As can be seen from the relevant circular, in those areas where the State does not establish ownership rights based on a title, then the competent Forestry Service will grant the owner a relevant certificate so that he can transfer the area.

Following the legislative regulations brought by the Deputy Minister of Environment Giorgos Amyras, the Land Registry "runs" the return of forested fields to more than 500,000 citizens, thereby giving them express title deeds for the fields.

Circular

"Therefore, for the implementation of the provision and at the request of the interested party who asserts ownership rights over an area, which appears as AD on the posted or approved forest map, it is examined by the forester (or the forester if there is no Forester in the regional unit) the possible existence of State property titles (from a will, donation, court decision, etc.) or the possible registration of the area in the book of public estates or its possible belonging to the ownership of the State for another reason, e.g. as shared or available residential area. With the above application, the interested party shall submit a fragment of the relevant forest map with the area in question identified on it or information to identify it, such as a topographical or cadastral diagram or coordinates of peaks, as well as a certificate from the relevant Land Service that the area is not registered as public estate" is characteristically noted in the circular.

The recent declassification of all lands that had been recorded as forested fields paved the way for these lands to be cadastralized, to simplify the process and ultimately to be handed over to the owners.

In particular, with a recent amendment by the Ministry of the Interior, the State's statements on the forested fields, for which the right of the State is not established, are rejected and decisions issued by the appeals committees which recognized the State's rights over these areas are automatically revoked, while at the same time pending cases before the specific committees are abolished.

In the procedural part, the Land Registry Office makes corrections to the relevant cadastral tables, registering as owners of the above properties the individuals who have submitted a relevant declaration of registrable right, while the Greek State waives the lawsuits and applications brought regarding the correction of inaccurate first cadastral records regarding these lands.

Citizens now have the right to claim the lands designated as forested fields. The State does not assert title to lands shown on aerial photographs of 1945 or, if they are not clear, of 1960, in agricultural form subsequently reforested, regardless of their later form, over which the State does not establish title title. Protocols of administrative expulsion that have been issued for these lands are revoked even if they have been legally finalized.

It should be noted that until today the State did not claim ownership of these lands only if a private person presented a title older than 1946. This regulation essentially concerns all areas where the presumption in favor of the State applies.

Sources from the Land Registry estimate that more than 1,200,000 plots of land are affected by the arrangement for forested fields. As a percentage of the total of a regional unit, most land is found in Lefkada and Meganisi (15%) and Arcadia (12.5%). This is followed by Messinia (11.7%), Kastoria (11.4%) and Halkidiki (10.1%).

 What should owners do?

1 To draw up a topographical diagram in which the anthropogenic activities on these lands will be accurately recorded, such as: old trees, terraces, ruins of huts, watering cisterns and ditches, traces of dredges, corrals, warehouses and in general any particular element that can prove that there was ancient human activity at the site.

2 To record with photographs all the tracks and the old trees.

3 To search for contiguous title deeds.

4 To look for old documents, handwritten leases, frost subsidy, subsidies from olive grove, vineyard land registry, etc.

5 To declare the actual area of ​​their properties in E9.

6 In the event of no title deed, to draw up before a notary public two affidavits of witnesses certifying that the area is arable.

7 To file an objection in the event that the forest map is posted or a late request due to an error in the event that there is a partially sanctioned forest map in the area.

8 To file a timely objection-request for correction in the Land Registry during the posting process with all supporting documents.

9 Because many parcels of land are hereditary and the original owners have passed away, the new owners should request from the records of the old Community or Municipality, any certificate issued by the head of the community or mayor, about the ownership status of the property.

10. To search for every element from which the legal link of the owner with the property can be presumed. 

WHICH AREAS ARE DISCHARACTERIZED

1 Wilds that changed form. The State does not assert title to lands shown on aerial photographs of 1945 or, if they are not clear, of 1960, in agricultural form subsequently reforested, regardless of their later form, over which the State does not establish title title.

2 Protocols of administrative expulsion that have been issued for the above lands are revoked even if they have been judicially finalised.

3 Lands with an area of ​​up to 30 hectares may be used for agricultural and arboricultural exploitation, without further change of use being allowed.

4 The right to request the change of use for agricultural and arboricultural exploitation has those who claim ownership rights over the above lands, by virtue of legally transcribed titles.

5 The change of use is permitted following a permit granted by the general director of Forestry to which the relevant Forestry Service is subordinate, after a recommendation by the relevant forester or the director of Forestry if there is no Forestry Office in the prefecture.

6 Especially for areas larger than 5 hectares, in order to be granted a permit, it is established on the basis of a relevant economic and technical study, which is accompanied by a topographical diagram of the area and drawn up by a private geotechnical scientist.

7 In the above areas, in addition to the permitted intervention, the remaining provisions of the forestry legislation on permitted interventions are also applied.

8 Fields that have acquired the form of a forest area are not subject to the provisions of the forestry legislation and the removal of the growing forest vegetation is permitted, after the permission of the relevant forester or the Director of Forests if there is no Forestry Office in the prefecture, at the request of the person who asserts ownership rights to the area . The interested party, in order to prove his legal interest in requesting the removal of forest vegetation, submits with his application:

a) Either notarial deeds.

b) Either declaration of property details (E9).

c) Either affidavits.

d) Or any other element from which its legal link with the property can be presumed.

9 Administrative acts issued pursuant to the forest legislation for the protection of the above lands are revoked.

10 The same procedure also applies to forest properties allocated as lots, which appear on the aerial photographs closest to the time of the grant in an agricultural form and were subsequently forested, regardless of the form they acquired later.

 » Who are considered forested fields: In order for an area to be considered private and recognized by the state as an old field that has ceased to be cultivated and has become forested, the following conditions must be met cumulatively:

• Lands shown as agricultural in 1945 aerial photographs or, if these are not clear, 1960, and subsequently forested due to abandonment. That is, to have a forest form on the posted forest map, which is the orthophoto map of the Land Registry for the year 2007-2009.
• For these lands, there must be title deeds (contracts) prior to February 23, 1946 and they must have been transferred to the mortgage registry. 

» What is the difference between a forested field within a forest or within a forest area: The legislation provides for a different treatment for afforested fields, depending on the form they acquired later (forest or forest area). The more specific characterization of the area as forest or forestry, for the application of the regulation, is carried out:

• From the Forestry Committee of the Regional Unit, for the areas where there is a posted forest map, even if the specific area has been declared reforestable.
• By issuing a deed of characterization in the areas not covered by a posted forest map.