Buying Resale Property Greece: Checklist for Foreigners

Quick answer: Buying resale property in Greece as a foreigner involves nine sequential steps: get an AFM tax number, hire a Greek lawyer, run a cadastre and title check, obtain ENFIA clearance from the seller, commission an engineer survey (€300 to 800), confirm border zone status if you are non-EU, sign a preliminary agreement with a deposit, pay the 3.09% transfer tax, then complete at the notary. 78% of foreign buyers choose resale over new-build. This checklist covers every step in order.

Greece’s resale market consistently dominates foreign buyer activity. The preference is not accidental: resale properties offer established rental histories, lower per-square-metre prices than new-build in most areas, and no VAT (new-builds attract 24% VAT versus the 3.09% transfer tax on resale). At the same time, resale transactions carry risks that a new-build purchase, where the developer holds legal responsibility for clean title, does not. Those risks are predictable and manageable, but only if the right checks happen in the right order.

For the end-to-end purchase process, see How to Buy Property in Greece Step by Step. For the complete cost breakdown including taxes and fees, see Cost of Buying Property in Greece.

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How Does Resale Diligence Differ From New-Build?

The 3.09% transfer tax versus 24% VAT difference is the primary financial argument for resale on high-value transactions. On a €400,000 property, the difference is €82,840. For many buyers the due diligence cost is therefore trivial relative to the tax saving, not an overhead to minimise.

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Resale is what most foreign buyers in Greece actually purchase, and 78% choose it over new build, historically because VAT at 24% made new construction roughly a fifth more expensive to acquire until the suspension removed the gap. The diligence differs in direction rather than in depth. A resale file looks backwards: a title search through the ownership chain, ENFIA clearance for the last five years, cadastre status including any unknown-owner or forest-registry overlap, and an engineer survey for unpermitted works that transfer with the property along with any outstanding regularisation fines. An off-plan file looks forwards: the building permit, the developer’s corporate solvency, a bank guarantee over stage payments, and a contractual delivery date. Both carry the same 7% to 10% acquisition stack and the same 3.09% transfer tax while the VAT suspension holds.

Step 1: Get Your Greek Tax Number (AFM)

The AFM is free, takes one to five working days, and blocks everything until it exists: no Greek bank account, no transfer tax payment, and no appearance in a notarial deed without one. Your lawyer applies to the local AADE office with a passport copy and proof of foreign address. Start it the week you begin viewing rather than the week you make an offer, because it costs nothing to hold and everything to lack. An AFM is the first administrative requirement for any Greek property transaction. You cannot open a Greek bank account, pay transfer tax, or appear in a notarial deed without one.

Your lawyer applies to the local AADE tax office on your behalf. Required documents are a passport copy and proof of foreign address. There is no fee. Processing takes 1 to 5 working days. In practice, most lawyers in tourist areas can arrange same-day or next-day collection during the season.

Apply for your AFM before you travel to view properties. Having it in place lets your lawyer move immediately if you find something you want to offer on.

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Step 2: Appoint a Greek Lawyer Before Making Any Offer

This cannot be overstated: appoint your own lawyer before you make an offer, before you pay any reservation fee, and before you give any agent or developer any personal information you would not want shared.

Your lawyer’s role in a resale transaction is protective in ways that have no equivalent in other markets. The notary authenticates the deed but represents neither party. The seller’s agent works for the seller. Your lawyer is the only professional on your side of the transaction table.

Typical legal fees for a resale purchase run 1% to 2% of the purchase price. For a €300,000 apartment that is €3,000 to €6,000. For that fee your lawyer runs every legal check, reviews the preliminary agreement, and attends the notarial completion on your behalf, including under power of attorney if you cannot be present.

