Buying off-plan in Crete: what to check before you pay for a house that doesn't exist yet
New builds are where the demand is and the VAT saving is real. But you are buying a promise, and Greece gives you less protection than you are used to. The permit, the payments, the VAT clause, the developer — in that order.
New builds are where the market is right now: the foreign buyers are asking for them, the VAT suspension makes them cheaper than they should be, and after a winter in an old house the appeal of insulation is not abstract. So a lot of people reading this will end up looking at something that is, at the moment they look at it, a hole in the ground and a set of renders.
That is a different purchase from buying a house. You are buying a promise, from a company, about the future — and Greece gives you less protection on that promise than you may be used to at home. This article is about how to make the promise safe enough to pay for.
I am not a lawyer or an engineer, and an off-plan contract needs both reading it. What follows is what to have them look for.
Off-plan in one minute. Greece has no mandatory escrow or completion bond; your protection is the contract and your own checks. Before any money: the building permit, the approved plans and the developer’s title to the land, in your lawyer’s hands. Then a notarial pre-contract with the spec, the date, penalties, a milestone payment schedule verified by your engineer, and a clause on who carries VAT if the suspension lapses before the deed. The thing that ruins people’s plans: a delivery date that slips past the VAT deadline.
Why it is attractive, and why that is exactly the risk
The case for a new build here is honest. It will be built to current rules, which means insulation, double glazing and an energy class that the old stock cannot match — the national energy-certificate data shows performance tracking construction year closely, and the difference is a heating bill. The price is, for now, free of the 24% VAT that new builds carry on paper; while the suspension holds, a new build pays the same 3.09% transfer tax as a resale, which on €300,000 is the difference between about €9,000 and about €72,000. And the layout is yours to influence before the walls go up.
The risk is the mirror image. You are paying, in stages, for something that does not exist, to a company whose finances you cannot see, under rules that may change between your first payment and your deed. In some countries the law holds your stage payments in escrow or requires a completion bond. Greece, as far as the rules stand, does neither. Nothing refunds you if the developer stops. That is not a reason not to buy; it is the reason to do everything in this article.
Before a single euro: the permit and the land
Two documents, and no money until your lawyer has both. The building permit, with the approved plans, issued by the planning authority and matching — in size, in number of units, in what is drawn where — the thing you are being sold. A developer who is “about to get the permit” is a developer you are about to lend money to. And the developer’s title to the plot: they have to own the land, free of mortgages that would outrank your claim, or your house is being built on someone else’s security.
Your own engineer reads the permit against the renders. Your own lawyer reads the title at the Land Registry. These are the two cheapest pieces of advice on the page.
The contract
An off-plan purchase in Greece runs on a private agreement or, better, a notarial pre-contract that binds both sides and can be enforced, with the final deed signed at delivery — the process article covers what that deed involves. Whatever the form, it has to contain the specification in detail — not “quality finishes” but the make of the windows, the thickness of the insulation, the kitchen, the pool equipment — and the delivery date with penalties for delay that actually hurt. It has to say what happens to your money if the developer cannot finish. And it has to carry the VAT clause, which deserves its own section below.
Read it in a certified translation, with your lawyer, before you sign. The standard contract you are handed was written by the developer’s lawyer to protect the developer; that is not villainy, it is their job. Yours is to have it rewritten where it needs to be.
Paying in stages, and what you hold back
The deposit should be as small as secures the unit. After that, payments follow construction milestones — foundations, frame, roof, plastering, finishes — and each one is released when your engineer, not the developer’s, confirms the stage is actually done. Keep a meaningful final payment, the biggest you can negotiate, until delivery: the building connected to electricity and water, the snagging list cleared, and the Electronic Building Identity issued, because without that last one the deed cannot be signed anyway.
The money moves through the banking system, against invoices, into the company’s account. Never cash, never “a little on the side to speed things up”, whatever the smile.
The VAT clause
This is the paragraph that can cost you a quarter of the price. The VAT suspension on new builds applies when the deed is signed while the suspension is in force and the developer has applied to the tax office to be under it — it is not automatic. As of August 2026 the suspension runs to the end of 2026 and an extension into 2027 is expected but not yet law.
So: if your delivery is promised for next spring and slips to the autumn, and the suspension has not been extended, who pays the 24%? If the contract does not say, you will find out in the worst possible way. Your lawyer writes it in: the price is fixed including taxes, or the developer carries any VAT arising from their own delay, or the deposit is refundable if VAT becomes payable. Pick one. Get it signed. Then ask for proof that the developer has actually applied for the suspension on this project.
The developer
Renders are free; buildings are not. The only evidence that a developer delivers is a building they have delivered. Visit one of their finished projects — not the show unit, a project with people living in it — and talk to the owners, ideally ones who have been through a winter. Ask about the delivery date versus the promised one, the snagging, the service after the keys, whether the energy class on the certificate matched the energy class in the brochure. Then have your lawyer check the company’s registration and history. A developer who will not give you the address of a finished project is telling you something.
I will not name developers here, good or bad — that is the agent’s job and the law’s line — but the method above works on all of them.
The honest downside
You are buying a promise, and Cretan construction timelines are a genre of fiction. Delays are normal, “delivered” and “finished” are different words, and the snagging list on a new villa here can be long and slow to clear. The VAT question hangs over every off-plan deal until the deed is signed. There is no safety net if the company fails. And the thing that made the new build attractive — the price — is the thing the developer is under pressure to defend, which is where the cheaper windows come from. None of this means do not buy. It means the contract is the house, and you should read it as carefully as you would walk through one.
Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed estate agent, not to us; the full statement is below. Nothing in this article names a developer, a property or a professional, and it never will.
Worth it if the permit and the title are in hand, the payments follow your engineer’s word, and the VAT clause is signed. Skip it if the developer’s finished projects are all “nearly finished” — a promise is only worth the building behind it.
Is it safe to buy off-plan in Greece?
It can be, but Greece has no mandatory escrow or completion guarantee protecting your stage payments, so the safety comes from the contract and your own checks, not from the system. Permit first, payments tied to progress your engineer verifies, and a VAT clause.
What should an off-plan contract in Greece include?
A notarial pre-contract with the exact specification, the delivery date, penalties for delay, a payment schedule linked to construction milestones, who carries VAT if the rules change before the deed, and what happens if the developer cannot finish.
Does the VAT suspension apply to off-plan purchases?
Only if the deed is signed while the suspension is in force and the developer has applied for it. The suspension currently runs to the end of 2026 with an extension under discussion — so a delivery date that slips past the deadline is a tax risk, and the contract has to say who carries it.
How much deposit should I pay off-plan?
As little as secures the unit, and nothing before the permit and the land title are in your lawyer's hands. Stage payments should follow verified construction progress, with a meaningful final payment held back until delivery, connection of utilities and the Electronic Building Identity.
How do I check a developer in Crete?
Look at what they have already finished: visit a completed project, talk to owners who have lived in it through a winter, and have your lawyer check the company's registration and the title to the plot. A glossy render proves nothing; a delivered building with happy owners proves a lot.
What happens if the developer goes bankrupt before completion?
Without a guarantee scheme, your stage payments are a claim against a company with no money. That is why the payment schedule, the amount held back and the clause on insolvency are the most important lines in the contract — and why the deposit is never the big number.
One email a month, only when something here actually changes — including the rules that matter if you own, or plan to. No spam, no partners, one-click unsubscribe. Read past issues before you decide.