The Legal Process of Buying Property in Greece as a Foreigner

The legal process of buying property in Greece runs through eight concrete steps: get a Greek tax number, appoint a lawyer and a notary, run a full title search at the Land Registry or Cadastre, check border-area restrictions if they apply, sign a preliminary contract with a deposit, pay the transfer tax, sign the final deed before a notary, and register that deed. Miss any one of them and you can lose the deposit, the property, or both. This is the process a foreign buyer actually goes through, in order, with the legal points that matter at each stage.

Step 1: Get your AFM tax number

Nothing moves in a Greek property purchase until you have an AFM, the Greek tax identification number issued by the tax authority, the AADE. You cannot open a Greek bank account, pay the transfer tax, or sign the deed without one. You do not need to be physically in Greece to get it; a lawyer holding a power of attorney can obtain it for you, usually within a few days. Non-EU buyers normally also appoint a local tax representative. Get the AFM first, because every later step depends on it.

Step 2: Appoint an independent lawyer and a notary

Greece uses two separate legal professionals, and they do different jobs. Your lawyer (dikigoros) represents your interest, runs the due diligence, and drafts or reviews the contracts. The notary (symvolaiografos) is a public officer who is neutral, drafts the final deed, and certifies that the transaction complies with the law. The notary does not protect your interest; that is the lawyer's job. Insist on a lawyer who is independent of the seller and the estate agent. This is the single most common place where foreign buyers cut a corner and regret it.

Step 3: Run a full title search at the Cadastre or Land Registry

Greece has been migrating from the old Mortgage Registry (Ypothikofylakeio) system to the national Cadastre (Ktimatologio). Your lawyer searches the records to confirm the seller's ownership chain, and to check for mortgages, liens, court claims, pre-notations, and boundary disputes. Greek property frequently carries inherited ownership shares and old undeclared additions, so the search also confirms that the building is legally declared and that any past planning violations have been settled under the relevant urban planning legislation. Do not skip the engineer's check: a civil engineer confirms the structure matches its permits and issues the certificate of legality required for the deed.

Step 4: Check border-area restrictions

This is the step foreign buyers most often miss. Under Greek Law 1892/1990, property in designated border regions (paramethories periohes), which include parts of the northern mainland, the Dodecanese, the eastern Aegean islands, Crete, and other zones, is subject to restrictions on acquisition by non-EU nationals. A non-EU buyer must apply to a special committee, usually through the local Decentralized Administration, for a lifting of the prohibition before they can acquire. EU and EFTA nationals can apply for an exemption more easily, but the obligation still exists. If your target property sits in one of these zones and you skip the permit, the transfer can be void. Your lawyer must confirm this early, because the approval takes time.

Step 5: Sign the preliminary contract and pay a deposit

Once due diligence is clean, buyer and seller usually sign a preliminary agreement that fixes the price, the timeline, and the deposit, commonly around 10 percent. In Greece this is often a private agreement, though it can be done as a notarial pre-contract for stronger protection. The deposit terms decide what happens if either side walks away, so the lawyer should make sure the contract states clearly whether the deposit is refundable and under what conditions.

Step 6: Pay the property transfer tax

Before the final deed can be signed, the buyer pays the property transfer tax. For resale properties this is 3.09 percent of the property's taxable value, declared and paid through the AADE system. New-build properties delivered by a developer can instead fall under a 24 percent VAT regime, although VAT on new builds has been subject to suspension in recent years, so confirm the current treatment for your specific purchase. The tax is paid before the notary will execute the deed.

Step 7: Sign the final deed before the notary

The notary reads and executes the final contract of sale (symvolaio) in the presence of both parties or their attorneys-in-fact. At this point the price is paid in full, ordinarily by bank transfer for traceability, which also matters for proving the source of funds and for any later Golden Visa application. The notary confirms the tax has been paid, the engineer's certificate is in place, and any border-area permit has been granted. Once signed, ownership passes.

Step 8: Register the deed

The transfer is not complete against third parties until the deed is registered at the Cadastre or the Land Registry. Your lawyer files it, and registration is what makes your ownership enforceable against everyone else. Keep the registration certificate; you will need it for utilities, taxes, residency applications, and any future sale.

Budget for the costs around the price

Beyond the purchase price, expect roughly 8 to 10 percent in additional costs: the 3.09 percent transfer tax, notary fees, Land Registry or Cadastre fees, legal fees of around 1 to 2 percent, and agent commission. Whether the purchase also qualifies you for the Golden Visa depends on the value and location; Greece raised its residency-by-investment property thresholds to EUR 800,000 in high-demand areas such as central Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, and Santorini, and EUR 400,000 elsewhere, with a EUR 250,000 route for qualifying commercial-to-residential conversions.

Two related guides are worth reading alongside this process: our overview of whether foreigners can own property in Greece and our list of top property developers in Greece for foreign buyers. If you are buying new-build off-plan, verify the developer's delivery record first; platforms such as Bektu (https://bektu.com) track which builders actually complete and hand over, which is the one risk the conveyancing process alone cannot price.