Greece

Dear Sir/Madam, Because of receiving huge number of inquiries each day which regards to procedures and costs associated with properties in Greece, we would like to explain the problem below.

Purchase of apartments and locals in Greece


PROCEDURES

Buying procedure:

Procedures and costs - purchase of apartments and premises - GreeceConditions of sale and purchase apartments in Greece are the same as in Poland and whole European Union. Purchase is made by notarial act which is prepared and signed in the country in which the property is buying. Transactions in Greece are performed only in Euro.

There are two variants of purchasing:

  1. First variant is to buy an apartment during the investment departure – a visit to Greece.
  2. Second option is to buy property without necessity of visiting to Greece. We are always encourage to use the first variant, it provides a personal knowledge of terrain, surrounding area and immediate neighborhood, what is very helpful in making this type decisions.

We would to emphasize that ILS Poland Group is a licensed broker (who has liability insurance) and co-founder of the Polish Chamber of Real Estate – PIN.

We care about the best buyer interest in every purchase option. There are three possibilities of signing the contract which has to carry about client interests: in Poland, in Greece or by correspondence.

In both variants, buying property is associated with several basic steps. That process is completely carried out by the ILS Poland Group and looks as follows:

  1. Signing a contract or
  2. Organization the investment trip, including both ways flight and hotel reservation
  3. Pickup from airport and transfer to the hotel and than signing the agency agreement
  4. Presentation of alternative properties according to customer specifies criteria and indication of current developers offers
  5. We negotiate the offer price with the seller on client request. Negotiations are most effective when the payment is a one-time or if you are buying at least 2 apartments
  6. Payment of reservation (usually about 1.00-1.500 EUR) and signing the reservation contract.
  7. Translation and negotiating terms of the preliminary agreement
  8. Signing of the preliminary agreement and payment of the first tranche which can not be less than 30% of the apartment value within 14 days including into account payments already made a reservation fee (eg. 1.000EUR)
  9. Payment of the remaining 70% of the value in installments and dates agreed individually during signing the preliminary contract.
  10. Receiving and commissioning of premises, verification of the facts and parameters of the local in terms of documentation
  11. Organization and signing the final agreement (after formal legal putting the building for use) with a notary in Greece with a sworn translator. Usually until that moment the seller is expected the full price, though it is possible to pay during notarial act or after it in date agreed with seller (in cash or by bank transfer).

Nevertheless, the sites will is clearly specified in the contract what guarantees the security of transaction. Content of the agreement defines the brokers responsibilities and steps for its realization.

To meet your expectations, to resolve any doubts and answer the most frequently asked questions we would like to stress that developers with which we have signed contracts are always tested by us. They often have state guarantee, already comlpleted projects and satisfied customers (eg. Our natives from Poland permanently living in Poland, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway and other countries around world including lawyers, economists etc.)

COSTS

Purchase costs:

To any real estate purchase, in this case an apartment in Greece, except offer price should be added:

  1. Notarial transfer agreement costs that is notary fee and the tax on the civil law transactions (same as in Poland) whole is paid to the notary. Notary fee is a cost ranges from tens to hundreds Euro (usually 1.3% of property value). The tax on the civil law in Greece is 9% by value of the property to 15,000 euros, 11% of the amount in excess of € 15,000, in some areas, these values are in turn 7, and 9%.
  2. In addition, the customer gets a notary municipal tax, equal to 3% of the value of the property.
  3. The fee for entry in the land register, is 0.45% of the value of the property.
  4. Costs of flight in both directions and stay in any hotel (it is a optional cost because we are also supporting complex transactions without flight).

Permanent costs:

In the territory of the Hellenic Republic all flats-apartments are acres. Every owner of the apartment (assuming that it is an apartment with many facilities in a closed complex) is required to sign a contract to manage the whole complex (the equivalent of our rent) with the administrator – usually developer. Price of the year-round property management is in the range from 10 to 20 euros per square meter for apartment.

Components of permanent costs:

To take full illustrate, the above costs we are giving an example of studio apartment with total area 27,73m2. We assume that the cost of year-round maintaining for this apartment will be 10 EUR/m2 per year (according to the management agreement) which provide 27,73m2 x 10EUR what is 277,30EUR per year. This fee forms a cost of managing complex and includes the maintenance of common areas in that:

  • front desk,
  • clock protection,
  • swimming pools cleaning,
  • mowing lawns,
  • free protected parking for apartments owners,
  • lifts conservation,
  • renovation fund,
  • saunas keeping,
  • gym, fitness and much more, etc.
  • property tax,
  • proportional flat fee for media (electricity and water).

Additional costs:

Additional fees are set on the basis of counter values and includes electricity and water consumption. Sometimes the fee for the property management includes also a flat charge for electricity and water accounted in annual fee or overpayment after the end of the calendar year.

Costs of complex ILS POLAND GROUP service:

ILS POLAND GROUP provides comprehensive service and conducting every transaction (from own offers bank or from sources indicated by the customer). During the purchase of apartments on the primary market the broker salary is covered by developer so the buyer is exempt from paying commission!
It is worth to mention that in some cases, when the apartments are more expensive some developers are also covering travel and accommodation costs.

