Buying in Crete

Deposit

Y ou will find it is a standard procedure, to secure a chosen property it will be necessary to leave a minimum deposit of 10% of the purchase price upon signing the agreement. This agreement would include the names and description of the parties concerned, the description of the property, the price, the methods of payment and also any agreements that have been discussed by both parties.

An exchange of contract before the Notary Public would take place with two lawyers representing both parties. The Notary Public would not authorise any sale without making sure that all appropriate tax papers and deeds are in order.

The purchaser would lose the deposit if he backs out of the deal. If a pre-contract has been signed and the vendor backs out then he would have to pay the equal sum of the deposit as an insurance to the purchaser who of course would then take the original deposit back too.

Purchase

It is standard procedure for the property transaction to take place before a Notary in the presence of two lawyers representing both the purchaser and the seller. The purchaser would need their lawyer to act on his/her behalf to ensure that a clean property title has been obtained and to assist with Local Regulations to obtain the fixed "Assessed Value" of the property. The lawyer who is representing the purchaser would however, prior to the transaction taking place been to carry out the necessary searches with the Land Registry to assure that the property has a clean title.

A sale can be completed relatively quickly here in Greece if all the necessary paperwork is in order, as legal procedures are quite straight forward here, the official contract is prepared by the Notary and the parties concerned finalise their agreement.

Expenses

The Purchase Tax, Notary and Fees are always paid by the purchaser , in Greece, they are calculated on the "Officially Estimated Price" of the property, which is usually a lot lower than the true purchase price.
The purchase tax is between 9 % - 13 % (on the first 15,000 Euro the tax is 9%and on the remainder, the tax is 11% - 13%). It is known in some cases that where there is no Fire Station in the area, the tax begins as low as 7%.

The Notary Fees & Lawyer Fees are always paid by the purchaser in Greece.
The Notary Fee is 2%
The Lawyer's Fee is between 1.5% - 2%
The Fee for the Estate Agent is between 2% and 3% on the total price of the property.

Exchange

Approx. sterling prices are 1.60 Euros to the £.
Example:- if the price of your property purchase is
€ 100,000 then in pound sterling it will be approx.
£ 62,500 (calculated by 100,000 / 1.60 )

Property Maintenance

Available locally there are Property Maintenance Companies which we can recommend to you.

Yiannis Katsouras

Olympios Construction & Estate Agency

Tel:-  (0030) 28310 72296

Fax:- (0030) 28310 72065

E-mail:

www: www.housecrete.gr