognizing in this way that the Mayor himself does not have such competence. Likewise, the cited decision No. 310/2024 of the 7-member Council of State cannot constitute a legal basis for the issuance of the document in question, given that no res judicata is produced by the operative part of this decision, as it is non-final decision that refers to the Plenary Session of the Court for the final judgment of the urban planning provisions in question. After the issuance of the final decision of the Plenary of the Court of Cassation, a res judicata will be produced, from which the Administration will be obliged to comply with its content”.

Court of the TEE against the “rebel” mayors

It is recalled that yesterday, the Technical Chamber of Greece, through its President, George Stassinos, sent an extrajudicial statement – invitation – protest to the Municipalities of Vari – Voula – Vouliagmeni and Alimos with which it asks them, for reasons of legal certainty as well as to clearly serve the public interest, to immediately proceed with the revocation of the decisions they have taken regarding the suspension of building permits in the territorial region of their Municipalities, “otherwise reserving all of your legal consequences ».

In fact, the TEE notified the extrajudicial order to him as well Coordinator of Decentralized Administration of Attica in order to cancel the decisions, within the framework of his responsibilities and in particular the legality control of the acts of local authorities, a development that occurred today.

The TEE requested the annulment of decisions by which the mayors of the regions ask the Construction Services to impose to the engineers the submission of additional supporting documents that are not provided for by law and order the competent officials not to issue building permits that include the use of NOK incentives.

In the extra-judicial it is emphasized that “the Mayor has no authority, but also in general the bodies of the Local Self-Governing Organizations of the first degreeto issue decisions on the suspension of building permits in the territorial jurisdiction of their Municipality”, therefore every such suspension decision has been issued by an incompetent body and the decisions are characterized as voidable as illegitimate, for reasons of legal certainty.