Obtain proof of ownership, cadastral extract and cadastral plan
Agency: Hellenic Cadastre
BuildCo must submit proof of ownership when applying for the building permit in the form of an updated land title. BuildCo must also obtain both a cadastral extract and a cadastral plan. The cadastral extract, which must be submitted with the building permit application, depicts the wider area of the property with the National Cadastre Code (“ΚΑΕΚ”). The cadastral plan includes the site limits and other topographical information that a private engineer would need in order to prepare the topographical survey map.
Time and cost: 2 days, EUR 45
Obtain Topographical Survey map
Agency: Private firm
A topographical survey provides all the specifications of what can be built on the land plot such as the land plot’s building potential and limitations, plot ratios, site coverage, height and other legal requirements. BuildCo must obtain a land use certificate and the street map from the Municipality before conducting the topographical survey to ensure that a warehouse can be built on the intended plot of land. BuildCo must first obtain the approved building terms from the Building Office, including a land use clearance before proceeding with the topographical survey map. The Building Office must confirm that the warehouse can be built on the intended land plot as well as any other specific building requirements for this land plot. In fact, all buildings require the approved building terms. In terms of the land use clearance, this is required for all buildings except for residential buildings which are permitted anywhere. At the same time, BuildCo may also obtain a street map from the Building Office which is also required for the topographical survey.
A topographical survey is required to obtain an archaeological clearance certificate and a building permit in Greece.
Time and cost: 10 days, EUR 1,000
Submit a petition for an archaeological clearance certificate
Agency: Archaeology Supervisory Authority
It is mandatory for some districts, neighborhoods or areas to obtain approval from the Archaeology Supervisory Authority. The legal regulations (i.e. approved building terms) stipulate which districts/areas require such approval and which do not. The case study warehouse would likely be built in area that requires such approval. BuildCo must submit a petition along with the required topographical survey map. Afterwards, there is an inspection to verify that there are no archaeological artifacts on the land. A clearance certificate is issued after that visit.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Obtain archaeological clearance certificate
Agency: Archaeology Supervisory Authority
Time and cost: 12 days, no charge
Obtain approval of project from the Board of Architects
Agency: Board of Architects
An approval from the Board of Architects is required for any building that is larger than 1,000 sq. m. prior to applying for the building permit (except for housing). BuildCo must submit the architectural plans, structural plans and topographical survey map to the Board. The Board of Architecture is an independent body that is comprised of various stakeholders such as private sector representatives, representatives from the Municipality’s Building Office, representatives from the Technical Chamber of Commerce of Greece, representatives from the Ministry of Civilization, etc. For the case study warehouse, there would be about 3 to 5 members on the review committee.
Time and cost: 45 days, no charge
Obtain active fire protection approval
Agency: Regional Fire Department of Attica
In order to obtain the fire protection approval, a certified engineer must complete a study stating what needs to be done and this study must be accompanied by technical drawings of the warehouse.
According to legislation 4156/2013, the building engineer is entirely responsible for the fire safety of the new building, but in practice, the Fire Department still reviews the plans and issues the fire safety certificate.
According to the Doing Business case study, it is assumed that BuildCo has an engineer among its staff; therefore no additional cost is paid.
Time and cost: 10 days, no charge
Obtain proof of advanced payment from the Unified Social Security Fund
Agency: Unified Social Security Fund (EFKA)
Social security is based on the size of the building which will provide for an approximate number of working days and the minimum pay for each worker.
The law requires each individual building project to be subjected to a pre-assessment and payment of expected social security expenses as a pre-condition to apply for a building permit. This rule often involves repeated transactions with the Social Security until the proof of payment is obtained and the investor can move on with the project.
In the Doing Business case study, the minimum pay is estimated at EUR 61.00 for 693 working days. The estimated cost of Social Security to be paid by the owner of the company is around EUR 42,000.00.
Time and cost: 2 days, no charge
Request and obtain initial permit/approval from the Municipality
Agency: Municipality of Athens, Building Office
At this point the builder’s architect submits general drawings of the building, topographic plan, and ownership documents to the Municipality. The Municipality’s engineer reviews the drawings and if everything is in order, the Municipality issues an initial permit/approval to the builder. This permit does not allow the builder to start construction. The permit is valid for one year, during which the builder must submit detailed engineering drawings.
Time and cost: 16 days, no charge
Request and obtain building permit from the Municipality
Agency: Municipality of Athens, Building Office
BuildCo submits detailed architectural, mechanical, structural drawings to the Municipality. The Municipality simply checks that all plans have been submitted and files them but does not review them for accuracy because under the amended regulations, the responsibility for the plans lies with the engineer. The Municipality simply accepts the documentation for their records.
