Municipal Real Property Asset Management In Greece

In Greece, municipalities own or control substantial amounts of real properties, including public buildings, schools, housing and land. Although municipal governments usually attend to the day-to-day operational needs of their real estate holdings, they have never thought of their holdings as a ìportfolioî whose composition might be modified to better serve public purposes. However, more and more they understand that there is a need to review if the current use of individual properties is appropriate from the perspective of opportunity cost, mode of management and finance, or match its long-term needs for property for its own use and as investment. For the first time, the new Law 3463/2006 on Municipal Government includes disposals for the management of municipal properties, but it is not effective, due to the lack of guidance, and the inexistence of provisions regarding the inclusion of these assets in the municipal balance sheets. More, the management of Municipal properties is excluded to the Municipal Operating Programs that are elaborated. Thus, property asset management including inventory, property management and accounting and asset management, is not yet possible. This paper considers the following issues in municipal property management perspectives in Greece: the concept of public properties in Greece and the relative legislation a) the whole actual legal system governing properties, b) the possible forms of the asset management, and c) the economic aspects of management.