Steps to Purchasing Property in Greece
After finding the property you want to purchase, you need to instruct a Greek qualified lawyer. Your choice of lawyer is entirely up to you, although we have some good recommendations. Your lawyer will assist you with the following steps and will need Power of Attorney if you live abroad (the PoW will allow your lawyer to act on your behalf when you are not in Greece).
Step 1: Pay a deposit of at least €5.000 and up to 10% of the property value to secure it and remove the listing from all marketing platforms. This is usually paid directly to the seller via a private agreement deductable from the
Step 2: Pre-contract or purchase agreement
An alternative and more secure route paying a deposit is via a pre-contract, also known as a purchase agreement which has stronger protection than a private agreement and includes all the terms and conditions that must be respected throughout the purchase process. Your lawyer will draft the pre-contract agreement and once agreemnt has been reached with the seller's lawyer then it will then be notarised by a notary. At this stage, around 10% of the negotiated purchase price must be paid to the seller as a deposit which will then be deducted from the final purchase price.
Some clauses that must be incorporated in the purchase agreement are:
– the property’s title is free of any restrictions or liens otherwise the deposit will be returned to the buyer;
– the timeline and next steps until purchase completion;
– what happens to the deposit in case of non-compliance with the clauses in the purchase agreement or if the seller changes their mind.
Step 3: Issuing a Greek Tax Number
Every title holder of Greek property needs to have a VAT number. To obtain a VAT number, you must present yourself to the local tax office that covers the area in which your property belongs to. If your lawyer has been given Power of Attorney by you then they can obtain a Greek Tax Number and open a Greek Bank Account on your behalf.
Step 4: Legal due diligence
This is the buyer’s responsibility. You lawyer will go to the local land registry where the property is located and check all the title deeds that are kept on file. Here your lawyer can confirm if the property truthfully belongs to the seller and is free of any obligations such as loans, repossessions etc.
Step 5: Technical due diligence
While the legal due diligence is the buyer’s responsibility, the technical due diligence is at the seller’s expense. The seller must provide to the buyer’s lawyer copies of all updated topographic diagrams and architectural plans of the property. It is quite common for illegal building works to Greek properties to exist, such as prohibited extensions or added spaces that were never included in the initial architectural plans. Fortunately, the law prohibits properties with illegal building works to be sold and it is the seller’s responsibility to make sure that his property’s illegal additions, if any, have been settled at the local tax office.
Step 6: Property tax
The tax rate when purchasing a property in Greece is a flat 3.09% of the purchase price.
Step 7: Completion
Completion involves transferring legal ownership of the property, checking the legal and technical due diligence, confirming the money transfer and signing the final purchase contract at a Notary’s office. A Notary is a public servant who double checks the legitimacy of the process and of the property before the signing of the Purchase Contract. The Notary is paid by the buyer. A notary’s fees are around 1% depending on the purchase price of the property.
Step 8: What happens after completion
After completion the buyer will need an accountant who will determine the yearly property ownership tax (known as ENFIA in Greek). The amount will depend on the size of the property, its location and the year its building permit was issued. For example, a modern holiday home of 200sqm is around €500-800 yearly in property ownership tax. We can recommend accountants to carry out this task for you.
For non European citizens (now including British citizens) who have purchased a property of €800.000 and above in Greece are entitled to apply for a European Residency known as a Golden Visa.