By DC Engineers | Architecture, Engineering & Construction

For members of the Greek diaspora and for foreign nationals who have acquired Greek property, inheritance is a moment that arrives with little preparation time and considerable administrative complexity. The property may not have been visited in years. The permit history may be incomplete. The Cadastral entry may reflect a previous owner. The building may require structural attention. And all of this must be navigated from London, New York, Melbourne, or elsewhere — within defined legal deadlines and through a process conducted primarily in Greek.

This article sets out the key steps, the tax obligations, and the practical considerations — including the construction dimension that legal guides rarely address.

The Legal Process

Inheriting property in Greece is not a passive process. You do not become the legal owner of Greek real estate simply by being named in a will or by being the natural heir under intestacy rules. A series of formal steps must be completed before ownership is legally transferred.

Accept or renounce the inheritance. Greek law requires heirs to make an active decision. Non-resident heirs have one year from the date of death to formally renounce an inheritance — longer than the four months available to Greek residents. This additional time is significant: it provides a window to assess what is being inherited, including the property's condition and any liabilities attached to it, before committing to acceptance. An inheritance carrying substantial debts, unresolved violations, or significant required expenditure is not automatically worth accepting.

Obtain a Greek tax identification number (AFM). Every heir — regardless of nationality or residence — must hold a Greek AFM before any filings can proceed. This is obtained from AADE and can be arranged remotely through a representative.

File the inheritance tax return. The return must be filed within nine months of the date of death if the deceased died in Greece, or within twelve months if the deceased died abroad or if the heirs are resident abroad. The return is filed with the Tax Office for Foreign Residents (ΔΟΥ Κατοίκων Εξωτερικού). Failure to meet this deadline results in penalties and interest.

Execute the Act of Acceptance (Αποδοχή Κληρονομίας). The formal acceptance of the inheritance is executed before a Greek notary. This step can be completed remotely through a notarized and apostilled Power of Attorney — most non-resident heirs complete the entire process without travelling to Greece. The Act of Acceptance must be drafted by a Greek lawyer or notary and must accurately describe the inherited assets.

Register the deed. The Act of Acceptance must be submitted to the Hellenic Cadastral or the relevant Land Registry to formally record the change of ownership. Until this step is complete, the heir does not hold a registered title.

Inheritance Tax

Greek inheritance tax applies to all property located in Greece, regardless of the nationality or residence of the heir or the deceased. The rate varies substantially depending on the heir's relationship to the deceased.

Category A heirs — spouse, children, grandchildren, and parents — benefit from a tax-free allowance of €150,000 per heir, with rates of 1% to 10% on the value above that threshold. Category B heirs — siblings, in-laws, and more distant relatives — face rates of 5% to 20% with a €30,000 allowance. All other heirs — unrelated individuals — are taxed at 20% to 40% with an allowance of only €6,000.

The taxable value is the property's objective value as assessed by the tax authority — typically lower than the market value, which is relevant to the calculation but does not mean the tax bill is necessarily modest. For a prime island property or a well-located Athens apartment with a substantial objective value, inheritance tax can represent a material sum. The current framework allows tax to be paid in up to 48 monthly instalments, which provides meaningful cashflow relief for heirs who need time to arrange financing.

Heirs should also consider the double taxation position in their country of residence. Greece has bilateral tax treaties with over 57 countries, including the UK, the US, Germany, and Canada, which typically provide relief against being taxed twice on the same inherited asset.

The Forced Heirship Framework

Greek law imposes forced heirship provisions that cannot be overridden by a will. Close relatives — children, spouses, and in certain circumstances parents — are entitled to a minimum share of the estate, typically half of what they would have received under intestacy. A will that attempts to leave the entire estate to a third party or to exclude a forced heir entirely will be subject to challenge. Non-resident heirs dealing with contested estates or unusual family structures should obtain Greek legal advice before acting.

The Construction Dimension

Legal guides to Greek inheritance focus, reasonably, on the legal and tax process. What they rarely address is the condition and legal status of the physical property — which is often the most practically significant issue for a non-resident heir.

Permit history and regularization. An inherited property may carry unresolved planning violations: extensions built without permits, additional floor area never declared, structural alterations undertaken without engineering approval. These violations do not disappear on inheritance — they transfer. The new owner acquires both the asset and any outstanding obligations. Before the Act of Acceptance is signed, it is worth establishing whether the property is legally constituted and whether any regularization is required.

Structural condition. Older properties — and a significant proportion of inherited Greek properties are older — may have structural issues that have been accumulating for years or decades. Deferred maintenance, inadequate repairs following seismic events, and the particular deterioration patterns of unoccupied buildings are all common. A structural assessment before accepting an inheritance involving an older property is a modest investment relative to the cost of discovering significant structural problems after acceptance and registration.

Energy performance. An Energy Performance Certificate is required before the property can be let or sold. For many inherited properties — particularly rural houses, island dwellings, and older urban apartments — the energy rating will be in the lower classes. This is relevant to both the property's marketability and its eligibility for subsidy programmes such as the Renovate 2026 grant scheme.

The MIDA and ENFIA alignment. As part of accepting an inheritance and registering the new ownership, the heir must update the E9 property declaration, ensure the Cadastral record is accurate, and verify that ENFIA is correctly calculated under the new ownership structure. With the new MIDA digital register cross-referencing these data sources from 2026, discrepancies that were previously tolerated without immediate consequence will now generate notifications — and potentially penalties.

None of these issues makes inheriting Greek property inadvisable. It makes informed acceptance — with appropriate professional support — the correct approach.

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