At this point, the municipal tax of 1.5% of warehouse value must be paid as well as other fees such as the health insurance of the workers. The proof of payment of the Social Security must be submitted when requesting the permit. Once the Municipality checks that all plans are submitted and all fees have been paid, the building permit is issued to the applicant.
Under Law Act 3919/2011 (Principle of professional freedom, abolition of unjustified restrictions on access to and pursuit of professions) Article 7, there is no minimum pay for any work or design performed by an engineer. It is up to the discretion of the engineer to charge whatever fee he wants for his work.
Based on this law, the estimated fee for the design and the supervision according to the minimum pay is around EUR 35,000.00. With a 20% discount the final fee is EUR 28,000.00. However, according to the Doing Business case study assumptions, BuildCo has an architect, a civil engineer and a mechanical engineer as part of its staff. Therefore, no additional cost is recorded.
Under the new law, ACT 7533/2013, Article 2, the municipality must issue the building permit within two days if all of the documents have been correctly submitted. In practice, this takes up to 30 days.
Time and cost: 15 days, EUR 12,798
Notify Archaeology Supervisory Authority of commencement of works and receive on-site inspection at excavation
Agency: Archaeology Supervisory Authority
The Archaeology Supervisory Authority must be informed one week prior to the commencement of excavation work. And on the first day of excavation, a representative from the Archaeology Supervisory Authority will be on the construction site to verify once more that no archaeological artifacts have been discovered during excavation.
Time and cost: 7 days, no charge
Obtain stamp from the police on the final building permit
Agency: Police
A representative from BuildCo will visit the police department to receive a stamp on the final building permit.
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
Notify the Municipality of the commencement of works
Agency: Municipality of Athens, Building Office
The Municipality is informed that construction will begin. Some municipalities demand a good performance guarantee that no damage will be done to the pavement or to adjoining municipal facilities. This financial guarantee is returned after construction if no damage was made.
Time and cost: 1 day, EUR 350
Request and obtain foundation work inspection
Agency: Municipality of Athens, Building Office / Board of Building Inspectors
The first inspection is at the foundation level right after the excavation is done.
Inspections are requested in person at the Municipality by the builder (or the builder’s architect or engineer). It is possible to request the inspections electronically as the application is available online and can be sent to the Municipality via email; however, the current practice is a visit to the Municipality.
BuildCo completes a form with basic information (e.g. location, total area of the building, etc.) and submits it to an employee at the Municipality. Usually it is the same person who issued the building permit; there are several persons in charge and they are assigned to different areas of the city. The Municipality then sends the file to the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, which conducts a lottery among the certified engineers they have on file, and gives the name of the inspector to the Municipality. The Municipality then informs BuildCo about who the inspector will be.
Time and cost: 1 day, EUR 300
Receive final inspection from Board of Building Inspectors and receive completion certificate
Agency: Municipality of Athens, Building Office / Board of Building Inspectors
There is a last mandatory inspection to be performed by the independent engineer. Once the engineer has submitted the report of the final inspection, the construction permit is stamped and a copy is given to the owner to attest that the building was completed in conformity with the approved plan.
This stamped construction permit is needed in order to be connected to electricity.
Time and cost: 5 days, EUR 600
Apply for water and sewage connection
Agency: Athens Water and Sewerage Company (EYDAP)
BuildCo submits a request for a new connection and pays a fee of EUR 63.12.
The request must be accompanied by a recent copy of the building permit, coverage diagram, topographical survey map and identification of the owner of the lot.
Time and cost: 1 day, EUR 63
Undergo investigation by the water company on the feasibility of the project
Agency: Athens Water and Sewerage Company (EYDAP)
EYDAP investigates the possibility of constructing the connection (checks network availability and determines meter size and the number of meters necessary) and informs BuildCo if extra costs are involved. Most connections cost EUR 470 (not including VAT tax and possible network extension). The investigation phase according to EYDAP regulations must be completed within one month. Once the customer pays the EUR 470, the connection work begins.
Time and cost: 21 days, EUR 1,070
Obtain water and sewage connection
Agency: Athens Water and Sewerage Company (EYDAP)
The water connection phase can be completed within 10-15 days but usually lasts about 3 months. This is because independent contractors construct the connections for EYDAP and they try to group the new connection requests and send personnel and heavy equipment out to construct multiple connections in a specific area at a time. It is not financially viable for them to construct connections according to the order in which they are requested.
In Greece sewage connections are constructed by the Municipality and turned over to EYDAP for operation. According to article 13 of Law 1068/80, the customer must pay a fee for the network construction and a fee for the house connection. House connections cost on average EUR 600 – 1500 per lot and this amount is divided by all the stakeholders. Hence for an apartment building with many apartments the cost is divided among all the apartment owners while in the example of the warehouse the amount will be paid in full by the owner of the building.
Time and cost: 45 days, no charge
