Bombs ready to detonate forest tyrants

Black hole for the implementation of the fire protection measures are the hundreds of thousands of forest arbitrary (residential concentrations, i.e. concentrations of mainly arbitrary buildings that present “in fact” a functional unity in forests and forest lands), but also the individual arbitrary within the forests. The owners of these properties are on the one hand required to implement fire protection measures and on the other hand… they are flirting with the risk of high fines from the forest authorities as well as demolitions.

In essence, these properties (the estimate is that the issue concerns 1 million owners) are de facto excluded from the application of fire protection measures.

What does this mean practically? It means that they are bombs ready to ignite and spread the fire (!).

And why is this happening? It happens because the issue of residential densities still remains unsolved for the last – at least – 10 years, with the consequence that, in addition to being a black hole for fire protection, it is also a black hole for forest maps, with all that this entails for ownership and urban legality.

It is recalled that only 3,000 applications (!) were submitted on the relevant Land Registry platform, which closed on March 31, 2023. Those owners who submitted the application and paid the fee of 250 euros have, so far, avoided the risk of demolitions and can without fear proceed with the implementation of the prescribed fire protection measures.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy has announced that the chapter of forest illegals will be reopened in 2024 and they urge the owners to submit the Risk Form, the Technical Report and everything else that is foreseen. The estimate from the Ministry of the Interior is that the forest illegals amount to approximately 100,000.

“TA NEA” with the help of the topographer – urban planning engineer Secretary Baklatsis present all the information that the owners of arbitrary forest plots (in residential areas and individually) should have in mind, in order to know how they can move, so that they do not find themselves unexpectedly.

According to what is foreseen, it is forbidden to encroach on areas protected by the special provisions of the forestry legislation. All kinds of buildings, constructions and facilities of a permanent or temporary nature are compulsorily demolished and the offenders, contractors, subcontractors, manufacturers and principals are subject to criminal sanctions and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 euros.

The owners of arbitrary forest plots who only submitted a request for regularization on the electronic platform for submitting an application to be included in the provisions of article 55 of Law 4685/2020 (Residential Density) of the Land Registry, with a fee of 250 euros.

The platform closed on March 31, 2023 and about 3,000 applications were submitted.

For these properties, administrative sanctions and arbitrary fines have been suspended, and they have also been exempted from demolition, even in cases where there are final court decisions.

The truth is that most owners who have built illegally in forests and woodlands were afraid of being “nailed” and did not proceed to declare their arbitrariness. It is estimated that the residential areas occupy 300,000 acres throughout the country.

Therefore, as it stands, it is a matter of personal choice for everyone, risking a fine and facing the risk of demolition.

Typically forest plot owners will have to wait for the platform to reopen and register their plots. It is noted that the Ministry of the Interior has announced that the chapter of forest illegals will be re-opened in 2024 and according to information, regulation is planned for the coming months.

According to the legislative provision, property owners with buildings located:

• in forests or forest ecosystems or forest lands
• in grassland areas located on semi-mountainous, mountainous and uneven terrains, whether they are public or recognized as private.
• in lowland grassland areas (non-mountainous or semi-mountainous and not located on uneven terrain
• within a radius of 300 meters from the boundaries of forest lands
• in peri-urban greenery and in declared wooded or reforested areas.
• in parks and groves of cities and residential areas.

The implementation of the prescribed measures is difficult because, among other things, there is no single digital map that records by municipality the areas that are groves, peri-urban forests, reforested areas, etc.

A serious matter that arose is when the property owner needs to inform the forest office about the fire protection measures he will take, and mainly (such as tree pruning, etc.) on properties in forest areas. This raises two questions:

It is not required in the following cases:

1. In real estate within a city plan or within demarcated settlements.

2. In real estate off plan with buildings that have been erected with a building permit and concerns:

• a) cases of properties outside the plan and within forest areas, for which a legal building permit was issued before June 11, 1975, which has not been revoked or cancelled, and only for the necessary surface thereof, in accordance with the building conditions in force at the time. The exceptional building conditions for the installation of removable structures according to the more specific provisions of the Royal Decree of 7^her August 1967.
• b) properties that were erected before 25-11-2011 with building permits in forested areas, which have been issued before the entry into force of Law 4030/2011 (A’ 249) and have been implemented, have not been revoked or cancelled. , as well as with building permits in non-forest areas where forestry legislation applies, which have been issued before the entry into force of Law 4280/2014 (A’ 159), and only for properties or parts thereof that meet the conditions of adequacy , according to the current regime, at the time of issuing the relevant license.
• c) properties that lost their forest character by administrative acts issued in the context of agricultural legislation, such as: decisions of Expropriation Committees for all the lands of which they were seized (lots of land, lands excluded in favor of owners, properties, available and shared lands), distributions and redistributions for all the lands mentioned in the relevant cadastral charts, permits or decisions of the minister or prefect for every case of transfer of agricultural properties that have been allocated for agricultural or livestock use, etc.
• d) properties with deeds issued for the purpose of the industrial and tourist development of the country, such as expropriations for the purpose of establishing an industrial or tourist unit or permits for the installation and/or operation of an industrial or tourist unit or areas of coastal areas, within which a land zone has been defined port or a designated area which is assimilated to a port land zone.

Approval from the relevant Forest Service is required:

A) For buildings located within city parks and groves and residential areas protected by forest legislation.

B) For buildings which have been erected after a relevant authorization of intervention by the forest office, within areas protected by forestry legislation (s.s.: article 45 of Law 998/79, as applicable).

C) On proposals planning by the OTAs of the perimeter protection zones in settlements and residential concentrations.