Buying Property in Greece: From Search to Title Deed

Can foreigners buy property in Greece?

Yes. Buyers from the EU and from further afield can acquire villas, apartments and plots in Greece through the same notarial process as Greek buyers. The one geographic exception comes from Law 1892/1990, which designates certain border areas where buyers who are not citizens of the EU or EFTA need prior approval before they can acquire property. Since Brexit that includes UK citizens.

The list, in article 24 of that law as amended, covers areas near the land borders, the Dodecanese and eastern Aegean islands such as Lesvos, Samos and Chios, together with Thira (Santorini) and Skyros. Neither Crete nor Mykonos is on it, so whether you are looking at Mykonos real estate or Chania real estate, a villa there does not need this approval. Your lawyer should still confirm the status of the specific plot before you sign anything.

Buying a home does not by itself give you a right to live in Greece. Non-EU buyers who want residence can look at the Golden Visa, which on Mykonos and Crete requires a single qualifying property of at least €800,000. The thresholds, the 120 m² rule and the ban on short-term letting are all covered in our practical guide to the Greek Golden Visa, so we do not repeat them here.

Tax number and bank account

Every buyer needs a Greek tax identification number, the AFM, issued by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE). Non-residents apply online through the “TIN & Authentication Key” application on the myAADE portal, with a passport, their foreign tax number, their address abroad and an email address. Identity is then confirmed by video call through the myAADElive service or in person at a tax office, and a lawyer or other authorised representative can file the application for you.

The authentication key that comes with the AFM matters as much as the number. The transfer tax return is prepared by the notary in AADE’s myPROPERTY application and then accepted by buyer and seller in their own myAADE accounts, so you, or your representative, will need working credentials before completion. Non-residents can appoint a tax representative in Greece, such as their lawyer, or file a declaration accepting AADE notifications instead.

A Greek bank account is the practical next step. It gives the purchase a clean payment trail and makes it simple to pay the annual property tax and utility bills. Start early: under Greece’s anti-money-laundering law (Law 4557/2018), banks, notaries, lawyers acting in property deals and estate agents handling transactions of €10,000 or more all have to verify who you are and where the money comes from. For Golden Visa buyers the rule is stricter still: the price must reach the seller’s account with a payment provider operating in Greece by one of the permitted methods.

Lawyer and due diligence

Appoint your own Greek lawyer, independent of the seller and of the estate agent, before you make a binding commitment. There is no official fee scale to quote: under the Lawyers’ Code (Law 4194/2013), a lawyer’s fee is agreed freely in writing, so ask for a written agreement that states the scope of work and the fee before the checks begin.

On a villa, the checks usually cover four areas:

• Title. The seller’s chain of ownership and its registration, including any mortgages, seizures or third-party rights.
• Planning. Building permits, the land’s zoning and whether pools, annexes or extensions were built legally. By law (article 83 of Law 4495/2017), the deed must be accompanied by the owner’s solemn declaration and, since 1 April 2022, an engineer’s Certificate of Completeness of the Electronic Building Identity, which covers unauthorised construction.
• Taxes and debts. The seller’s tax position and the ENFIA certificate needed for the transfer.
• Fit with your plans. Border-area status, VAT status if the building is new, and, if residence is the goal, whether the home meets the Golden Visa conditions.

You do not have to be in Greece for every step. If you cannot attend, you can give your lawyer a power of attorney; for tax matters AADE accepts one drawn up in Greece or at a Greek consulate, and documents made abroad need an Apostille. Confirm the exact form with your notary before signing.

Renting before you commit lets you live in an area at different times of day: browse our Mykonos villas and Chania villas, compare the two islands in our guide to Mykonos or Chania for a luxury villa, and, on Mykonos, our professional drivers, who can be at your disposal 24/7, can take care of getting you to viewings.

Offer, contract and notary

Greek law is formal about property. Under article 1033 of the Civil Code, ownership of real estate passes only by a notarial deed that is then registered, and article 166 applies the same notarial form to any binding preliminary agreement to buy. An informal reservation letter can set out price and timetable, but a deposit or a commitment you intend to enforce belongs in a document your lawyer has reviewed, and a true pre-contract must be signed before a notary.

From agreed offer to signature, the sequence usually runs as follows:

1. Agree the offer

   Price, what is included (furniture, boats, adjacent land), deposit, long-stop date and conditions such as a clean survey or border-area approval, all reviewed by your lawyer.

2. Sign a preliminary contract, if needed

   Where completion is some weeks away or conditions remain open, a notarial pre-contract fixes the terms and the deposit.

3. Gather the documents

   Your lawyer and the notary assemble the title deeds, the Electronic Building Identity certificate and owner’s declaration, the tax and ENFIA certificates and the Cadastre extracts.

4. Declare and pay the transfer tax

   The notary prepares the joint transfer tax return in myPROPERTY, buyer and seller accept it in myAADE, and the buyer pays the tax within three working days of submission.

5. Sign the deed

   Buyer and seller, or their attorneys, sign the final contract before the notary, and the balance of the price is paid as agreed.

6. Register the purchase

   The deed is lodged with the Hellenic Cadastre. The gov.gr property transfer service keeps the file, the deed and its supporting documents in one electronic record.

The notary drafts the deed, verifies the documents and records the transaction for both parties, so their role does not replace your own lawyer’s advice on the risks of a particular property.

Taxes and costs to budget

For a resale villa, the main tax is the transfer tax paid by the buyer. It is charged at 3% of the property’s taxable value, in practice the higher of the agreed price and the state-set “objective value”, and the tax itself carries a further 3% levy in favour of the local municipality. On a taxable value of €1,500,000, for example, that is €45,000 of tax plus €1,350 of levy.

New buildings follow a different rule. A building with a permit issued from 1 January 2006 and sold before its first use is subject to 24% VAT instead of transfer tax, unless the developer has opted for the VAT suspension, which currently runs until 31 December 2026, in which case transfer tax applies instead. Whether it will be extended beyond 2026 had not been confirmed at the time of writing, so ask the developer in writing which regime applies to your sale.

Source: AADE (2026); Ministry of National Economy and Finance (2025); Cadastre fees decision, Government Gazette B’ 64/13.01.2026; Law 4194/2013.

Two further points are worth building into the budget. The 15% transfer tax announced for non-EU buyers, covered above, would change the arithmetic considerably if it is enacted as described. And while capital gains tax on property sales is suspended until 31 December 2026, that concerns sellers rather than buyers, and any later sale of your own villa will be taxed under the rules in force at that time.

Registration and after purchase

Registration is what makes your ownership effective against everyone else. Once the deed is signed, it is lodged with the cadastral office for the area. Ask for the registration certificate and an up-to-date Cadastre extract for your own file, as you will need them for any future sale, mortgage or Golden Visa renewal.

Then come the annual obligations. AADE’s guidance for non-residents is that owners must declare a newly acquired property on the E9 real estate declaration through myAADE by 31 March of the year after the purchase. ENFIA, the annual property tax, is calculated from the E9 for property owned on 1 January, so a villa bought in autumn 2026 is first taxed for 2027, and the bill can be paid in monthly instalments.

If you intend to let the villa, take advice before you market it: Golden Visa properties cannot be let short term, and rental income brings its own tax filings. While you settle in, our guide to where to stay in Mykonos helps you choose the right part of the island, and our private list includes rental villas that owners list only with us.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reflects the rules as we understood them in September 2026. Laws and their interpretation change, so confirm every point with a Greek lawyer, notary and accountant before you sign. For a confidential conversation about buying or selling a villa, contact our real estate team.