Notary public

Purchasing a house or apartment in Greece that was built in the last 12 years is forbidden fruit for the majority of foreign buyers or for locals who have already bought their main residence. The reason is not so much the cost of the property - as prices have dropped 40-50 percent since 2008 - but rather the tax load, concerning the 24 percent value-added tax that has to be paid.

Police officers staged a demonstration outside Thessaloniki Police Headquarters on Thursday to protest their working conditions following violent clashes outside a notary office on Wednesday instigated by people opposing auctions of foreclosed properties.

In a statement on Monday, the union representing notaries of Athens, Piraeus and the Aegean and Dodecanese islands accused Zoe Constantopoulou, former parliament speaker and leader of the far-left anti-bailout Sailing for Freedom party, of harassing them over property foreclosures.

For a week now, the registration of road vehicles is subject to new rules. Amendments to the Road Traffic Act introduced a new system for data exchange between the Ministry of Interior and the Notary Chamber. It immediately reveals a change in vehicle ownership.

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) has activated a plan to protect notaries from attacks by extremists protesting the auctioning of debtors' properties.

Concerns are increasing about the apparent impunity with which self-styled anarchists and other anti-establishment activists are operating following a fresh spate of incidents on Thursday, one involving the increasingly active Rouvikonas (Rubicon) group.

Online auctions related to overdue debts to the state will begin on May 1, according to an amendment tabled in Parliament on Friday that puts an end to conventional auctions from now on.

Protesters take part in a demonstration against property foreclosures outside a court in Athens on Wednesday. The placards read 'No to the crime of foreclosures.' Property auctions at Greek courts were suspended again yesterday - until the end of the month - following a decision by notaries who claim to have come under attack from anti-austerity protesters for simply doing their job.

The Communist Party-affiliated labor union PAME on Monday called on protesters to gather on Wednesday when auctions of properties of overindebted Greeks are to resume as MPs debate a new multi-bill aimed at speeding up the process of foreclosing on such properties. 

In a statement PAME accused the leftist-led government of "targeting the homes of working class citizens."

New rules for registration of new vehicles come into force as of 28th of December, reported the Bulgarian National Television. There are three main points in the new rules: