The real estate sector is often associated with legal aspects that are not familiar to the general public. Any real estate transaction - buying, selling, selling, donating, inheriting, etc. - is strictly regulated by law. Moreover, transactions in the real estate sector are associated with many risks due to cases where persons either try to illegally acquire the right to a property or try to sell a property without having the right to dispose of it.
Before choosing a particular property, find out how to conduct the transaction you are interested in. In the case of selling or buying a property, the contract is drawn up by a notary, but the interests of both parties to the transaction are safeguarded by their lawyers. After the notarial act has been drawn up, the title to the property is registered to the relevant local authorities (Land Registry). In addition, any change to your property must be registered to the tax authorities within one month. Further, in order to purchase a property you must have a bank account, and in case of transfer of funds from any other country to the banking institution in Greece, the Greek bank will investigate the origin of the funds.
However, as the bureaucracy in Greece, especially regarding the speed of the above issues, is quite extensive, we recommend that you entrust the issuing of your VAT number and the opening of an account in a Greek bank to an experienced lawyer of your choice, who is familiar with the real estate sector.
Finally, once you have chosen a specific property and completed the preliminary procedures, the legal preparation of the transaction follows, which has several stages. First, your lawyer will check the property for encumbrances, debts and claims from third parties. Then, taking into account your interests, he/she will participate in the preparation of the purchase and sale contract and negotiate with the counterparty. Only after the establishment of legal clearance of the property and the appropriate contract drafting, it is possible for the transaction to proceed to the signing stage, in which the lawyer will monitor compliance along the process.
Taking all the above into account, any legal procedure involving real estate, such as registration of property titles with the competent authorities, contesting a will, legal claims, purchase or sale, is strongly recommended to be carried out with the assistance of a lawyer experienced in this area of law. This is the only way to be sure that your property in Greece will be protected.