Crippling taxes on listed homes

The taxes imposed by the Greek State on thousands of owners of listed properties for houses they inherited from their ancestors but apparently cannot even run themselves, are moving into the realm of the absurd.

With letters to the President of the Republic and the Ministry of Finance, owners of listed properties reveal their hideous taxation and seek their intervention so as their parent homes are not treated as luxury villas, but as monuments of cultural heritage of Greece, maintained with great effort from one generation to the next.

It is indicative that the listed settlement of Hydra, homes that are historic monuments, not only do they not bring any income, but instead they have large maintenance costs and are taxed with objective values from 3.500 to 3.800 euros per square meter.

As a result, young people without their own income and who have inherited such a house from their parents or grandparents, have to pay this year 60,000 euros for the 2010-2013 real estate tax.

The oxymoron is that on such a property owners cannot even put an air-conditioning unit, as they must not to alter the facade of the building, as since 1987, the Greek State has imposed, among other things, important limitations and commitments to their use and exploitation, involving reduced affect on the formation of their market value.

Owners seek an immediate reduction on objective value prices per square meter, and a reduced rate of commerciality.