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A FEW NOTES ON BUYING PROPERTY IN GREECE.
These notes are only intended as a guide they are merely to demonstrate how property is bought and sold in some European countries, these notes particularly referring to Greece.
LEGAL MATTERS.
Legal procedures in Greece are very simple but there are a
number of people involved such as Notary, tax authority, Bank manager etc, which
takes up time. You chose a lawyer ( We help you with this and give you a choice if you
wish ) and this Notary Public must be
registered in the area you are buying in. Property transactions
are concluded in Crete by a licensed conveyance ( A lawyer is
not used ) His job is to check the title and make sure the
contract is correct. The area in which you buy has a government
appointed Notary Public who looks after the Property register for
that district and makes the contract, witnesses your signature
and those of the vendor and registers the new ownership. You get
official copies of the deeds and the originals are kept in the
Property Register office. I do not recommend using an Athens lawyer
unless you are are in Athens, and if possible avoid it for other places, as the job will take much, much longer and
cost you twice as much. Chose a local lawyer wherever possible.
EXPENSES.
The purchase tax, the Notary and Lawyer's fees in Greece, are
always paid by the buyer and the purchase tax is calculated on
the assessed value ("officially estimated price") of
the property, this is usually lower than the true purchase price.
At a guess sometimes about 2/3rds the value.
The purchase tax is a variable tax between 9% & 13%. On the
first 14673 € the tax is 9%
and on the remainder the tax is 11% to 13% ) Less tax is paid if
you buy as a couple. It does work out cheaper. The Notary's fee
is 2%. The lawyers fee is between 1.5% and 2%.
One very important point to remember about taxes is that if you
buy new build you save a lot of money in purchase tax than if you
buy old or resale property.
Occasionally throughout this Web site you will find prices
where the expenses are included, but this is usually stated, otherwise expenses will be due,
and I suggest you allow up to 10% on top of the asking price to cover all the
transfer fees.
SAVING MONEY.
I know I have told you before but you really can save money by
buying a house off plan. If you buy a plot the tax is about 5% of
the purchase price of the plot, whereas if you buy an existing
house including the legal fees the tax is about 15% of the buying
price. You save money by buying off plan, because you pay less
tax by buying the house before it is built. This way you only pay
the tax on the plot and no more when the house is finished.
If we find you a property a 1 or 2% fee may be charged by the agents as a finders fee ( Not always ) and helping you buy the property, with introductions to the Notary and Interpreters and the tax office and for all the other expenses such as the Web site work and publicity costs, otherwise all commissions are included in the price of the property. You have to have a tax number to buy a property, so don't panic this is not for income tax. ( You pay your taxes in the country of your residence as normal). The agent will assist you to get this at the local tax office, all you will need is your passport. This will be charged in with the extras when you make the purchase and is dealt with in the summary below.
LOCAL TAXES.
Owners of properties are subject to a very small Public Tax which
is payable nowadays annually and varies with the size of the property. The Electricity bill comes
every two months and also covers the T.V. License.
VALUE ADDED TAX.
If there is a new building for sale then there will be
a charge of 19% on the assessed value. ( Usually about 2/3ds the actual value )
Some developers will absorb some if not all of the tax. If the property that
gets taxed with VAT has already been sold to someone and that person is selling
his house now, the new buyer will pay 1% of transfer tax on the assessed value
of the property if the assessed value has not changed since the fist buyer
bought it. If the assessed value has changed (increased) then the new buyer will
pay 20% transfer tax on the difference. For example if a house was sold with the
assessed value of 50.000 Euro and the buyer paid VAT 19%= 9500 Euro and is now
selling the property. If the assessed value has
not changed the new buyer will pay 1% of 50.000 which is 500 Euro. If
the assessed value has gone up for example to 55.000 Euro then he will pay 20% of 5000 which is 1000 Euro of transfer tax.
PROPERTY TAXES.
If you are a couple who own a property whose assessed value
exceeds 352.170 € then you are subject to a property tax, As an
example if the property objective value is estimated at 322.800 €
then the tax would be about 440 Euros or £300 per annum.
PLANNING PERMISSION.
In Greek law if a plot is not within the town plan, permission
can be granted to build if the plot size is a minimum of 4,000
Sq Mts as long as there are no forestry or archaeology
restrictions. Permission can also be granted for plots of 2.000
Sq Mts or less if they come within the planning zone or they have
frontage to a principle municipal road. If a plot does fall
within the town zone or plan then density can be increased by as
much as 70%.
We can recommend architects who will give advice, make the
drawings and carry out the procedure for obtaining planning
permission, and see the whole process through for you. Building
costs will vary according to the plot position / sloping ground / hammer needed
for rock, etc, and specification of materials.
FINANCING.
United Kingdom mortgages and loans are not available for buying
property in Greece. However mortgages in Greece are much cheaper and easy to arrange.
Unfortunately at the moment the Banks are not lending and nobody knows when they
will start again.
Greece changed its currency on January the 1st 2002 to Euros and finally ditched the Drachma on the 28th February 2002. All property on this web site is now valued in Euros but with a currency calculator button for a quick assessment for your own currency. If you wish to change Euro currency to your own national currency then a currency calculator is available on the front page. Using this calculator you can check the up to date comparison between the Euros and your own currency if you wish.
TRANSFERRING MONEY.
I strongly urge you to use somebody like World Wide Currencies to
transfer your money to your new bank accounts in Greece, these
bank accounts will be opened for you with the help of the agent
or vendor as soon as you decide to buy. In any case you will need a local bank account to
send your pocket money too after you have made your purchase. This can save you a lot of extra
expense using High St banks which are notorious for charging high
fees. World Wide Currencies buy Euros at an advantageous rate for
you and do not charge any commission.
Worldwide Currencies Limited (05892452) is
registered in the UK with HM Revenue & Customs as an Money Service Business
(12242572 ) and fully authorised by the Financial Services Authority under the
Payment Services Regulations 2009 (525361) for the provision of payment
services.
REGULAR TRANSFER OF YOUR PENSION OR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS
Ask Brian For the Word Document on Transferring money on a regular basis. Doing it this way will save you a lot of money.
DEPOSITS.
Make sure you have quick access to a deposit of about 10 % in
order to secure your property. It is to your advantage to make
sure the price you have agreed is fixed for a period of at least
2 to 3 months, this means that if the person selling you the
property renages on your agreement ( Such as trying to up the
price.) then he must return twice the value of the deposit.
Should you the buyer renage then you lose your deposit. If the
sale falls through because there are problems from the search for
example, then your deposit must be returned. This deposit
agreement is normally done formally in front of a Notary Public.
SUMMARY.
To sum up then , always allow when you work out the finances
at least 10% on top of the purchase price to cover the extras
but don't forget you don't need quite so much for new build. Please
remember all my Web partners or Agents will help you with the
above, there is NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.
DISCLAIMER.
The prices quoted on the web site are generally correct prices, and include my
commission from the vendor so I come free to you and you do not have to pay me anything, however
occasionally a Greek owner will raise the price without informing the web site.
Brian's Greek Property cannot be held responsible for this, does not like the practice,
but has no control over their decision making process. It does not happen often,
but it can happen. All descriptions of property are submitted by the agents or vendors,
so the web site cannot be held responsible for inaccurate descriptions.