• In the year 2023, significant legislative changes occurred regarding the transfer of real estate due to onerous reasons, namely the tax and declaration obligations arising for the contracting parties.
  
  The most recent change took place with Law 5073/2023, the entry into force of which is placed on 11/12/2023 (date of publication in the Official Gazette).
  
  The said law abolishes the use of cash as a method of payment of the price when drawing up notarial acts of transfer of real estate with compelling reason and makes it mandatory, under penalty of nullity of the contract, to use bank means of payment for the payment of the price.
  
  Specifically, in article 3 of Law 5073/2023 (which amended Article 20 of Law 3842/2010), the following are defined:
  
  When drawing up the notarial documents for the transfer of real estate with compelling reason, the preliminary agreements and the payment deeds, the payment of the price is made exclusively using bank means of payment.
  A notarial or private document, in which an advance payment or partial or total payment of the price in cash is recorded or in which the payment of the price using a bank means of payment is not recorded, is automatically invalid, it is forbidden to be transcribed in the relevant books and does not produce any legal effect against the contracting parties, the State and any third party.
  A unique exception to the new regime is provided for contracts concluded after the entry into force of Law 5073/2023 in execution of preliminary agreements, which were drawn up before its entry into force, that is, for contracts concluded after 11/12/2023 in execution of preliminary agreements , which were drawn up before 11/12/2023.
  At the same time, a ban is established on the transcription of a notarial document that has been drawn up in violation of the notary's obligation to indicate in the contract the method of payment of the price exclusively through the use of bank means of payment.
  Furthermore, it is recalled that with Law 5036/2023, and in particular Chapter II thereof, regulations were introduced, which aim to facilitate property transfers and modernize the relevant procedure for granting proof of tax compliance.
  
  In more detail, from the start of implementation of the law in question on 28/03/2023 (date of publication of the Official Gazette), the following applies:
  
  The owners or bare ownership right holders or usufructuary etc of real estate are exempted from the joint and several liability with the original debtor for the payment of the property tax (ENFIA) which is burdened by the right they acquired due to a compelling reason, i.e. the buyer ceases to be jointly and severally liable with the seller for the payment of past debts ENFIA (Article 15 of Law 5036/2023, by which Paragraph 3 of Article 50 of Law 4987/2022 was amended).
  In the event that the taxpayer has joined a debt settlement program or has outstanding or suspended debts, a certificate of limited validity may now be issued, which may not exceed one (1) month. At the same time, a specific percentage of withholding on the price is provided for when a proof of awareness is granted for the transfer of a property or the creation of a real right over it due to compelling reasons, both in the case of overdue debts that have been included in a settlement program, and in the case that the applicant has overdue debts who are under suspension (Article 14 of Law 5036/2023, which amended the first paragraph of Paragraph 4 of Article 12 of Law 4987/2022).
  The ENFIA Certificate is still compulsorily noted and attached by the notary who draws up the relevant contract. However, in contrast to what was in force in the previous regime, it is stipulated that in every expropriation deed for the transfer of real estate with compelling reason or the creation of a real right over it, the ENFIA certificate certifies only that the specific property is included in the ENFIA declaration of the five (5) years prior to the transfer, and not that the corresponding tax has been paid for the specific property, nor that the ENFIA of the remaining properties has been regulated for those years (article 16 of Law 5036/2023, which amended the article 54A of Law 4987/2022).
  The ENFIA Certificate will cover the last six (6) years before the transfer, including the year of transfer, in case the current year's ENFIA has already been issued.
  As an exception, this regulation came into force from 01/06/2023, therefore until the end of May 2023 any already issued Certificates were valid.
  In cases where the price from the transfer of a property does not fall short of its objective value and there are proven overdue debts to the Tax Administration and e-EFKA that cumulatively exceed the amount of the price, when the proof of tax compliance or the debt certificate is granted, the requirements of Tax Administration and the requirements of e-EFKA are met proportionately from the transfer (sale) price.
• For the proportionate satisfaction, the whole of the certified overdue debts to the Tax Administration, which is written on the proof of tax compliance or the debt certificate, is taken into account (Article 23 of Law 5036/2023, by which para. c of par. 1 was amended of article 25 of Law 4611/2019).                                                             Sakellaridou Eva, Lawyer, LL.M. INTERNATIONAL EUROPEAN LEGAL STUDIES, LL.M. TAX