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Step 3: Confirm Border Zone Status for Non-EU Buyers

Non-EU buyers should run this check before spending anything else on due diligence, because a negative answer ends the purchase rather than complicating it. Designated border zones cover several of the most-requested locations in Greece, including eastern Aegean islands and frontier-adjacent mainland regions. Where clearance is required it comes from the Ministry of National Defence and typically adds three to six months, so it has to be a condition in the preliminary agreement rather than a hope. If you are a non-EU national, run the border zone check before incurring any other due diligence cost. Border zones include some of the most-requested purchase locations in Greece.

Approval takes 3 to 6 months and must be completed before any deposit is paid. Budget this into your timeline from the outset. EU and EEA nationals face no restriction anywhere in Greece.

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Step 4: Request the Seller’s Document Pack

Once you have identified a property and your lawyer has been engaged, the first substantive action is to request the complete document pack from the seller. This pack is the raw material for due diligence; without it, your lawyer cannot run any checks.

Your lawyer formally requests this pack from the seller’s lawyer. In practice, any seller with a well-managed property will have this documentation available. Significant delays in providing any element, especially the ENFIA clearance or cadastre extract, are worth investigating before proceeding.

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Step 5: Title Search and Cadastre Verification

This is the step that most often kills a resale purchase, and it takes days rather than weeks. Your lawyer traces ownership back a minimum of twenty years, confirming each transfer is valid and that no break exists in the chain. Greek succession law is what usually complicates it: a single property can carry multiple heirs with unequal shares, some abroad and some untraceable, and every one of them must consent to the sale. This is the core legal due diligence step. For details on each element, see Greece Property Cadastre Check and Due Diligence Greece Property.

Your lawyer searches the title going back a minimum of 20 years, tracing each ownership transfer to confirm:

• All prior sales were legally valid with a notarial deed
• No co-owners are unaccounted for under Greek inheritance rules
• No pending legal claims or disputes are attached to the title
• The seller’s ownership is recorded correctly and completely

The cadastre extract from the Hellenic National Cadastre (Ktimatologio) cross-references the title against the national digital registry. In areas still in the transition phase from the old Mortgage Office system, your lawyer runs the physical title search at the local office rather than relying solely on the cadastre database.

Co-ownership is the single most common complication in Greek resale transactions. Greek inheritance law distributes property to heirs in fractional shares automatically. A property marketed by one individual can have silent co-owners, siblings, children, nieces, whose consent is legally required for a valid sale. Your title search surfaces this; your lawyer must identify and obtain signatures from every registered owner before completing.

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The title search is the step that most often ends a transaction, and it is cheap relative to what it prevents: €200 to €500 in lawyer time for twenty years of ownership history, plus €50 to €150 for the cadastral extract. What it looks for is specific. An unbroken chain of ownership with every heir having signed. Mortgages, pre-notations and seizures on the encumbrance record. The ΚΑΕΚ parcel identifier matching the property you viewed. Registration status showing full rather than provisional registration, because a property recorded with the State as unknown owner cannot be sold until a court corrects it, a process running 12 to 24 months. And any forest registry overlap, which on a rural or semi-rural plot can render part of the land unbuildable regardless of what the seller believes.

Step 6: ENFIA Clearance

ENFIA is Greece’s annual property tax. Unlike in some jurisdictions where unpaid taxes are purely a seller’s personal liability, ENFIA arrears attach to the property title. A buyer who completes without obtaining clearance inherits the seller’s outstanding obligations.

Your lawyer requests a tax clearance certificate directly from AADE confirming zero ENFIA outstanding. This must cover all prior tax years, not just the most recent one.

ENFIA is also useful as a valuation cross-check. The annual ENFIA bill is calculated from the property’s objective (tax) value, the government-assigned floor value used as the minimum base for the 3.09% transfer tax calculation. If the seller’s ENFIA bill implies an objective value significantly higher than the contract price, your lawyer should clarify this before you commit, as the transfer tax will be calculated on the higher figure.

