Red tape, prohibitive costs deter parental concessions of property

Property owners are rushing to notaries to transfer their real estate assets to their children before January 1, when the new taxable rates for properties, known as objective values, come into effect. However, most give up when they figure out just how much such a transfer would set them back.

They suddenly understand just why the World Bank ranks Greece 153rd in the world regarding the ease of property transfers. They become aware of the fact that each of the 11 necessary steps in each transfer requires at least 20 days of preparation if all goes well and up to two months if something goes wrong in the bureaucratic procedure that still requires all forms to be filled in by hand.

As for the transfer costs, even when there is no need for the payment of tax - the tax-free ceiling for parental concessions remains at 150,000 euros and covers most such transactions - they...