Acquiring property in Greece

By Christos ILIOPOULOS* 

Athens, 28 March 2025 

Buying property in Greece requires both legal and technical due diligence to ensure a smooth transaction and to avoid legal or technical issues. A prospective buyer, especially one who does not live in Greece, would consider the following, once he/she has decided which property to buy and at what price.  

The most important part of due diligence in acquiring real estate property in Greece is the legal title search. Hiring a lawyer specializing in real estate law is essential to verify property ownership, legal status, and any encumbrances. The attorney will be chosen and hired by the buyer and ideally should not have been already involved with the seller, to avoid ethical conflict. The most important issue is the title deed verification, which will ensure for the buyer the confirmation that the seller has a clear and undisputed ownership title. The title check will verify and examine not only the last acquisition of the property by the present seller, but also the previous deeds and transactions, going back a minimum of twenty and ideally forty or more years, to ensure that proper legal transfers of the property have taken place in the past. The lawyer will also ensure the title is registered correctly with the Hellenic Cadastre (Ktimatologio) more recently, and with the old land registry several years or decades ago. The title search will also include check for any legal burdens (e.g., mortgages, liens, claims, or legal disputes). 

Another part of the legal check involves tax and financial obligations. It will confirm the seller has paid all property taxes, including ENFIA (property tax) and municipal taxes and it will require the seller to obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate. A prospective buyer in Greece presently (March 2025) will not have to pay VAT on a newly built property, since the related tax regulations have been suspended for the last several years. It is not certain, however, for how many more years the suspension of the law for VAT on new houses / apartments will last.  

Especially when the property to be acquired is not an apartment, but a house or a plot, the seller should retain also a civil engineer or architect, to check legal compliance & permits, to ensure that any structures on the property were built legally and have the required permits, to confirm compliance with Greek planning laws and to check for any pending fines or violations. The technical check will also include a recent survey map for verification that the plot or land complies with local zoning laws and whether it is suitable for the intended use (residential, commercial, or investment). Checks with regards to any building restrictions, especially in coastal, archaeological, or forested areas must also be done.  

The deed by which the property will be acquired is signed before a notary in Greece, who has the responsibility to collect, review and attach to the deed all certificates and other documents required by law, in order to ensure that the recent measurements of the property match the titles and in general to provide an accurate legal and technical description of the property in a way that outlines a detailed identity for the real estate which is being transferred from the seller to the buyer. The notarial deed must be registered with the land registry or cadastre in order to obtain legal validity. The notary is traditionally chosen and paid by the buyer.  

Although payment of the consideration (the price for the property) by the buyer can be done via a foreign bank, it is advisable that the buyer should open an account at a Greek bank, in order to be able to do transactions related to the property to be purchased.  

The buyer must obtain a Greek tax number called AFM. The buyer will remain a foreign tax resident for the Greek tax authority, so that he/she does not have to file taxes in Greece for income acquired in another country. 

*Christos ILIOPOULOS, attorney at

the Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M. 

www.greekadvocate.eu 

e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr