Buying Property in Greece as a Foreign Buyer

What a foreign buyer may own

Start with the general rule, because it is broader than most first-time buyers expect.

Greece does not reserve property ownership for its own nationals. A buyer from another country may own a house, an apartment or land outright, hold it in their own name, let it, and sell it on. Nationality does not create a lesser form of title.

The qualifications that follow are about where, not about who — and they are geographical rather than personal.

The border areas

Greek law designates certain regions as border areas, and it restricts property transactions in them.

The instrument is Law 1892/1990. Restrictions on Greek nationals and on nationals of EU and EFTA member states were lifted, so those buyers now deal freely in these areas. For a buyer from outside that group, the prohibition stands until it is lifted for the particular transaction.

The designated areas are more extensive than the phrase “border” suggests, and they take in a great many islands as well as the northern and eastern frontiers. On the islands the rule therefore reaches straight into the parts of the country a foreign buyer is most likely to be looking at.

How consent works

The prohibition is lifted case by case, under Article 26 of the same law.

The application states the intended use of the property and goes to a committee constituted within the Decentralised Administration for the region, chaired by its General Secretary and including representatives of the Ministries of National Defence, of the Economy and of Citizen Protection. It sits for a 5-year term.

The committee decides by majority of all its members, and the representative of the Ministry of National Defence must vote in favour. That single requirement is the substance of the whole procedure: this is a defence control wearing the clothes of a property formality.

Two consequences for a buyer. The application takes time, and it has to be started early rather than discovered late. And a purchase that proceeds without the consent does not merely stall — it can fail at registration, which is the stage at which ownership would otherwise pass.

What has to exist before a notary will sign

Greek conveyancing runs through a notary, and the sequence is fixed.

A Greek tax number (AFM) for every buyer. Nothing proceeds without it.

The title chain and the encumbrances, checked at the land registry or the cadastre — including whether the property is registered at all, which is not a given everywhere.

The planning position of the buildings. Whether what stands on the land is what the permit allowed is a question that has caught a great many buyers on Greek islands, and it is asked before signature or not at all.

The notarial deed itself, executed before a notary and then registered. Registration, not signature, is what completes the transfer.

One point about the notary is worth being clear on, because it is misread constantly. The notary is a public officer who gives the deed its legal form. They are not the buyer’s representative, and they do not act in the buyer’s interest against the seller’s. A buyer who wants somebody on their side instructs their own lawyer.

The residence permit is a separate question

A property purchase and a residence permit are two different transactions that happen to involve the same building, and conflating them is the most common mistake in this market.

Greece’s permanent residence permit for investors sets its own thresholds, which have risen. The minimum acquisition value is €800,000 in the regions of Attica and Thessaloniki, on Mykonos and Santorini, and on islands with a population above 3,100; €400,000 elsewhere in the country. The investment must be in one property of at least 120 m², not several smaller ones adding up to the figure. Reduced thresholds apply to defined categories such as buildings converted to residential use and listed buildings restored. A property used for the permit may not be let short-term.

Those are the statutory thresholds and nothing more. Whether a particular person qualifies, on a particular property, is a matter for the migration authorities and for the applicant’s own Greek lawyer.

Where the judgement has to come from

Four questions decide whether a purchase in Greece is a good one, and not one of them can be answered by the person selling the property.

Is the title clean, and is the building legal? A Greek lawyer instructed by the buyer, working from the registry and the planning file.

What is it worth? An independent valuation, from somebody with no interest in the sale.

What will be owed, and by whom? Transfer tax, annual property tax, income tax on any letting, and the treatment in the buyer’s own country. An accountant, before the offer rather than after it.

Is the consent needed, and how long will it take? Answered before a deposit moves, not after.

The pattern is the same in each case. The professional must be independent of the seller, of the agent and of each other, and be paid by the buyer. That is the only structure in which the advice is worth having.

What to establish before making an offer

1. Whether the property sits in a designated border area, and if so, what the consent procedure will take.
2. Whether the property is registered at the cadastre, and what the registry actually shows.
3. Whether the buildings match the permits, in detail, including later additions.
4. What the property is connected to — water, power, road access, drainage — and whether any of it crosses land belonging to somebody else.
5. Where the shoreline is. No part of the beach comes with the house, whatever the particulars imply: see the Greek shoreline and who may use it.