Nothing about buying in Greece is difficult in isolation. What catches people out is sequence: several steps depend on one that quietly takes three weeks, and finding that out late is what turns a two-month purchase into a five-month one.
1. Get your tax number and a bank account
A Greek tax number (AFM) is the key that unlocks everything else — the bank account, the utilities, the purchase itself. Start it before you have chosen a property, not after your offer is accepted. A Greek bank account is the practical way to move purchase funds and to keep a clean record of where they came from, which you will be asked about.
2. Appoint your own lawyer
Independent of the agent and independent of the seller. Their job is the title search: who owns it, what is registered against it, whether what is built matches what is permitted, and whether anything is outstanding on the building. This is the single step where money is genuinely saved, and the only one nobody should economise on.
3. Search with the paperwork in mind
Two properties at the same price are not the same purchase if one has a clean, complete document file and the other does not. Ask for the documents early — the reaction to that request tells you a great deal before a single lawyer has read anything.
- Title deed and its history.
- Planning permit and certificate that what stands matches it.
- Energy performance certificate.
- Proof that building charges and property tax are settled.
- For an apartment, the building regulation and the share it assigns.
4. Offer, preliminary agreement, deposit
Once an offer is accepted, a preliminary agreement fixes price and timeline and takes the property off the market. Have your lawyer draft or review the conditions before any money moves — specifically, what happens to the deposit if the title check finds a problem.
5. The notary, and the transfer
In Greece the notary is a public official who draws up and validates the final deed; both sides use the same one. Transfer tax is paid before signing, the deed is signed in person or by proxy, and the transfer is then registered. Budget for notary, registration, legal and agency costs on top of the purchase price, and get each of them quoted in advance rather than estimated.
6. After the keys
- Register the deed and keep the registration certificate with the title.
- Transfer the utilities into your name.
- Declare the property in your annual Greek tax filing, whether or not you are resident.
- If it will be rented, set that up properly from the first month — retro-fitting compliance is more expensive than doing it once.
Put this to work
Every listing on Lagoniko is deduplicated and document-checked, and every area is one click from the map.
