For a cash purchase, payment logistics still matter. Ask the receiving bank and your advisers what identification, source-of-funds material and lead time they expect. That is mainly a timing risk, but transfer and currency-conversion costs may also sit outside the property estimate.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Buying in Greece: which legal and tax costs are easiest to miss?
- Thread starter FullGate
- Start date
On ownership restrictions, avoid a yes/no answer based only on “Greece.” Ask counsel to confirm the position for the buyer’s nationality, the specific Athens property and the proposed ownership vehicle. If no restriction applies, that written confirmation still closes the issue cleanly.
I’d add a due-diligence budget line even if the legal fee supposedly covers it. Ask whether that scope includes the flat, the seller’s ability to transfer it, the building’s approvals and any registered burdens, or whether specialist input would be separately charged.
sparrow.quiet
Homeowner
If your funds are not already in euros, exchange movement could dwarf some of these smaller items. It is not a Greek tax, but note the exchange assumption, conversion charge and payment date so the €694,600 price is not confused with the total amount needed.
The spreadsheet now sounds like it needs columns for amount, calculation base, payee, due date, refundable status, included tax, supporting document and person responsible. Add “one-off or recurring” too; that prevents annual charges from being buried among completion items.
One ambiguity remains: does the €694,600 figure include every amount charged by the developer under the purchase contract, or is it only the stated property price? Ask for a sample completion statement tied to that exact unit, even if some entries are still estimates.
And request the payment sequence, not merely the final total. A manageable overall figure can still create a problem if the deposit, professional retainers, taxes and balance all fall due close together.
For the first annual bill, ask which ownership date is used and whether anything is apportioned between seller and buyer in the contract. The adviser should answer for the expected completion timeline rather than giving a generic calendar-year explanation.
A useful final test would be two completion statements: one using the current expected date and assumptions, and another showing what changes if completion slips. That should expose timing-sensitive taxes, revised quotes, extra powers of attorney or repeated document costs.
I’d send advisers one consolidated request: confirm the sale’s tax treatment; list each amount and calculation base; identify exclusions; explain ownership, residency and inheritance implications; estimate annual property and building charges; and state what changes if completion is delayed. Then keep handover, financing and currency costs in separate sections.