Fresh snag for realty market in Greece

It seems that Greece is striving to become the country with the worst bureaucracy in the world when it comes to property transactions, as a document that was taken off the list of necessary papers for a house sale three years ago has just been restored to its rightful place in the reams of red tape.

The list now contains a minimum of 11 documents required, against an average of 4.7 papers for the countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The federation of property owners (POMIDA) stressed that as of Monday, with an amendment publication in the Government Gazette, it is now obligatory again to attach to the sale contract a municipal certificate stating that the seller has paid his property tax (TAP) in full.

Worse, there is no grace period to gradually reinstate this document after a three-year absence, which means that no...