Buying Property in Greece as a Foreign Buyer

What a foreign buyer may own

The general rule 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 limits that follow depend on where the property is, not on who the buyer is. 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 countries were lifted, so those buyers now deal freely in these areas. EFTA is the European Free Trade Association. 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 word “border” suggests. 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. It goes to a committee set up within the Decentralised Administration, the regional arm of the Greek state, for the region concerned. The committee is chaired by the region’s General Secretary and includes 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 a majority of its full number, and the representative of the Ministry of National Defence must vote in favour. That single requirement is the substance of the whole procedure. It is a defence control, carried out through a property formality.

This has two consequences for a buyer. The application takes time, so it has to be started early rather than discovered late. And a purchase that goes ahead without the consent may do worse than 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, the legal transfer of property, 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, the national property register. This includes 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. It is asked before signature or not at all.

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

One point about the notary 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. Confusing 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 purchase value is €800,000 in the regions of Attica and Thessaloniki, on Mykonos and Santorini, and on islands with a population above 3,100. It is €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 restored listed buildings. 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 the person selling the property can answer none of them.

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

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

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

Is the consent needed, and how long will it take? This is 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. Only in that structure is the advice 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 shows.
3. Whether the buildings match the permits, in detail, including later additions.
4. What services reach the property, such as water, power, road access and drainage, and whether any of them cross 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.