# Going to buy a house in Crete,should we pay the whole sum on the signing day?



## sangayer (Mar 20, 2016)

Hi, we are going to purchase a house in Crete, we signed a private agreement with the seller in Oct 2015 and paid the deposit, waited for months, finally our lawyer asked us to get ready to Crete for the final signing, and transaction. Here is part of his message:

"......it is time to pay the purchase tax. This have to be paid only through bank transfer. Then, we can go to the notary public and sign the contract. Just after the contract is signed, you have to pay sellers the whole sum of money , the notary public and real estate agent. We can a signed copy of the contract immediately without stamps.

Later the day of the contract or the next day, we can get an Official copy of the contract in order to get it to the Land Registry of Rethymno and let it registered. ...."

Does it mean we have to pay all the money to the seller & everybody else before we have the legal document from the Land Registry? It seems _*a bit* _risky!? Please help!


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## concertina (Oct 18, 2012)

This all sounds a bit strange to me,your transfer tax would normally be paid by you directly at the local tax office,get advice from another lawyer before you do anything at all and why did you make a private agreement,who is holding your deposit?Seek out another lawyer immediately.If you do dont understand Greek properly you must by the law have an English and Greek speaking person with you,preferably a lawyer.Be careful what you are doing or you may loose your money in a con.


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## jodevizes (Feb 26, 2015)

Has your lawyer checked that there is no outstanding mortgage or tax on the property? 
We paid the full amount upon signing the contract with the lawyer and notary. Then we paid the taxes. The document you sign should, I think, be the one you take to the Land Registry.
I would make sure that you are not paying his back taxes on the property.


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## sangayer (Mar 20, 2016)

thanks a lot for your advices!!!


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## concertina (Oct 18, 2012)

You should be using a Symvoliographo,its like a property solicitor,they drawer up all the legal documents for your purchase,they check all the papers from your intended purchase,they sit down and talk to you about the situation with the property or land,does it have the correct legal license,the topographic paper,all paper work for a property must show all previous ownership,not just say..Mr Scouros owns this,where did Mr Scouros get it from?papers must go back,back,back in time,false papers are a common thing here.Where is your Symvoliographo?have you spoken with them,they act for you and you pay them at the end,they see everything about your intended purchase,if its dodgy,perhaps it doesnt even have a license,in which case your done for,as the other member said,what about monies owing on the house?you will take on the debt,believe me I have heard on expat forum of people who lost all their money and by the law now any sold property must have an energy paper drawn up by the seller which costs them money,my husband just sold his mothers flat so I know these things,you must get a symvoliographo who will inspect all the legal papers on that house,your own not the sellers and they can demand to see any papers they wish,you would faint if you knew what cons go on here.


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## sangayer (Mar 20, 2016)

Our lawyer's name is Ioannis G. Fotinakis from Chania, he is the lawyer recommended by Elizabeth Real Estate Agency, I know it does not sound the smartest choice that using the lawyer named by the property agency, but we did gather information about Elizabeth. Somehow we decided this is part of the risk we take along with this transaction. I hope we can trust Ioannis that he will do his part. He wrote that he has in his office already ".......1. Tax clearance certificate (that the seller has paid all taxes) 2. Certificate that he has correctly declared the building and the plot to the tax Office.

3. Certificate that he has paid all the taxes regarding the insurance of the people who worked to build the house...." He is still waiting for the -Certificate that the house was built according to the building license or in case of not legal parts of the building certificate that the illegal parts are legalised and the the penalty for these has be paid.

Finger crossed.

Thanks a lot for the replies


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