Power of attorney abroad for transactions in Greece

By Christos ILIOPOULOS*

When someone wants to sign a real estate transaction in Greece but does not reside in the country, he/she can sign the deed indirectly, by signing a power of attorney (POA) at the country where he/she lives, by which they empower someone who lives in Greece to sign on their behalf. The person who signs the POA is the principal and the person who receives the mandates and the powers to act on behalf of the principal, is the agent or attorney.

The POA can be signed in the foreign country, at the Consulate of Greece which is nearest the residence of the principal. In that case, the POA will be executed only in the Greek language. If the principal does not understand Greek, an interpreter will interpret the text of the POA in the language the principal understands. Alternatively, the POA can be signed at a notary public, in the language of the country where the notary resides or even in Greek sometimes. If the POA is signed before a notary, it usually needs the Apostille, meaning the certification of the Convention of the Hague of 5 October 1961, to be valid in Greece.

Signing a POA facilitates the property transaction in Greece, without the need the party to be present in Greece during the various legal stages of that transaction and at the time of the closing and of the signing of the final deed. It is possible that both parties to the transaction are not physically present, since both may have signed powers of attorney, so the transaction can be signed by two agents or attorneys. In Greek law it is even possible, the same person to sign on behalf of both parties, provided the parties do not have conflicting interests and the POA text specifically allows it. For example, the same agent could sign a parental gift from parent to child, representing parent and child at the same time, but not a negotiated property purchase deed, since seller and buyer usually have conflicting interests and thus can’t be represented by the same attorney.

In the case of a parental gift, where the parent gifts real estate property to a child, if neither party is physically present in Greece, two powers of attorney must be signed, each of them with different content. One is signed by the parent, and primarily provides power to the agent to gift the property to a specific child. The other POA is signed by the child, primarily giving power to the agent to accept the specific parental gift.

Equally, if the transaction involves the sale/purchase of immovable property, each party, seller and buyer, can sign the preparatory documents and the closing deed either physically, or by power of attorney, which they have previously signed at a Greek Consulate, or at a notary, in Greece or abroad.

Sometimes, the entire process involves more than one transaction. For instance, it may be that the seller first needs to accept the inheritance of a deceased, and then to actually sell the inherited property. This will be done with two separate deeds, both signed before a notary in Greece. One is the acceptance of inheritance and the other is the sale deed. Both transactions can be included in the same POA, as long as the principal is aware of the legal situation, has discussed in detail with an attorney in Greece and has made up his mind on whether he will sell the property right after he has formally inherited it.

In other cases, once a property sale has been negotiated, it is discovered by the notary and the attorneys, that the property deed needs to be modified and corrected, before the asset can be sold. Usually, when a deed must be corrected, the agent (attorney) working for the

seller, must have specific POA to sign a specific type of modification of the title deed. Even if the seller and his attorney in Greece have diligently prepared the case and the specific POA which is required, it may be that subsequently it is the civil engineer who discovers different technical specifications of the property, which are not mentioned in the much older deed, which require a modification of the title of the property, before it can be sold.

The principal, who signs the POA, must trust his/her agent, to whom they give powers to act on behalf of them, with regards to their property in Greece, in order to ensure that their interests are served and their instructions are followed.

The specific text of each POA must be provided by the attorney and/or the notary in Greece, who are responsible for drafting the deed of transfer of the property. Each case has significant particularities and, although basic standard drafts of a purchase or a sale POA do exist, in the vast majority of cases they need significant modifications and adaptions to the specific circumstances of each property transaction, given the numerous requirements of Greek law for property transactions.

*Christos ILIOPOULOS, attorney at

the Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M. www.greekadvocate.eu

e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr