# The Greek property file, word by word: the terms in every deed, certificate and tax form, and what each one means

> A Crete purchase arrives as a stack of Greek documents with a vocabulary of their own. This is a reader's key to about forty of those words, grouped by the paper they appear on, each with a transliteration, a plain meaning and, where it matters, the law behind it, as checked in October 2026 against the Hellenic Cadastre, AADE and the current text of the laws.

- Canonical URL: https://honestcrete.com/buying/greek-property-documents-word-by-word/
- Author: Fotis (Honest Crete, Heraklion)
- Section: Buying property in Crete · Stage: Process
- Rules verified: October 2026 · Updated: 2026-10-25 · Published: 2026-10-25
- How to cite: "Honest Crete — The Greek property file, word by word: the terms in every deed, certificate and tax form, and what each one means (rules verified October 2026), https://honestcrete.com/buying/greek-property-documents-word-by-word/"
- Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property and nobody here is an estate agent. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed, registered estate agent, not to us. No article names a developer or a specific property. Adverts on these pages are labelled as adverts and buy no say in the text.
- Sources:
  - Taxheaven, Civil Code (PD 456/1984) article 1033 (read October 2026) — transferring ownership of immovable property requires an agreement between owner and acquirer, made by notarial deed and submitted to transcription (μεταγραφή): https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/π.δ.456/1984/arthro/1033
  - Taxheaven, law 2664/1998 (National Cadastre) article 1 (read October 2026) — the Cadastre is a system of legal, technical and other information organised by property and covering every property in the country; where it takes effect it replaces the system of transcriptions and mortgages: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/2664/1998/arthro/1
  - LEX, the ΚΑΕΚ (read October 2026) — a twelve-digit number identifying every land parcel: two digits for the prefecture, three for the municipality, two for the cadastral sector, two for the unit, three for the parcel; suffixes such as 0/2 for horizontal properties; it stays with the property through every transaction: https://www.lex.gr/law/kthmatologio/kaek/
  - Hellenic Cadastre, certificates issued by cadastral offices (read October 2026) — at a cadastral office: certificate of registration of an act €9.50, copy of the cadastral sheet €9.50 (+€4.50 per extra sheet), extract of the cadastral diagram €15; at former mortgage offices acting as transitional cadastral offices: certificate €4.50, cadastral sheet €4.50 a sheet, showing the property's status, ownership shares and encumbrances, extract €15: https://www.ktimatologio.gr/pliroforiako-yliko/ktimatologio-se-leitourgia/21
  - e-forologia, E9 obligation (read October 2026) — changes in property rights declared by 31 January of the following year, art. 23 law 3427/2005; since 7 July 2023 a transfer declared through myPROPERTY creates the E9 automatically: https://www.e-forologia.gr/calendar/task.aspx?id=18481
  - Taxheaven, law 1249/1982 article 41 (read October 2026) — taxable value from preset starting prices by zone, adjusted by coefficients; where the price in the contract is higher, transfer tax is charged on the price: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/1249/1982/arthro/41
  - AADE, real estate transfer tax (read October 2026) — 3% of the taxable value plus a 3% municipal levy on the tax, paid by the buyer; joint declaration through myPROPERTY before the contract, tax paid within three working days; law 1521/1950 as sanctioned by law 1587/1950: https://www.aade.gr/en/greeks-abroad-non-residents/property-taxation/real-estate-transfer-tax
  - Taxheaven, law 5306/2026 (Spatial Planning and Urban Planning Code) article 367 (read October 2026) — transferring or creating a real right over a property with unauthorised constructions or uses is prohibited and absolutely void; exceptions include works older than 30.11.1955 and works brought under the Code with 30% of the special fine paid: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/5306/2026/arthro/367
  - Taxheaven, law 5306/2026 article 368 (read October 2026) — deeds since 3.11.2017 carry the owner's declaration and an engineer's certificate that there is no building, no unauthorised work beyond the limits, or only works within the article 367(2) exceptions; filed electronically, valid two months from signature; at least six months' imprisonment and €30,000–100,000 for proceeding without it or for an inaccurate certificate: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/5306/2026/arthro/368
  - Taxheaven, law 5306/2026 article 383 (read October 2026) — works completed by 28.7.2011 settled in five categories: 1 (before 9.6.1975) and 3 (minor) on a €250 fee with no fine; 2 (before 1983) and 4 with the fee and the special fine; 5 with a 30-year suspension of sanctions: https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/5306/2026/arthro/383
  - ΠΟΜΙΔΑ, Hellenic Property Federation, the Electronic Building Identity (read October 2026) — mandatory from 1.7.2021 at a building's first transfer; holds the permit and plans, the energy certificate and settlement declarations; prepared by a private engineer, whose certificate of completeness «αντικαθιστά» (replaces) the βεβαίωση μηχανικού required for transactions between living persons: https://www.pomida.gr/tautotita_ktiriou.php
  - Technical Chamber of Greece, KENAK questions and answers (last modified September 2024) — article 12 of law 4122/2013: an energy performance certificate is required on the sale of a building or unit, on a lease to a new tenant and after construction or major renovation; without one a building can be neither transferred nor let: https://web.tee.gr/kenak/faq/
  - Lawspot, law 3741/1929 (ownership by floors) article 13 (read October 2026) — any agreement setting or changing owners' mutual rights is a notarial deed entered in the transcription books, and the restrictions it places on ownership have the character of a servitude: https://www.lawspot.gr/nomothesia/n-3741-1929/arthro-13-nomos-3741-1929/
  - Lawspot, Civil Code article 403 (read October 2026) — the party at fault for non-performance loses the deposit it gave or returns double the deposit it received: https://www.lawspot.gr/node/20881
  - Sustainable Cyclades, explainer on the foreshore law (March 2024) — the foreshore is the land the sea reaches at its largest usual waves; the beach zone runs up to 50 metres behind it; both are common-use spaces in the public domain under law 2971/2001, amended by law 5092/2024: https://www.sustainablecyclades.gr/2024/03/27/explainer-ti-allazei-gia-ton-aigialo-me-ton-neo-nomo/

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A Greek property file is less forbidding than it looks. Most of it is written in about forty recurring words, and a buyer who knows them can follow what the lawyer, the notary and the engineer are doing. This is that vocabulary, grouped by the document it appears on: each term in Greek, with a transliteration, a plain meaning and the law where the law matters. Checked in October 2026 against the Hellenic Cadastre's own pages, AADE and the current text of the laws.

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. A glossary tells you what a word means, not what it means for a particular deed; that is your lawyer's job.

**The property file in one minute.** The **συμβόλαιο** is the notarial deed, and ownership passes only once it is **registered**: by **καταχώριση** in the Cadastre or **μεταγραφή** in the old registry. The **ΚΑΕΚ** is the parcel's **12-digit** Cadastre code. The tax words are **ΑΦΜ**, **Ε9**, **ΕΝΦΙΑ**, **αντικειμενική αξία** and **ΦΜΑ**, the **3%** transfer tax. Whether the building is legal is answered by the **οικοδομική άδεια**, the **τοπογραφικό**, the **βεβαίωση μηχανικού** (valid **two months**), the **ΗΤΚ** and the **ΠΕΑ**; a property with an unsettled **αυθαίρετο** cannot be sold. Ownership comes **οριζόντια**, **κάθετη**, **εξ αδιαιρέτου**, or split into **επικαρπία** and **ψιλή κυριότητα**. Debts show as **υποθήκη**, **προσημείωση** or **κατάσχεση**. Land is **εντός** or **εκτός σχεδίου**, and may be caught by the **δασικός χάρτης** or the **αιγιαλός**.

## The deed, the registry and the Cadastre

The **συμβόλαιο** (symvólaio) is the deed, drawn up by a notary; for a sale it is an αγοραπωλητήριο (agoropolitírio). Under [article 1033 of the Civil Code](https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/%CF%80.%CE%B4.456/1984/arthro/1033), ownership of a property passes by an agreement made as a notarial deed and then registered, so the signature is not the last step. Registration has two names. Where the Cadastre operates it is **καταχώριση** (katachórisi), proved by a **πιστοποιητικό καταχώρισης** (pistopoiitikó katachórisis), a certificate of registration. Elsewhere it is **μεταγραφή** (metagrafí), transcription, in the books of the old **υποθηκοφυλακείο** (ypothikofylakío), the mortgage and land registry. Law 2664/1998 replaces that system area by area as the Cadastre starts to operate, and many former registries now work as transitional cadastral offices.

