Empowering Your Projects: Our comprehensive planning permission and development service navigates the complexities of regulations, streamlining the approval process for your construction endeavors.
With meticulous attention to detail and expertise in regulatory compliance, we facilitate the realization of your vision, ensuring seamless progression from concept to completion.
In our dedication to delivering top-tier real estate counsel, we offer both local and international clients a comprehensive Greek retrospective planning permission guide.
Within this resource, ARENCORES offers a concise yet thorough overview of the essential legal, technical, and tax documentation, alongside the requisite procedures. This guide serves as an invaluable tool for property owners and prospective buyers, ensuring clarity and efficiency throughout the planning permission process.
Retrospective planning permission is when you seek approval from authorities after making renovations or extensions to your property without getting planning permission first.
Homeowners often overlook planning permission, excited to enhance their homes, but doing renovations without it can cause delays and extra costs.
Retroactively applying for permission ensures legal compliance with local regulations. Without it, selling your property might be challenging as discrepancies between the property’s features and land registry records may arise.
Retrospective Planning Permission encompasses various schemes for regulating property rights across different jurisdictions within Greece. This involves a combination of legislation and adherence to common law principles. Greek property law governs the acquisition, sharing, and protection of valuable assets within the country.
In today’s highly competitive real estate market, investment strategies and activities must not only yield superior returns but also adhere to increasingly stringent regulatory requirements and transaction policies. Simultaneously, there is pressure to enhance operational efficiency, ensure transparency, achieve compliance, and improve decision-making processes.
ARENCORES offers an integrated application suite that automates front-, middle, and back-office processes related to Retrospective Planning Permission for investors, shareholders, partners, and service providers.
To meet the growing demands of investors and simplify the complexities of Greek property law, ARENCORES aids in transforming data into actionable intelligence. This enables investors to streamline procedures, enhance decision-making capabilities, and improve return on investment, while simultaneously reducing costs, uncertainties, and risks.
Below is a comprehensive summary of the steps involved in registering property in Greece and the most critical steps of the Greek property law. It assumes a standardized and regular case of an investor who wants to purchase land and a building free of title disputes and officially registered.
Retrospective planning permission is frequently encountered in property development. It often arises when an oversight is made during construction, leading to the realization afterward that permission is required. Similarly, it may become apparent that selling the property is contingent upon aligning its features with the land registry records.
Retrospective Planning Permission involves seeking approval from authorities after renovating or extending a property without prior planning consent. It’s essential for ensuring compliance with local regulations and avoiding complications during property transactions.
An inspection by an engineer is required for the new topographic site plan to be drafted.
Whether you’re a homeowner looking to identify potential issues before listing your property or a buyer seeking assurance before making a purchase, our inspections deliver detailed reports and actionable insights to help you make informed decisions.
After the inspection in Procedure 1, it is necessary to issue a recent topographic diagram depicting the boundaries of the property (new site plan) sealed and signed by the engineer. The plan shall be submitted to the notary public a few days before the conclusion of the sale contract.
Given that the property has been owned by the seller for 10 years, we may easily assume that the topographic site plan used for the previous transaction (the acquisition of the property by the current seller) is still valid and therefore there is no need for a new topographic site plan.
In addition, according to Law No 4178/2013, a certificate from an engineer and a declaration from the seller are needed, stating that there are no illegal constructions or planning offences in the property being sold.
A lawyer conducts a search of information in the Real Estate office and then prepares the sale agreement. Only lawyers are entitled to conduct a search in the Real Estate Office.
From 1/1/2014 the involvement of lawyers is not required by law but it tends to remain a common practice for transfer of commercial properties.
According to the new Lawyer’s Code, the lawyer’s fee is freely agreed with the clients by means of a written agreement. In the absence of such an agreement, the new Lawyer’s Code provides a new schedule of fees which is included as Annex II of the new Code.
The seller should provide a Tax certificate issued by the competent Tax Authority, according to Law 1882/1990. The certificate assures that the seller has been paying his taxes accordingly. The tax certificate may also be obtained by the notary public.
In addition, since January 2014, a Unified Real Estate Property tax has been introduced for the natural person or legal entity that acquires any right over real estate. For the notarial deed of the real estate transfer to be valid, the taxpayer has to provide a tax certificate stating that he/she has paid off the Unified Real Estate Property tax over the past 5 years with regard to the real estate at issue.