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Step 7: Engineer Survey

For resale stock built before 2000 this is the highest-value few hundred euros in the transaction. The Greek engineer survey is a planning-compliance check rather than a condition report: it compares the physical building against every permit on record, certifies main usable area for the 120 m² Golden Visa test, identifies unauthorised construction and its regularisation status, and prepares or updates the Electronic Building Identity without which the property cannot legally transfer. For resale transactions, especially on properties built before 2000, an independent engineer survey is among the most valuable steps in the checklist. For full detail on what this covers, see Greece Property Engineer Certificate.

The engineer:

1. Measures the property and compares measurements to the approved building permit
2. Identifies any construction not reflected in the original permit (enclosed balconies, additional rooms, roof alterations, basement conversions)
3. Verifies any regularisation paperwork for previously unauthorised construction
4. Issues the Electronic Building Identity (Ilektroniki Tautopoiisi Ktiriou), the property’s current compliance document
5. For Golden Visa applications, certifies usable area meets the 120m² minimum

Engineer fees run €300 to €800 for standard residential properties. A larger villa with complex permit history can run higher. This fee is almost always among the best money spent in a Greek transaction, a single unauthorised extension that triggers a demolition order costs orders of magnitude more to resolve than the survey fee.

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Step 8: Preliminary Agreement and Deposit

The Greek preliminary agreement is legally binding in a way an English exchange of contracts is not preceded by, which cuts both ways. The standard deposit is 10%. If the buyer withdraws without cause the deposit is forfeited; if the seller withdraws, the customary remedy is return of double the deposit. That symmetry is why gazumping is rare in Greece, and why nothing should be signed before the title search and engineer certificate are back. The deposit paid at this stage is typically 10% of the purchase price. In Greece, the deposit is treated as follows:

• If the buyer withdraws without cause: deposit is forfeited
• If the seller withdraws without cause: seller must return double the deposit

This is a significant financial commitment, which is why all due diligence must be completed before signing the preliminary agreement, not after.

Your lawyer should ensure the preliminary agreement includes conditions covering: completion of any outstanding regularisation, specific cadastre and ENFIA clearances being in place, and, for non-EU buyers in border zones, the Ministry approval being granted before the deposit becomes unconditional.

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Step 9: Transfer Tax, Notary Completion, and Registration

Transfer tax first: You must pay the 3.09% FMA transfer tax to AADE before the notarial deed is signed. The tax receipt is a precondition for notarial completion. The tax base is the higher of the contract price and the objective value. Your lawyer calculates this in advance so there are no surprises at completion.

Notary completion: Both parties (or their power of attorney representatives) appear before a licensed Greek notary. The notary reads the full deed aloud, verifies documents, and authenticates the transaction. The notary fee is approximately 1% to 1.5% of the transaction value.

Post-completion registration: Within 10 working days after signing, the deed is registered with the Hellenic National Cadastre or the local Mortgage Office, legally transferring title to the buyer.

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What Does a Greek Resale Purchase Cost in Total?

For worked examples at €250K, €400K, and €800K, see Cost of Buying Property in Greece.

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Full Resale Checklist: Summary

After offer, before preliminary agreement:

• Seller’s full document pack received
• Title search completed (20+ years)
• Cadastre extract verified
• ENFIA clearance confirmed (zero arrears)
• Engineer survey complete (no unresolved permit issues)
• Encumbrance certificate confirms clean title
• All co-owners identified and consenting

At preliminary agreement:

• Conditions drafted for outstanding matters
• Deposit (10%) paid under contract

At completion:

• Transfer tax (3.09%) paid to AADE
• Notarial deed signed
• Deed registered at Cadastre or Land Registry within 10 days

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Buyer scenarios

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the transfer tax rate on resale property in Greece? +

The transfer tax (FMA) on resale property in Greece is 3.09% of the higher of the contract price or the objective (tax) value. This is the buyer's cost and is paid to the tax authority before the notarial deed is signed. New-build properties (first sale after permit) attract VAT at 24% instead of the 3.09% transfer tax, which is why the resale route is often significantly cheaper for buyers seeking large floor-area properties.

