A German real estate agency addresses an open letter to the Prime Minister because his clients cannot build. The Hellenic Society of Environment and Culture highlights the big problem of off -plan construction. A beautiful house, surrounded by olive trees, and in the background the look lost in a vast sea gazing at the setting sun. Romantic, but also very real. This dream promises that it can implement the real estate agency under the name GIS Global Immobilien Service, based in Augsburg of the South Germany And specialization, which began four years ago, in Greece. The office offers brokerage services and helps its customers in designing and organizing their second main residence or country house in Greece. Customers of the GIS office are Germans, Austrians and Swiss who want to acquire, for example, a house in Halkidiki, Crete, Lefkada, the Peloponnese and elsewhere. The real estate agency itself does not have a construction company, but it works with local partners. Its customers spend between 150,000 and 700,000 euros on land market, and when they build, the investment is between 500,000 and 1,000,000 euros.

The problem, however, is that many of the customers of this real estate agency – and not only – have bought in off -plan areas (it is about building outside the city designs and outside the boundaries of settlements, ie in the open air) and although they have a building. Permit, they are afraid to build. The reason is a decision of the Council of State (176/2023) two years ago, which confirmed a previous court decision of the Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal that annulled a building permit in a geotechnical authority in Patmos.

This led the head of the GIS office, Christian Sier, to address an open letter to the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Greek Parliament last year. The letter is entitled “call for help from many investors from German -speaking countries. Subject: an existing situation in terms of unresolved building structure outside the planning of cities and settlements. “

But who are these customers and what are their interests, which justify an open letter to the country’s political and state leadership, we asked Mr Sier: “This is not what. It’s not about big interests, it has to do with customers who have already bought in Greece. And these are too many Germans, Austrians and more. They have bought a plot in Greece and have a contract and a certificate from a civil engineer who states that the plot can be built in accordance with current building legislation. “

The case of Patmos writing history

But why was there a problem with building the parcel in Patmos resulting in the issuance of the Council of State decision? Mr. George Politis, a lawyer, who specializes in environmental, urban planning, planning and cultural heritage, who won the case representing the Hellenic Society of Environment and Culture, explains to Deutsche Welle: License, because the mark in Patmos had no face on a legally existing road and who had not arisen from private will. ” Subsequently, the alien to whom the geotemic belongs to Patmos, offended the decision by resorting to the Council of State. However, the Council of State rejected the appeal, thus confirming a fixed case -law on this issue, while at the same time stressing Mr Politis: “The legislation should be adapted and no dark and unspecified points remain, which are often made. Oblification to grant building permits across the country, which allows construction without fulfilling this basic rule. “

What is true in Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Shortly after the publication of the letter from the German real estate agency, it was not too late to come the sharp response of the Hellenic Society of Environment and Culture, a non -profit association that has been active in the protection of the environmental and cultural heritage of Greece since 1972. The letter was drafted by Ms. Irene Frezadou, architect, urban planner who, speaking to Deutsche Welle, points out that: “The concept of off -plan construction is a distorted concept that circumvents urban planning and spatial planning and does not exist in any European country …. The letter was therefore angry, because from various aspects in collaboration with the Greek state, efforts are being made by bypassing the Greek institutional framework. With windows, arrangements, legislation, etc. … We did a comparative study of German, Swiss and Greek legal framework. In their own countries there is no concept of off -plan building, except for reasons of public interest. That is to say, exceptionally, for example, a hospital in Germany, Switzerland may be built. There are also many restrictions on how a stranger invests in Switzerland and Germany. “

The consequences of off -plan building and sentences

And the truth is that one does not have to be an expert to find out by traveling to the Greek province that the environment is now suffocated by excessive and anarchic construction. Everywhere one can build, as long as it has the money. Greece looks like a huge plot offered for shredding and sale and the Greek state seems helpless to protect it. The excellent beauty of Greek nature is lost because of greed, lack of education, the common secret of corruption. Local and foreign investors, others bona fide and others, with the main aim of the temporary economic benefit, let Greece lose the bet of the future. Mr Politis emphasizes that the physical space is not endless and off -plan construction is not only related to aesthetic degradation. When houses are built, roads should be opened, electricity, garbage collection, etc. All of this burdens the environment. Significant natural resources are also destroyed, there are serious impacts on habitats, flora and fauna, arable land and in general on agriculture and livestock farming.

So what can be done? German investors are not the only ones who build out of the plan. So do the locals and many other strangers. So what would the solution be? Mr Politis is clear and proposes: “A total ban on off -plan building with the exception of some uses of public interest, which cannot be installed within plans of cities and settlements.”

At the same time, Ms. Frezadou proposes the utilization of dozens of abandoned settlements in Greece. Their maintenance would not burden the environment and boost the economy. We have transferred this proposal to Mr. Sier, who asked us to write that he loves Greek nature, people and respects the courts of the courts, but “German clients are not interested in abandoned settlements. The Germans are looking for a large plot in the countryside, to have complete privacy and want to build something new, something modern. This is what the Germans are looking for. “

But whatever the domestic and foreign buyers are looking for, it is important what the Greek state does to protect the Greek nature. The clear legislation that will not leave dozens of windows would be a solution. At the same time, foreign buyers could probably be more sensitive and not doing what they would not do in their own countries. Even if chaotic Greece allows them. Like, for example, the Germans made older generations when they bought mansions in Mani and elsewhere, and preserved them in an exemplary way. Sometimes it may be more important what you do not do while you are able to do it. At least on a moral level.