1.   Get written details of all fees involved - valuation, land registry and the cost of indemnity.

2.   Greece lacks a public land registry and speculators hope to be able to claim ownership of former forest land for development.

3.   The government is to introduce tough penalties for arsonists and has promised to institute a land registry, but the forestry service remains desperately under-staffed.

4.   Tax collectors have no access to a central land registry because it does not exist.

5.   The environment, town planning and public works minister, Costas Laliotis, under whose jurisdiction the land registry falls, has claimed the charges are politically motivated.

6.   With no central land registry, forged documents and false claims are rife.

7.   Work on the land registry is being funded by the second EU Community Support Framework.

8.   He requested documents linked to the transfer of church property deeds and the sub-division of plots from Cyprus land registry and town planning departments.

9.   Zoning, relying on the maps, has already begun and work on the land registry is expected to start by the end of this year.