What documents must a seller provide before a resale transaction in Greece? +

A seller in a Greek resale transaction must provide: a certified copy of their title deed, cadastre registration extract (Ktimatologio), tax clearance certificate confirming zero outstanding ENFIA, building permit and floor plan certified by an engineer, Electronic Building Identity certificate (or proof that regularisation is complete), certificate of no encumbrances from the Land Registry or Mortgage Office, and proof of AFM (Greek tax number). Your lawyer collects and verifies all of these; do not rely on the seller's agent to do this independently.

How long does buying resale property in Greece take? +

A straightforward resale transaction in Greece takes 6 to 10 weeks from offer acceptance to notarial completion. The main variables are: how quickly the cadastre and Land Registry can issue extracts (usually 5 to 15 working days), whether any ENFIA arrears need to be cleared, whether an engineer survey identifies permit discrepancies requiring regularisation, and, for non-EU buyers, the border zone approval timeline, which adds 3 to 6 months if required. Having your lawyer, engineer, and AFM in place before you make an offer shortens the process considerably.

Is an engineer survey compulsory when buying resale property in Greece? +

An engineer survey is not legally mandatory for every resale transaction, but it is strongly recommended and effectively compulsory in practice. The engineer verifies that the property's physical state matches the approved building permit, flags any unauthorised construction requiring regularisation, and issues the Electronic Building Identity certificate. For Golden Visa applications the engineer certificate is mandatory as it documents the usable area that must meet the 120m² minimum. Engineer fees for a resale survey run €300 to €800 depending on property size and complexity.

Can a foreigner buy resale property in a Greek border zone? +

Non-EU nationals can buy resale property in designated Greek border zones, but must obtain approval from the Greek Ministry of National Defence before completing the purchase. The approval process takes 3 to 6 months and must be initiated before any deposit is paid. EU and EEA nationals are fully exempt from this restriction. Border zones include several of the most popular island locations, Corfu, Rhodes, Mykonos, Crete, Lesbos, so non-EU buyers should always run the border zone check as the first step, before incurring any other due diligence costs.

What is ENFIA and why does it matter when buying resale property in Greece? +

ENFIA is Greece's annual property ownership tax. Unpaid ENFIA arrears attach to the property title, not to the individual taxpayer, so a buyer who completes without clearing the check inherits the seller's outstanding tax debt. Your lawyer must obtain a tax clearance certificate from AADE confirming zero ENFIA outstanding before you sign any preliminary agreement or pay a deposit. ENFIA is also used to calculate the objective value, which feeds into the 3.09% transfer tax calculation, so accurately understanding the seller's ENFIA bill gives a useful cross-check on the property's tax valuation.

What happens at the notary when buying resale property in Greece? +

At the Greek notary closing, both buyer and seller (or their representatives under power of attorney) appear before a licensed notary public who reads the full deed aloud, verifies all identity documents and prior clearances, and authenticates the transaction. The buyer must have paid the 3.09% transfer tax to the tax authority before the deed is signed, the receipt is a precondition for notarial completion. The notary's fee runs approximately 1% to 1.5% of the transaction value. After signing, the deed is registered with the Cadastre or Land Registry within 10 working days, transferring legal ownership.

Do I need a Greek tax number (AFM) to buy resale property in Greece? +

Yes. A Greek tax identification number (AFM, Arithmos Forologikou Mitrooo) is mandatory for every foreign buyer. It is required to open a Greek bank account, pay the transfer tax, appear in the notarial deed, and register with the Cadastre. Obtaining an AFM as a non-resident takes approximately 1 to 5 working days if handled by your lawyer through the local tax office (AADE). There is no charge. Your lawyer should apply for your AFM as the very first administrative step, ideally before you travel to view properties.