The procedure of buying property in Greece includes various stages, some of which are the same or similar to the procedure of purchasing property in other countries.
However, there are a few details which, it would be wise for every buyer to be aware of, as they could save him a considerable amount of money, time and hassle. A basic condition for the purchase of property in Greece is, in mostly all cases, the obligatory presence of a lawyer, who counsels the buyer on the legal validity of the property titles and about other matters pertaining to the transaction.
Another basic parameter is that the purchase of property can only take place at a notary public office, with the signing of a contract document, which will then be transcribed to the mortgage bureau or land registry office of the area, or else the purchase will be invalid and even if a money transaction has taken place, the buyer might still not own the property. This has to be noted because in some countries in which expats reside and their children and/or grandchildren have been born, the facts are slightly different and there might be confusion concerning what the facts are in Greece.
Every buyer of property in Greece, who does not live in Greece permanently, and hence does not declare any taxable income, must be able to prove with documents, where s/he found the money to purchase the property. Sufficient proof for this is the importing of foreign exchange from abroad to a greek bank in Greece, which is proven with the “little pink slip”, ie. the only token for foreign exchange imports. This receipt, which is only given out once by the bank in Greece, is to be deposited with the Tax Office the following year of the purchase and it proves that the expat imported foreign exchange to Greece from his country of residence abroad.
If the expat buyer of the property has not imported foreign exchange from abroad, neither has enough declared income from previous years in Greece to cover the cost of the property, taxes and the legal costs, then he risks the Tax Office assuming he bought the property with undeclared income in Greece and to tax him on that along with a fine.
A second important detail in buying property in Greece is that the transfer tax is waived for first-time home buyers. Normally, the tax a buyer must pay when purchasing property is about 10%, but could be as much as 19% VAT for newly built properties. If, however the buyer is purchasing his first home and does not own any land, apartment or house in his name, he can be excluded from paying the tax.
Expats are entitled to the same waiver, whether or not they reside permanently in Greece, on the condition that they are registered in a registry book of a municipality of Greece. This is important, because there are many second and third generation expats, who are born outside of Greece and have not been registered at the Consuls, nor in any municipality of Greece, and that could cost them the waiver, and in turn would mean they would have to pay the transfer tax or VAT amounting to several thousands of euro, which they could have saved.
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