*Any commission for brokering activities including comprehensive service and carry out of transaction can be determined only when you buy the smallest and cheapest apartments in the promotional ILS Poland Group terms, only when the seller is an individual or developer who does not pay remuneration. ILS Poland Group salary is set individually basing on the property price. The client is informed about this before taking decision.

ATENTION: ILS POLAND GROUP provides comprehensive after-sale service including assistance the immense renovations of houses and during apartments are to be furnished and equipped, basing on individual agreements or separate contracts.

Additional and useful links:

  1. Embassy: >>https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-athens 
  2. Wikipedia: >>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece
  3. Search for real estates in Greece for sale: >>https://en.ilspoland.com/real-estates/greece
  4. Search for apartments in Greece for sale: >>https://en.ilspoland.com/real-estates/greece/apartments/sale

 

Purchase of houses and plots in Greece


PROCEDURES

Buying procedure:

Procedures and costs - purchase of houses and lands - GreeceConditions of sale and purchase plots and houses in Greece are the same as in Poland and whole European Union. Purchase is made by notarial act which is prepared and signed in the country in which the property is buying. Transactions in Greece are performed only in Euro.

The process of buying houses and plots looks similar to buying an apartment:

  1. First variant is to buy house with a plot or the same plot during the investment trip – a visit to Greece,
  2. Second option is to buy property without necessity of visiting to Greece. We always encourage to use the first variant, because it  provides a personal knowledge of terrain, surrounding area and immediate neighborhood, what is very helpful in making this type of decisions.

We emphasize that the ILS Poland Group is a licensed broker (who has liability insurance) and co-founder of the Polish Chamber of Real Estate – PIN. We care about the best buyer interest in every purchase option.

There are three possibilities of signing the contract which has to carry about client interests: in Poland, in Greece or by correspondence.

  1. Signing a contract or
  2. Organization the investment trip, including both ways flight and hotel reservation
  3. Pick up from the airport and transfer to the hotel and then signing the agency agreement
  4. Presentation of alternative properties according to customer specifies criteria
  5. We negotiate the offer price with the seller on client request
  6. After making decision about buying property - paying the fee reservation. This payment should not be less than 1.000 EUR to the notary deposit account as a pledge for the seller. The pledge will be counted to the purchase price during signing the final agreement
  7. Organization and signing the final agreement with a notary in Greece with a sworn translator. Usually until that moment the seller is expected the full price, though it is possible to pay during notarial act or after it in date agreed with seller (in cash or by bank transfer).

IMPORTANT 

Registered company does not doing business, it occurs only as the owner of the land and therefore once a year should be accounted  so called PIT-0 in the relevant local tax office – on client request by ILS POLAND GROUP.

Otherwise, the clearly specified sites` will in the contract guarantee the security of transaction. Content of the agreement defines the brokers responsibilities and steps for its realization.
To meet your expectations, in order to resolve any doubts and to answer the most frequently asked questions we would like to stress that available houses with plots from the secondary market comes directly from the owner-sellers and we are always checking it against formal aspect.

Cost of purchasing:

To any plot purchase in Greece, except offer price should be added:

  1. Notarial transfer agreement costs that is notary fee and the tax on the civil law transactions (same as in Poland) whole is paid to the notary. Notary fee is a cost ranges from tens to hundreds Euro (usually 1.3% of property value). The tax on the civil law in Greece is 9% by value of the property to 15,000 euros, 11% of the amount in excess of € 15,000, in some areas, these values are in turn 7, and 9%,
  2. In addition, the customer gets a notary municipal tax, equal to 3% of the value of the property,
  3. The fee for entry in the land register, is 0.45% of the value of the property,
  4. Costs of flight in both directions and stay in any hotel (it is a optional cost because we are also supporting complex transactions without flight).

Permanent costs:

Property tax - an annual property tax, however, the need to pay this tax applies only to property owners whose value is equal to or exceeds the amount of 243,000 euros, and the amount of tax ranges from 0.3% to 0.8% of the value of the property.

Additional fees:

Additional fees are based on the counter values, it includes normally consumption of electricity , water and waste disposal.

Costs of complex ILS Poland Group service:

*ILS Poland Group provides comprehensive service and conducting every transaction (from own offers bank or from sources indicated by the customer). The brokerage activities commissions including a comrehensive service and carrying out a transaction is determined individually in Bulgaria, of course assuming that the buyers intention is to purchase only house or land.

ATENTION

ILS POLAND GROUP provides comprehensive after-sale service including assinstance the immense renovations of houses and during furnishing and equipping it, basing on individual agreements or separate contracts.

Additional and useful links:

  1. Embassy: >>https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-athens 
  2. Wikipedia: >>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece
  3. Search for real estates in Greece for sale: >>https://en.ilspoland.com/real-estates/greece
  4. Search for houses in Greece for sale: >>https://en.ilspoland.com/real-estates/greece/houses/sale