The **Κτηματολόγιο** (Ktimatológio), the Hellenic Cadastre, is, in the definition of law 2664/1998, a system of legal and technical information organised by property and covering every property in the country. Its key is the **ΚΑΕΚ** (ka-ek), Κωδικός Αριθμός Εθνικού Κτηματολογίου: twelve digits for prefecture, municipality, sector, unit and parcel, with suffixes such as 0/2 for flats, and the same number before and after a sale. The **κτηματολογικό φύλλο** (ktimatologikó fýllo), [the cadastral sheet](https://www.ktimatologio.gr/pliroforiako-yliko/ktimatologio-se-leitourgia/21), shows the property's status, the owners' shares and any burdens, for €9.50 (€4.50 at a transitional office); the **απόσπασμα κτηματολογικού διαγράμματος** (apóspasma ktimatologikoú diagrámmatos), an extract of the cadastral map, costs €15. The **ανάρτηση** (anártisi), the posting stage, and where Crete stands are in [the Cadastre and the KAEK](https://honestcrete.com/buying/cadastre-and-kaek-crete/).

## The tax words

The **ΑΦΜ** (AFM), Αριθμός Φορολογικού Μητρώου, is your tax number. The **Ε9** (E-ennéa) is the declaration of the property you own: a change during a year is declared by 31 January of the next under article 23 of law 3427/2005, and a purchase declared through myPROPERTY files it automatically. **ΕΝΦΙΑ** (enfía), Ενιαίος Φόρος Ιδιοκτησίας Ακινήτων, is the annual property tax. The **αντικειμενική αξία** (antikeimenikí axía) is the state's [objective value](https://honestcrete.com/buying/objective-value-vs-market-price-greece/), set from zone prices and coefficients under article 41 of law 1249/1982; where the price in the deed is higher, tax is charged on the price. The **ΦΜΑ** (FMA), Φόρος Μεταβίβασης Ακινήτων, is the [transfer tax](https://www.aade.gr/en/greeks-abroad-non-residents/property-taxation/real-estate-transfer-tax): 3% of the taxable value plus a municipal levy of 3% of the tax, paid by the buyer within three working days of the joint declaration, before the deed.

## The building's legal papers

The **οικοδομική άδεια** (oikodomikí ádeia) is the building permit with its approved plans; the **τοπογραφικό** (topografikó) is the surveyor's plan of the plot, its boundaries and what stands on it. An **αυθαίρετο** (afthaíreto) is a construction or use without, or beyond, its permit, and under [article 367 of law 5306/2026](https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/5306/2026/arthro/367), the 2026 planning code, the sale of a property with unsettled ones is void. Works finished by 28 July 2011 can get **τακτοποίηση** (taktopoíisi), settlement in one of five categories, for a fee and, in some of them, a fine (article 383). **Νομιμοποίηση** (nomimopoíisi), legalisation, strictly means bringing a work within a permit. Every sale needs the **βεβαίωση μηχανικού** (veveíosi michanikoú), an engineer's certificate on the property's unauthorised works, valid for two months (article 368); for a building with an ΗΤΚ, its engineer's πιστοποιητικό πληρότητας (pistopoiitikó plirótitas), certificate of completeness, takes that role. The **ΗΤΚ**, Ηλεκτρονική Ταυτότητα Κτιρίου (ilektronikí taftótita ktiríou), is the building's digital file, compulsory since 1 July 2021 at a first transfer, and the **ΠΕΑ**, Πιστοποιητικό Ενεργειακής Απόδοσης (pistopoiitikó energeiakís apódosis), is the energy certificate without which, under article 12 of law 4122/2013, a building can be neither sold nor let. More in [illegal constructions](https://honestcrete.com/buying/illegal-constructions-afthaireta-crete/).

## Who owns what

**Οριζόντια ιδιοκτησία** (orizóntia idioktisía), horizontal property under law 3741/1929, is a flat or floor owned outright, with a share of the land and the common parts counted in **χιλιοστά** (chiliostá), thousandths; the building's regulation is a notarial deed whose restrictions bind every owner like a servitude. **Κάθετη ιδιοκτησία** (káthetí idioktisía), vertical property, does the same for a whole building among several on one plot; both are explained in [divided ownership](https://honestcrete.com/buying/vertical-and-horizontal-ownership-crete/). **Εξ αδιαιρέτου** (ex adiairétou), undivided, means co-owners hold fractions of the whole and none owns a room, so selling the whole needs them all. **Επικαρπία** (epikarpía), usufruct, is the right to use a property and take its fruits, usually for life; what remains is **ψιλή κυριότητα** (psilí kyriótita), bare ownership.

## The deal and the debts

The **προσύμφωνο** (prosýmfono), the preliminary contract, is notarial for property, and the **αρραβώνας** (arravónas), the deposit, is lost by a buyer at fault and returned double by a seller at fault (Civil Code article 403); the detail is in [the preliminary contract](https://honestcrete.com/buying/preliminary-contract-and-deposit-greece/). A **πληρεξούσιο** (plirexoúsio) is a power of attorney, the document that lets someone sign for you. A **υποθήκη** (ypothíki) is a mortgage, a right that lets a creditor be paid from the property first; a **προσημείωση υποθήκης** (prosimeíosi ypothíkis), a prenotation, is a provisional mortgage ordered by a court, which becomes a full one once the debt is confirmed; a **κατάσχεση** (katáschesi) is a creditor's seizure, the step before a forced auction. All three appear among the burdens on the cadastral sheet.