The seller must obtain a certificate of good standing from the Social Security Institute, which assures that the seller (company) has been paying its social security. Compliance with the Greek Property Law is an essential criterion if you want to buy or sell a property in Greece
Parties obtain a copy of the declaration made before the Tax Authority competent in the locality of the property verifying that the buyer has paid the property transfer tax.
According to Article 11 of L.4223/2013 concerning the Single Property Tax, which replaced the previous provisions of L.3842/2010, the transfer tax imposed on the buyer is 3% of the transfer price of the property.
Furthermore, according to the provisions of the new Income Tax Code (L.4172/2013) any income equal to the added value deriving from a transfer of property (the term “added value” in this case means the difference between the price of the seller had paid to obtain the property and the amount he/she receives when selling the same property), is subject to the 15% capital gains tax.
According to the provisions of Article 43 of the latest Income Tax Code, if the seller is a natural person, this tax equals 15% of the above-described income from the property transfer. In this case, the tax is collected in advance by the notary, who shall pay it to the Tax Authority.
If the seller is a legal entity, according to the provisions of Article 58 par. 1 of the new Income Tax Code the legal entity shall include the price of the property transfer at the end of the financial year to its income declaration (which turns the tax payable to income tax rate at 26%.
According to the new Lawyer’s Code of Practice, an attorney’s participation at the conclusion of the contract is entirely optional for all contracting parties, irrespective of the value of the contract.
However, this is still a common practice for commercial properties. In the latter case, the draft of the sale agreement is delivered to the Bar Association of the Lawyers.
The notary notarizes the sale agreement and prepares the public deed in the presence of the parties and their lawyers, who must also sign. The notary checks up on the documentation which legitimizes the legal representatives of the contracting parties (i.e. Minutes of the Board of Directors regarding the representation of the company published in the Government Gazette, Minutes of the Board of Directors and notarized Power of Attorney regarding the authorization of the contracting party to act on behalf of the company and execute a sale agreement regarding the specific real estate), the ID’s of seller
and buyer and attaches to the Public Deed the documentation obtained in the previous Procedures.
The documentation includes (i) Site plan or Cadastral extract, (ii) Declaration of the engineer that the buildings have been built in accordance with the building permit or that any divergence has been legalized, (iii) Sale agreement, (iv) Tax clearance certificate, (v) Certificate that the Real Estate Unified Tax for the last 5 years for the specific property has been paid (vi) Building’s certificate of energy efficiency if required (vii) Social Security certificate (viii) Verification of payment of transfer tax (ix) Copy of the building license.
As per Article 369 of the Greek Civil Code, contracts relating to real property (such as a purchase document) must be drafted and executed by and before a notary public.
The public deed is delivered to the Real Estate Office to be recorded under the name of the buyer. At the same time, parties request a property certificate, an ownership certificate, a non-opposition certificate and a records certificate from the Real Estate Office. The transfer of deeds usually takes place during the day of application.
The transfer is registered in the Cadastre. During this period the Registrar checks the legality of the deeds’ transfer by using the cadastral database.
Stavros is an expert in leveraging advanced data analytics for property investment, excelling in identifying lucrative real estate opportunities.
With a keen eye for market trends, risk assessment, and economic feasibility, Stavros provides strategic insights that drive informed decision-making and maximize investment returns.
Maria is a seasoned Senior Civil Engineer with extensive experience in overseeing construction projects from inception to completion.
With a strong foundation in structural design, project management, and regulatory compliance, she brings a wealth of expertise to every endeavor.
ARENCORES offers expert advice and analysis to a diverse array of property buyers and investors, encompassing commercial, residential, and industrial properties.
Our market research in the Chania property market spans a wide range of projects. We provide comprehensive services including project development economic feasibility, rental income forecasting, business development strategy, and investment advice.
With our in-depth insights and tailored analysis, we empower clients to make informed decisions and maximize their investment potential in the dynamic Chania real estate market.
For over 16 years, we’ve been helping people thrive through places and spaces. With an in-house team of professionals dedicated to residential, commercial and prime residential real estate exclusively in the Prefecture of Chania, Crete, no matter where you are, we have the expertise to accomplish your requirements and achieve excellence.
Compare listings
ComparePlease enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.