The extra fees for the buyer relating to the purchase of properties in Halkidiki include:

• Property purchase tax
• Notary's fee
• Land registry cost
• Selling estate agent's fee
• Legal fees
• Accountant

Property Purchase Tax

When buying properties in Halkidiki, the first expense you will pay is for the tax to the state for the change of ownership. For new properties being bought from a private seller with building permission from prior to 2006 and all second-hand properties the amount of tax is 3%. Brand new properties built by a construction company with building permission after 2006 involves the payment of VAT instead, which is currently 24%.

How do you pay the property purchase tax?

It is compulsory to have paid the property purchase tax and present a confirmation of this payment to the notary before you are allowed to sign the final contract. The payment can be done online or at a bank and once completed it usually takes 2 or 3 days for the the payment to appear on the system. The confirmation of payment required by the notary can be obtained with buyer's personal codes from the taxisnet website at which point the contract is ready to be signed.

Notary Fees

The buyer gets to nominate which notary to use because they are the party paying for the service. It is the notary who is responsible and accountable for collecting all the necessary documents from the seller, checking to ensure everything is valid and correct and preparing thecontract. When everything is ready they will then set a meeting for the final contract to be signed. Most notaries also take responsibility onbehalf of the buyers for the official registration of the property under new ownership at the registry office. The notary fees vary depending on what is required but are usually around X% of the property value plus VAT.

How much are the registration fees?

In Halkidiki it is usual practice shortly after the final contract is signed for the notary to go to the local registry office and register the property under the name of the new owner in the land registry books to officially complete the transfer of ownership. There is a price to pay for this step, which is a percentage of the property value <1%. Usually the notary will itemise this part of their fee. Once the necessary documentsare submitted to the registry office it can take 3-5 days to receive the registration certificate.

Estate Agent Fee

In Greek law there is no set rate for an estate agent's fees and this is why some companies can charge more than others. A buyer and estate agent are free to negotiate their own agreement but on properties in Halkidiki you would usually expect to pay 2% commission or 1000€as a minimum charge plus VAT where the price of a property is under 50000€.

Legal Costs

Do I need a lawyer?

From 01.01.2014 the law in Greece changed, making it optional and no longer compulsory for either party to involve a lawyer in a property transaction of any value.  We always recommend however, that a buyer engages a lawyer to do a title search on a property at the registry office to check for any mortgage, debts or legal claims on the property.  In our opinion, this is best done twice, at the very beginning of the sale before you give any deposit payment and again ideally on the day of the contract just to be absolutely certain that nothing has changed in the interim. The lawyer will provide the buyer with an official confirmation about the status of the property. For properties in Halkidikithis particular service usually costs 150-200€ in total. It is also useful and sometimes valuable depending on the complexity of the case to have a lawyer to investigate the history of a property, pre-check the contract and be present with the buyer at the signing of the final contract to make sure everything is in order. Ultimately this is the buyers decision and lawyer’s fee are freely negotiated up to 1% of the property value depend on what specific services they are employed to do.

Any last expenses relating to properties in Halkidiki?

When a sale is complete the buyer has one calendar month starting from the day of the final contract to declare the new ownership of the property to the Greek tax authorities. To do this you need to take a copy of the contract to an accountant who will make a declaration on your behalf. This service usually costs 30–50€.

Where a property is new the buyer will probably have to pay for water and electricity connection. For an existing connection to make a new electricity contract there is also a small administration fee.