## The land words

**Εντός σχεδίου** (entós schedíou) means inside an approved town plan; **εκτός σχεδίου** (ektós schedíou), outside it, where building needs a far larger plot and frontage on a lawful road, as [buying land to build](https://honestcrete.com/buying/buying-land-to-build-in-crete/) explains. **Εντός οικισμού** (entós oikismoú) means inside the boundary of a settlement that has no town plan, with rules of its own. The **δασικός χάρτης** (dasikós chártis), the forest map, records which land counts as forest, and forest land is not building land. The **αιγιαλός** (aigialós), the foreshore, is the land the sea reaches at its largest usual waves; it and the **παραλία** (paralía), the beach zone of up to 50 metres behind it, are public land in common use under law 2971/2001, as amended in 2024.

## The honest downside

A glossary flattens words that lawyers argue about. Τακτοποίηση and νομιμοποίηση mean different things in law and the same thing in conversation. Several terms changed address in 2026, when law 4495/2017 moved into the planning code, so older reports may cite articles that have since been renumbered. And reading the words is not reading the file: a translation tells you what a deed says, not whether it is right.

*Disclosure:* 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 notary, a lawyer, an engineer, a surveyor or any other business; the Hellenic Cadastre and AADE are named as the public institutions they are.

**The verdict.** **Worth it if** you are about to receive a Greek property file and want to follow it: keep this open beside the deed and the certificates, and ask about any word you cannot place. **Skip it if** you hope to judge a file yourself; the words are the easy part, and the lawyer's and the engineer's checks are not optional.

## Quick answers

**What is a ΚΑΕΚ number in Greece?**

The ΚΑΕΚ, Κωδικός Αριθμός Εθνικού Κτηματολογίου, is the twelve-digit code that identifies a land parcel in the Hellenic Cadastre: two digits for the prefecture, three for the municipality, two each for the cadastral sector and unit, and three for the parcel. Flats and other horizontal properties add a suffix such as 0/2. The code stays with the property when it is sold and changes only if the parcel is split or merged.

**What is the difference between μεταγραφή and καταχώριση?**

Μεταγραφή and καταχώριση both mean entering a deed in the public record, which under article 1033 of the Civil Code is what completes a transfer of property. Μεταγραφή, transcription, is the old system of registry books; καταχώριση, registration, replaces it wherever the Hellenic Cadastre operates under law 2664/1998. In a Cadastre area, a certificate of registration proves the entry.

**What is a βεβαίωση μηχανικού in a Greek property sale?**

The βεβαίωση μηχανικού is the engineer's certificate attached to a transfer deed. Under article 368 of law 5306/2026 it states that the property has no building, no unauthorised works beyond the permitted limits, or only works within the legal exceptions; it is filed electronically before the deed, alongside the owner's declaration, and is valid for two months. For a building with an Electronic Building Identity, that identity's certificate of completeness takes its place.

**What does αυθαίρετο mean in a Greek property file?**

Αυθαίρετο means an unauthorised construction or use: anything built, enclosed or used without the required building permit or beyond it, such as a closed-in veranda or an extra room. Article 367 of law 5306/2026 makes the sale of a property with such works void, with exceptions such as works older than 30 November 1955 or works brought into the settlement scheme with 30% of the fine paid. Works finished by 28 July 2011 can usually be settled (τακτοποίηση) in one of five categories.

**What is the difference between a υποθήκη and a προσημείωση in Greece?**

A υποθήκη is a mortgage, a right over a property that lets a creditor be paid first from it. A προσημείωση υποθήκης, a prenotation of mortgage, is a provisional mortgage granted by a court decision, which becomes a full mortgage once the debt is confirmed. Both appear among the burdens on the cadastral sheet, and a buyer's lawyer should see them lifted or paid off before the deed.

**What do εντός σχεδίου and εκτός σχεδίου mean?**

Εντός σχεδίου means a plot inside an approved town plan, where that plan sets the building terms; εκτός σχεδίου means outside any town plan, where a house needs a far larger plot and frontage on a lawful road. A third category, εντός οικισμού, covers land inside the boundary of a settlement that has no town plan. Which of the three applies decides most of what can be built.