The Justice Ministry on Thursday unveiled plans to drastically reform century-old laws governing relations between residents in apartment blocks and address modern problems – from installing heat pumps and allowing short-term lets to forcing tight-fisted occupants to contribute to joint expenses.
Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis said a committee including academics, lawyers and a judge will work on the draft legislation in the coming months, with a view to having it ready in the autumn.
Provisions are expected to include a lower decision-making majority on crucial communal issues, simpler processes to allow the installation of heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicle charging points, and legalising the conjoining of smaller flats – or the breaking-up of larger ones, allowing owners to rent part of their properties as separate apartments.
“This draft bill will allow the liberation and development of Greeks’ property,” Floridis told a press conference. “[The current law] reflects a 100-year-old reality when people lived in two-storey houses, now we have thousands of apartment blocks.”
Extant legislation is based on a law of 1929, when very few apartment blocks existed, and incorporates more than 1,000 separate pieces of legislation adopted over the decades. The new bill will aim to streamline, codify and modernise the framework.
