Last updated 14 October 2026. By Demetre E. Katsouris, Managing Partner, Katsouris Law Firm.
The short answer: where the Cadastre is operational, its record is the title. If it shows the wrong area, the wrong boundary, a previous owner, a missing share or “unknown owner”, the property cannot be sold, gifted, mortgaged or partitioned until the record is corrected. There are four procedures, and which one applies depends on the error, not on how serious it feels to the owner. Three of them changed in 2026: boundary corrections moved online on 18 September 2026, the “unknown owner” problem acquired an out-of-court route, and several areas are in their posting period with their own deadlines.
1. Obvious errors: application to the Cadastral Office
A typo in a name, a wrong tax number, a misrecorded share where the deed is clear, a missing storage room that appears in the title: these are corrected by application to the local Cadastral Office with the deed and the supporting documents. No court is involved. The office examines, may notify an affected third party, and corrects. Weeks to a few months.
2. Boundaries and area: the Metavoles platform
Where the cadastral map shows the plot in the wrong place, with the wrong shape or the wrong area, the correction is a geometric change. Since 18 September 2026 these applications are filed electronically on the Cadastre’s new platform, by the owner or a person with a legitimate interest using tax-portal credentials, with an engineer’s technical file linked to the application by a code. If the correction would affect a neighbour’s plot, the neighbour is formally notified and can object. The office decides; the applicant, or a neighbour who objected in time, can appeal within 30 days; an unresolved dispute goes to the Cadastral Judge. The platform keeps the whole file — technical documents, notifications, objections, decision — in one place.
3. Wrong registered owner: court
Where the Cadastre records someone other than the true owner — the vendor who sold in 1990, a deceased parent, a sibling who declared the whole plot — the correction is a change of a registered right, and in most cases it requires a court decision recognising the true owner’s right and ordering the correction. The claim is brought against the person recorded, or their heirs, and the judgment is registered. Where the registered person agrees, a notarial deed of correction may suffice. One to three years through the court; months by agreement.
For properties that passed by inheritance, the sequence is: process the inheritance, register the acceptance, then correct. The Cadastre will not register an heir who has not accepted.
4. “Unknown owner”: the new out-of-court route
Where no one declared a property during the cadastral survey, it is recorded as “unknown owner” and, after the record is finalised, treated as belonging to the state. Thousands of diaspora-owned fields and village houses are in this position. The owner has to prove their right within the legal time limits or lose it. Until this year that meant a court action against the state. A 2026 amendment introduced a mediation-based procedure: the owner files with a mediator, who prepares a fact sheet lodged with the Cadastre and notified to the state authorities; if they assert no rights within the period, a statement of no objection is drawn up, filed with the court and registered. Claims based on adverse possession go through the same channel. Faster than a contested action, and the route we now use first.
Areas still in the posting period
In regions where the cadastral survey is being finalised — parts of Crete, the North Aegean and the South Aegean in 2026 — the provisional tables are posted and owners have a fixed period to check their entries and file objections or correction applications; in Chania, Heraklion, Lesvos and Lemnos that period was extended to 3 August 2026. After finalisation, corrections move to the procedures above and become slower and costlier. There is no single national deadline; each area has its own, and owners abroad should find out which stage their village is at.
Forest-map overlaps
A property recorded in the Cadastre as forest, or as state land because of a forest-map classification, is a separate problem with its own remedies: an accepted objection before the forest-map committee, planning documents showing the land was never forest, or a licensing decision, can now be used to correct the Cadastre entry directly at the Cadastral Office.
What an owner abroad should do
Obtain the Cadastre extract and the cadastral map for each property; compare them to the deed and the E9; identify which of the four categories any discrepancy falls into; and start the correction before there is a buyer waiting. A power of attorney covers every step, including the mediation and the court. Most corrections we handle for owners abroad are category 1 or 2; the ones that cost real money are category 3 and 4 left until the week of a sale.
Frequently asked questions
The Cadastre shows my plot as 1,850 sq.m. and the deed says 2,000. Does it matter? For a sale, yes; the notary describes the property as the Cadastre records it, and the buyer pays for 1,850. Category 2.
My late father’s name is still on the record. He died in 2003. Category 3, after the inheritance. The multiple certificate of inheritance now available under Law 5303/2026 helps where a grandparent is also involved.
I never knew the survey happened. Is it too late? Not necessarily. The “unknown owner” route exists for exactly that case, but the time limits are real and depend on when the area was finalised. Ask now.
This article is general information, not legal advice; it reflects the position on the date above and may change.
To have a Cadastre record checked and corrected, send us the KAEK number or the address and a copy of the deed: info@katslaw.eu or +30 210 8982 864.
