Buying Property in Greece

I am not a lawyer, but I think that your lawyer should have included terms that should be fulfilled in the preliminary agreement ("Prosymfono"), BEFORE you were committed with a downpayment and should have checked all the property titles, including the legality of the property expanse (sq.m.) to make sure the property is abiding by the building license. It is a lot of work but it would prevent you from making a downpayment that you may find hard to recover from the seller. Besides, you could have deposited your downpayment in an escrow account that the seller could not touch unless the contract were concluded or if you backed off from the deal.

I am not a lawyer, but I think that your lawyer should have included terms that should be fulfilled in the preliminary agreement ("Prosymfono"), BEFORE you were committed with a downpayment and should have checked all the property titles, including the legality of the property expanse (sq.m.) to make sure the property is abiding by the building license. It is a lot of work but it would prevent you from making a downpayment that you may find hard to recover from the seller. Besides, you could have deposited your downpayment in an escrow account that the seller could not touch unless the contract were concluded or if you backed off from the deal.

Have you ever bought property in Greece?One lives and learns,nothing to do with my lawyer,my husband was bullied into giving a deposit before taking the sellers legal documents to his lawyer,foolish of course,it was my lawyer and symvolio who spotted the problem,which was...sole use of garden shed and garden,it says it on the horizontal papers but not on the cadastra((land registry)After a slight lifting of Covid in April people could make an appointments with this office but my sellers just refused to go to sort it,they believed we were picky and should buy it as it is,its so easy for them to arrange a meeting at the cadastra office,they dont want,we had a contract which expired end March but try to take the money back because our property agent gave it to the seller to hold and as they are horrible people we will have to fight with them in the court,so better to walk away,accept ones stupid mistake and avoid a heart attack.Agents are bullies so buyers beware,thats why I posted this.It certainly was not my lawyers fault,purely ours.There are some battles you cannot win.

We found a country house in Corinthos area, looked perfect. The real estate agent got us all excited and told us to give him deposit immediately or someone else can get the house. Before giving the deposit to the real estate agent we agreed that if all our checks (ownership, registration, etc) are not ok then we get our deposit back. Later we realized that we were so excited that we missed many problems and thought that we have to forget the deposit. We had very good civil engineer that took pictures of serious problems and we got our deposit back. We were so relieved. We did not mind the cost of the civil engineer and lawyer.

I guess you are dealing with the actual owner. Unfortunately many people play dummy and know that you are conscientious and have manners and will eventually back off. No do not and don't be intimidated by shouts and such behaviour, it is more like acting. Tell the owner that you will have your lawyer deal with this and in the end you will get your deposit plus the owner will pay court costs plus the owner will pay compensation for creating hardship.

My opinion is that do not rush to give deposit. If they make you feel that you lost a perfect place and bargain still don't be too sure. Make it clear that all checks must be cleared and if required they have to do the required registration, etc. If you give deposit include these details in the agreement.

My opinion is that sales job is a bit of con by definition. Some take it to another level. We just have to be careful and have all in witting. A good civil engineer, layer and notery ares necessary and preferably not know to the owner or real estate agent.