Greece

Registering Property in

Greece

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: EUR 987,950.25
  • City: Athens

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
* 1 Receive site visit by the engineer

An inspection by an engineer is required for the new topographic site plan to be drafted.
1 day (simultaneous with proc. 2,3,4,5,6) Included in proc. 2
* 2 Obtain a topographic site plan sealed and signed by the engineer

After the inspection in Procedure 1, it is necessary to issue a recent topographic diagram depicting the boundaries of the property (new site plan) sealed and signed by the engineer. The plan shall be submitted to the notary public a few days before the conclusion of the sale contract. Given that the property has been owned by the seller for 10 years, we may easily assume that the topographic site plan used for the previous transaction (the acquisition of the property by the current seller) is still valid and therefore there is no need for a new topographic site plan.
1 day (simultaneous with proc.1,3,4,5,6) EUR 300
* 3 Search of information in the Land Registry and preparation of the sale agreement by a lawyer

A lawyer conducts a search of information in the Real Estate office and then prepares the sale agreement. Only lawyers are entitled to conduct a search in the Real Estate Office. The research in the Land Registry mentioned in procedure 3 may take more than 2 days, since the due diligence of the ownership titles goes back 20 years at least; the duration of the research also depends on the findings of the due diligence of the ownership titles of the real property.
An attorney’s participation at the conclusion of the sale contract is obligatory only if the contract value (determined by the real estate’s real value) exceeds € 29,347. The sale agreement is usually prepared by the notary and then reviewed by the seller’s and the buyer’s lawyers.


Agency: Land Registry (“Ypothikofilakeion”) 		1 days (simultaneous with proc.1, 2, 4,5,6) EUR 450 + 23% VAT
* 4 Seller obtains tax clearance certificate from the tax authority

The seller should provide a Tax certificate issued by the competent Tax Authority, according to Law 1882/1990 . The certificate assures that the seller has been paying his taxes accordingly. The tax certificate may also be obtained by the notary public.

Agency: Tax Authority 		1 day (simultaneous with proc.1 , 2,3,5,6) no cost
* 5 Seller obtains a certificate from Social Security Institute

The seller must obtain a certificate of good standing from the Social Security Institute, which assures that the seller (company) has been paying its social security.

Agency: Social Security Institute 		1 day (simultaneous with proc.1 , 2, 3, 4,6) no cost
* 6 Obtain tax clearance from the Municipality

The seller must obtain a tax clearance certificate from the Municipality. The certificate assures that the seller has been paying the real estate fees.

Agency: Municipality 		1 day (simultaneous with proc.1 , 2, 3, 4,5) no cost
7 Payment of property transfer tax at the Tax Authority

Parties obtain a copy of the declaration made before the Tax Authority competent in the locality of the property verifying that the buyer has paid the property transfer tax. The transfer tax is paid on the objective value of the property.

In April 2010, Greece introduced a new regulations increasing the transfer tax from a 1% of the property to a scale of 8% up to the amount of €20,000 and 10% for the excess (according to art. 22 & 23 of tax bill under no. 3842/2010). This tax bill under no. 3842/2010 “Tax Equity Reform and Tax Evasion Control” implemented in 2010, repelled the law no 3427/2005 which provided for the percentage of 1% to be applied in cases in which the property had been acquired by the seller after 01.01.2006.

Agency: Inland Revenue Service 		1 day 8% up to the amount of EUR 20,000 and 10% for the excess
8 Deliver the draft of the sale agreement to the Bar Association

The draft of the sale agreement is delivered to the Bar Association of the Lawyers. Article 37 par 1 of law 2915/2001 sets the value above which a lawyer must be retained to appear and be a signatory to a notarial document. These limits are: €29,347.03 for the areas of Athens and Piraeus Bar Associations. Bar association fees must be paid before the execution of the sales contract at the notary. Either the lawyer or the parties can deliver the agreement to the Bar Association.

Agency: Bar Association 		1 day Lawyer fees, according to the following schedule: Value of contract (in EUR) Lawyer fees (in EUR) Up to 44,020.55 1% of the contract value From 44,020.55 to 1,
9 A notary public notarizes the sale agreement and prepares the transfer deed

The notary notarizes the sale agreement and prepares the public deed in the presence of the parties and their lawyers, who must also sign.
The notary checks up on the documentation which legitimizes the legal representatives of the contracting parties (i.e. Minutes of the Board of Directors regarding the representation of the company published in the Government Gazette, Minutes of the Board of Directors and notarized Power of Attorney regarding the authorization of the contracting party to act on behalf of the company and execute a sale agreement regarding the specific real estate), the ID’s of seller and buyer and attaches to the Public Deed the documentation obtained in the previous procedures.

The documentation includes:
Site plan or Cadastral extract (obtained in Procedure 2)
Sale agreement (prepared in Procedures 3 and 4)
Tax clearance certificate (obtained in Procedure 5)
Social Security certificate (obtained in Procedure 6)
Municipal tax clearance (obtained in Procedure 7)
Verification of payment of transfer tax (obtained in Procedure 8)
Copy of the building license (already in possession of seller)

At the same time, the Ministerial Decision no 100692/08.07.2009, published in Official Gazette no 1487/23.07.2009 decreased the notary fees from 1.2% to 1% of the amount of the transaction.
1 day 1% of property value + 23% VAT
10 The deed is recorded under the name of the buyer at the Land Registry

As per article 369 of the Greek Civil Code, contracts relating to real property (such as a purchase document) must be drafted and executed by and before a notary public. The public deed is delivered to the Real Estate Office to be recorded under the name of the buyer. At the same time, parties request a property certificate, an ownership certificate, a non-opposition certificate and a records certificate from the Real Estate Office. The transfer of deeds usually takes place during the day of application.

Agency: Land Registry (“Ypothikofilakeion”) 		8 days (1 day for registration and 7 days for issuing the certificates) 0.475% of property value (registrar’s rights)+ 23% VAT + EUR 5 for each certificate (4 certificates)
11 Registration of the transfer in the Cadastre (ktimatologio)

The transfer is registered in the Cadastre. During this period the Registrar checks the legality of the deeds’ transfer by using the cadastral database.

Agency: Cadastre (“Ktimatologio”) 		1 days EUR 35 + EUR 5 for each certificate
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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