The legal and tax work that protects the rest.
Legal structure, ownership, tax planning, and the Greek Golden Visa. Run end to end with our vetted legal partners. The unglamorous work that decides whether the rest of the project works.
Most foreign buyers underestimate how much of a Greek property purchase is legal and tax work, and how early it needs to begin. The contract is the visible part. The structure under the contract, ownership vehicle, tax position, inheritance arrangement, Golden Visa eligibility, is the part that determines whether you actually own what you think you own.
We bring our legal partners in at the brief stage, not at the contract stage. By the time a property is identified, the structure is already chosen.
What's Included?
Legal structure advisory: personal ownership, Greek IKE or EPE company, foreign holding structure, with the trade-offs explained in writing rather than over a phone call. Tax planning, including ENFIA (the annual property tax), income tax, capital gains and the implications of any future sale. Inheritance and succession planning for non-Greek nationals, including the interaction between Greek forced-heirship rules and any UK or international will. Greek tax number (AFM) registration. Greek bank account introduction where required. Preliminary contract drafting and review. Notarial process management. Land registry registration (Ktimatologio). Title insurance arrangement, where appropriate. Golden Visa application, if relevant: eligibility assessment, property selection alignment, application submission, family inclusion, biometrics coordination and final permit collection.
How it works
Structural conversation.
Before a property is chosen, we map out the right ownership vehicle for your circumstances.
Pre-contract diligence.
Once a property is identified, our legal partners run full title diligence and confirm planning status.
Contracts.
Preliminary contract drafted and signed. Deposit logged.
Notary.
Notarial proceedings, conducted in Greek, attended in person or via power of attorney. Translation and witness arranged.
Registration.
Title registered with the Ktimatologio. Final ownership confirmed.
Golden Visa, where relevant.
Application filed in parallel. Permit issued, typically within three to four months from application.
Why it Matters in Greece
The Greek legal system inherits elements of French and German civil law, with property protections written into the constitution. Ownership, once cleanly established, is among the most secure in Europe. The complexity is in the establishment itself.
Title clarity is the single most common point of failure for foreign buyers. Properties with disputed boundaries, undeclared family co-owners, or inheritance encumbrances appear regularly on the market and are often only discovered late in the process. Tax exposure for foreign buyers is meaningfully different from domestic exposure, and the right legal vehicle can reduce annual costs significantly. Inheritance planning, particularly for buyers with families across multiple jurisdictions, requires care that does not happen by default.
The Golden Visa programme adds a further layer. The standard threshold is €400,000, applicable across the whole BREGL territory. None of our regions sit in the high-threshold zones (Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and a small number of designated islands), where the threshold rises to €800,000. The application process is now well established and largely remote, but missteps in property selection or documentation cost months.
We work with a small group of licensed Greek property lawyers, notaries and tax advisors, selected for their experience with foreign clients and their command of working English. We do not pass a client to a partner we have not personally used.
Partner names are shared once you become a client. They are not published.
Legal work is billed by our partners directly, on transparent fixed fees for predictable stages (contract, notary, Ktimatologio registration, Golden Visa application) and on hourly rates for advisory work. We confirm fee structures in writing before instruction. BREGL does not mark up legal fees.
For the Golden Visa application, our partners typically work to a fixed fee covering the full process, with disbursements separately accounted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, in practice. Greek law does not strictly require a lawyer for purchases below a certain value, but the diligence work is unavoidable for a foreign buyer and the cost of getting it wrong vastly exceeds the cost of doing it properly.
A residency-by-investment programme. Buy qualifying property at €400,000 or above, hold it, and you and your family receive five-year renewable Greek residence permits with full Schengen access. No requirement to live in Greece. Renewable indefinitely while the property is held.
Eventually, yes, after seven years of legal residency and successful demonstration of Greek language and civic knowledge. Most clients do not pursue citizenship and are content with the renewable permanent residency. We can advise on either path.
€400,000 across the whole BREGL territory. Some special-category properties (commercial-to-residential conversions and heritage restorations) qualify at €250,000, and our legal partners can confirm whether a specific property qualifies.
Greece reduced its processing backlog significantly in 2025. Three to four months from a complete application to a granted permit is now typical. Property purchase and Golden Visa application can run in parallel.
ENFIA is the annual property tax. It is calculated on the property’s tax value, not its market value, and is generally moderate by European standards. Our legal partners include ENFIA modelling in the structural advisory.
If you are buying, you will almost certainly also need Legal structure and Golden Visa. If you are commissioning a build, the next step is Planning and build management. Once you own the property, Property and rental management takes over.
Get the structure right before you find the property.
The first conversation is no-cost. We will tell you, honestly, what your structure should look like, and how the Golden Visa fits if it is relevant.