Greece’s Ministry of Environment and Energy opened a tender on 19 October 2026 for the online platform that will post new boundaries for small settlements and take owners’ objections. The budget is €970,161.30 before VAT.
According to the ministry’s tender notice, it is an open international electronic tender run through the national e-procurement system (ESIDIS). The service is named “Digital Platform for Posting Settlement Boundaries, Submitting Objections and Supporting the Advisory Procedure”. With VAT, the budget comes to about €1.2 million.
Why the boundaries matter
The boundary studies follow a presidential decree of April 2025 (Government Gazette D’ 194/2025) that sets the criteria and procedures for delimiting the country’s settlements. The ministry’s settlement delimitation page says the studies cover settlements of up to 2,000 residents recorded as autonomous in censuses before 1983, including those that existed before 1923.
The studies set the building conditions, restrictions and permitted land uses inside each settlement. In practice, the line decides whether a plot sits inside a village, with its building terms, or outside it. The change concerns about 12,000 small settlements across Greece.
The maps posted on the platform will be proposals. Final boundaries are set by presidential decree, and filing an objection does not in itself recognise any building right.
How objections will work
- Owners will see the proposed boundary and study for their settlement online and object after logging in with secure e-authentication.
- Paper objections filed at the municipality will still be accepted and entered into the same database.
- Automated checks will only test whether a file is complete. They will not decide whether an objection is accepted.
- Posting windows run settlement by settlement, so dates will differ from village to village.
The tender notice does not give a launch date for the platform. Until it opens, the ministry page lists an email address for documented comments on studies already posted.
What it means for buyers
Anyone buying a village house or a plot near the edge of a small settlement should ask whether a boundary study has been posted for it. A plot that falls outside the new line, or into a zone with different terms, may lose building potential. Ask the seller’s engineer for the current boundary and planning certificate, and build an exit clause into the preliminary contract if the study is pending. Our guide to illegal building works covers the other planning checks.
Owners abroad who already hold land in a small village should keep their contact details current with the municipality, because objection windows will be short. Buyers should confirm how this applies to them with a Greek lawyer or a licensed engineer.
What happens next
The ministry will evaluate bids and sign a contract before the platform is built. Boundary studies will then be posted settlement by settlement. Separately, a draft bill would exempt main homes in settlements of up to 2,000 residents from property tax (ENFIA) from 2027.
