Legal effects of Registration

A)  Internal effects: effects to the right itself and the entitlement

a) Registration and the process of transfer/acquisition of property rights

Constitutive vs. declarative

Constitutive: The property right does not exist unless and from the moment it is registered.

Compulsory vs. voluntary

Voluntary: in the sense that one cannot be forced to register. However one who does not register cannot invoke any property right deriving from the deed.

b) Effects to legitimize the owner

Legal presumptions. Registration as evidence of the right

– In LR operating as Cadastral Offices: The person registered as beneficiary of a right is presumed to be the real beneficiary.

– In LR operating the person-based system: The registration does not guarantee that the actual existence of the right. However the right in the LR can only be challenged by a person holding a deed which is also registered, given that registration has constitutive force.

Effects of registration and possession: adverse possession

Adverse possession can be established even if a right is registered in the LR. But in order to oppose adverse possession against a registered right one must prove to the court that he/she had been exercising acts of possession for a period exceeding 20 years.  The court decision must also be registered in the LR.

Remedies and procedural actions derived from registration: actions derived from registration.

Taking into consideration the above mentioned about legal presumptions:

– Cadastral System: the legal status resulting from the cadastral registration constitutes a presumption for the court when judging on a relevant claim, but it can be reversed namely in the case that this right is challenged based on a deed registered in the LR.

– Only in one case the court cannot rule against the beneficiary according to the cadastral registration; only when this registration becomes “final” after the lapse of the time periods prescribed in the law (14 years in areas mapped within the first generation of surveys and 7 years for the new surveys).

– In LR operating the person-based system: the fact of invoking the legal status resulting from the LR does not lead to the acceptance of the claim. However the right in the LR can only be challenged by a person holding a deed which is also registered, given that registration has constitutive force.

B) External effects: effects to third parties

Negative effect: opposing effect of registered rights against non registered rights.

In LR operating the person based system registration has negative effects.

Positive effect. Indefeasibility principle. Bona fides effect. Requirements

In LR operating the cadastral system, the initial cadastral registration produces a non-rebuttable assumption of the existence of the right after the lapse of a period of 7 years (and 14 years for the old surveys). For the posterior registrations the assumption is rebuttable.

C) Different kinds of registration and its effects:

a) Class of title

Greek Law does not distinguish different classes of titles.

b) Type of entry

In both systems (person based and cadastral) the entry is always definitive. The law does not provide for a first registration that becomes final later on. However the Registrar may reject the act within certain time periods (1 day in the person based system and 5in the cadastral system).

c) First registration limitations

[According to the Greek Law the term “fist (initial) registration” only refers to the initial registration appearing in the cadastral database as the result of the land surveys conducted. It does not mean that a first registration takes place before it becomes definitive].

d) Type of information: physical data/ legal data, associated data…

– In LR operating the person based system, only legal data is available.