Stama Greece has expressed strong opposition to a provision in the draft bill currently under consultation that would result in the cancellation of the Property Registration Number (PRN) following a property transfer in areas where the issuance of new PRNs has been suspended.
This is a provision that does not punish violators, but rather conscientious owners who invested legally, followed all required procedures, and contributed to the revitalization of degraded areas in Athens and Thessaloniki, the relevant announcement notes.
If the provision is implemented, it is estimated that more than 10,000 owners and families will face the loss of a significant property and income right, not because they broke the law, but because they inherited, received a parental gift, or proceeded with a legal transfer of a property.
The provision creates a two-tiered society and introduces an unprecedented distortion into the real estate market. A property with an active AMA (Real Estate Tax ID) loses value the moment the new owner can no longer continue the activity that was legally carried out until the previous day.
At the same time, the government appears to be completely ignoring the investments made in recent years in central Athens. Thousands of former offices, shops, and commercial spaces, which had remained closed and unused for decades, were renovated with private funds and returned to economic activity through short-term leases.
Many of these spaces are not even suitable for long-term residential use. Therefore, the removal of the AMA will not lead to an increase in the housing supply for permanent residents, as claimed. On the contrary, it risks driving a significant number of properties back into disuse and disrepair.
Furthermore, the provision completely ignores the reality of the short-term rental market. What will happen in cases where a manager has invested significant capital in the renovation, furnishing, and operation of a property, and a few months later the owner dies or transfers the property? Who will compensate the businesses that suddenly find themselves without a business purpose?
Stama Greece calls on the government to immediately withdraw this specific provision before it causes serious economic and social repercussions. The transfer of a property cannot constitute grounds for the loss of a legally acquired right, nor can it lead to the devaluation of properties that were acquired, renovated, and operated in accordance with the current legal framework.
This specific provision is one of many that the government has introduced against property owners, managers, and the market in general. Some people have a serious problem when small and medium-sized Greek citizens and Greek businesses try to comply with the law, pay their taxes, and survive in a harsh environment of austerity and uncertainty.
The government, which preaches the principles of the free market and tax relief, systematically acts against them to satisfy the interests of powerful groups and the personal ambitions of certain officials.
Short-term rentals are not the problem of the housing crisis. Targeting thousands of landlords and professionals will not create more available homes. All it will achieve is to undermine legal certainty, discourage investment, and create new dead ends in the real estate market.
But the elections are approaching, and there, the thousands of property owners, their families, property managers, their staff, and professionals will give a coordinated response, and it will be resounding, he concludes.