PURCHASE OF AGRARIAN LAND PURCHASE OF LAND

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE THE PRESENTATION INFORMATION LIBRARY OF THE APPLICATION

1. In order for you to be qualified as beneficiary:

a. You must be a citizen of Greece or of a country-member of the European Union or a fellow countryman from the Former Eastern Europe.

b. You must be a resident:

-of a municipal or communal region which is found in a mountainous or disadvantageous area or

-of a municipal or communal region elsewhere in the state, with a population of up to 50.000 inhabitants.

You cannot qualify as a beneficiary if you are a resident of Attica and Piraeus prefecture unless:

-you are resident in one of the following islands:Kythira, Antikythira, Hydra, Spetses, or of a municipal or communal region of Troizinia province or

-you have the status of a moving cattle-breeder.

c. you must have either one of the characteristics of young or new farmer.

d. the day that the contract about the land you are going to buy is due to be signed, you must not have completed the 40^th year of your age, that is, the contract must be signed the latest until the 31st of December of the year during which you will be completing the 40^th year of your age.

e. The plot of land you are planning to buy must

*be found near the place of your residence and at a distance that gives you the possibility of daily access.

*be already exploited or have the possibility of immediate exploitation (within a year at the latest) with the performance of agricultural and cattle-breading activities. Such plot of land can be rangeland, uncropped land, meadow, permanent plantation, etc.

*contribute to the straightforward or gradual formation of a proprietary profitable exploitation.

This means that if you already have a proprietary profitable exploitation you cannot qualify as a beneficiary and thereby further increase your exploitation unless:

*this purchase is directly associated with an approved investment program aiming at modernisation and growth of the exploitation, for instance, a relocation of a cattle-breading unit in an area that the exploitation has no private land or

*this land is interposed, that is lies at the border of at least two plots of your exploitation and its purchase will contribute to their integration.

f. The Bank that you will choose must grant to you the relative loan for the purchase of the land.

2. Mode and level of the aid:

*If you are definitely qualified as a beneficiary, according to the below described procedure, and the bank grants to you the loan you are going to ask for in order for you to buy the plot of land you want, the Greek State will cover part of cost of this loan, subsidizing the interest rate according to the following terms:

3. Before the presentation of the application you must:

a. provide yourself with a certificate that you have the characteristics of young or new farmer.

For this reason you must present the relative application, in time, to the Agrarian Development Office which has its seat in the area of your residence.

* in case that you already have had access to the Reg. 950/97 (2328/91) with an Improvement Project and the 5-year period has not expired or if your access to the measure of the lump sum grant has received final or preliminary approval,and a decade has not expired, this certificate will be given to you immediately and without further procedures.

* in every other case, together with the application, you must present the additional supporting documents which will be asked by the Agrarian Development Office, such as the registration to the Farmers and Agrarian Exploitations Record, Tax returns, a residence certificate,etc., in order for your application to be examined by the advisory committee of your area.

b. to ensure the interest of a Bank which would undertake the financing of the purchase of the land you plan to buy.

c. to proceed to the drafting of a briefproject study, which will present current situation of the exploitation and will provide the justification for the lands’ purchase. This study must be issued and signed by an Agriculturist, member of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece.

d. to prepare the dossier of your candidature as a beneficiary.

4. The dossier must contain the following supporting documents

5. Where you must present the dossier

You must present the dossier with the above mentioned supporting documents to the Agrarian Development Office which has its seat in the area of your residence.

6. The procedure for approval of the loan:

-The Bank after examining the project study and taking into consideration the instrument of the Agrarian Development Office, proceeds to the approval or the rejection of your application.

-a copy of the amortized installments approval (indicative) and of the capitalized aid value (total aid for the overall loan period), will be given to you in order for you to know beforehand what you are going to pay.

7. We remind you that:

1. with your accession to the measure, you undertake the responsibility for at least one decade:
2. -to maintain the farmer’s profession, which necessitates that 50% of your income must be obtained from agrarian activities and you must not have more than 110 day labor wages in non agrarian activities.

   -to keep in your possession and to utilize the plot for which you were assisted, according to the suggestions of the Agrarian Development Office of the area you live.

   -to accept unconditionally and to facilitate the inspections made by both the services of the Ministry of Agriculture (Central Cervices - Agrarian Development Offices) and the Banks’ Services.

   -to pay in time your amortized settlements.

3. if you violate even one of the obligations you undertake, you will be obliged to refund the total amount of the subsidies that the Greek State has paid for your loan and in the same time, amortized settlements, if any, will fall due.
4. if you declare false data in order for you to take the aid, besides of the penal and other sanctions, you will be excluded for a ten years period of time from any kind of aid.

8. Legal Status

(for more information)

L. 2520/97 (The Official Gazette 173/A), as modified

Joint Ministerial Decree 322501/2290/98 (The Official Gazette 480/B/98)

Joint Ministerial Decree 337410/98 (The Official Gazette 712/?)

9. Do you also know that…

1. besides of the interest rate subsidy, which you will get in the frame of the present measure, you can also get tax exemption.
2. with your new or young farmer’s characteristic you can take advantage of other measurements also, such as:

* to get an aid for investments you will realize in your exploitation.

* to have a low interest loan (interest rate subsidy) from the Bank of your choice (Agrarian Bank of Greece or National-Mortgage Bank) for the purchase or the construction of the first habitation.

* to get a preferential access to the cattle-breeding, industrial tomato and tobacco quota.

* provided that you are a permanent resident of an agrarian area you can have further reduction of the agrarian constructions cost, the first habitation included, with:

-a 50 – 80% coverage of the cost you will pay to your engineer

-the elimination of the deductions and other surcharges

-the 50% reduction of the obligatory revenue stamp to the Social Security

Institution.

* provided that you are a permanent resident of a mountainous or disadvantageous area you can have an increased equating compensation.

* provided that you are interested to buy a mortgaged and indebted to the Agrarian Bank of Greece real estate, (stable or greenhouse) you can do it with a loan having a 15% subsidy of the interest rate.