Last updated 14 October 2026. By Demetre E. Katsouris, Managing Partner, Katsouris Law Firm.
The short answer: no Greek property can be sold, gifted or transferred to a child without an engineer first certifying that what is built matches the permit, and without an electronic building identity on file. No property can be let, or advertised for sale or rent, without an energy performance certificate. All three are issued by engineers, not lawyers or notaries, and they are the items that most often delay a deed. An owner abroad who wants to sell in the spring should instruct the engineer in the winter.
1. The energy performance certificate (EPC, ΠΕΑ)
What it is. A rating of the building’s energy efficiency on a scale from A+ to H, issued by a registered energy inspector after a site visit. It is valid for ten years, unless the building is substantially renovated.
When it is needed. For any sale or lease of a building over 50 sq.m.; the lease declaration on the tax portal cannot be filed without it, and the notary will not sign a sale without it. Estate agents must state the energy class in every advertisement.
What it affects. The certificate does not stop a sale however poor the rating, but the class is increasingly used: energy-upgrade subsidies, certain bank products and, in future, ENFIA and letting rules refer to it. A property with no certificate at all cannot be marketed lawfully.
Time and cost. Days, once the inspector has access. The fee depends on size.
2. The engineer’s certificate of lawful construction
What it is. A certificate by a civil engineer or architect that the building and the specific unit correspond to the building permit, or that any deviations have been legalised under the unpermitted-works legislation, with a declaration by the owner to the same effect. It is attached to every transfer deed.
When it is needed. For every sale, gift, parental gift, exchange or contribution to a company. A transfer of a property with unlegalised unpermitted works is void. This is the certificate that uncovers the closed-in balcony, the extra room on the roof, the basement converted to a flat, and stops the transaction until it is dealt with.
What happens when it fails. The works are declared and legalised, with a fine calculated on their size and category, or they are removed. Works built before 28 July 2011 in categories 1 to 4 can still be declared until 31 March 2028; works built after that date, and the most serious earlier violations, cannot. See our article on legalising unpermitted works.
Time and cost. For a clean building, a week. Where legalisation is needed, one to three months and the fine.
3. The electronic building identity (E-ID, ΗΤΚ)
What it is. A digital file for each building and each horizontal property within it, compiled by an engineer and lodged on the national platform: building permit and revisions, approved plans, structural certificate where applicable, any legalisation acts, the energy certificate, and the certificate of completeness. It is the building’s record in one place, linked to the Cadastre.
When it is needed. For every transfer deed. It has replaced the former stand-alone engineer’s certificate as the document the notary files. Public and larger buildings in certain categories must have one regardless of any transaction, with a deadline now set at 1 February 2028.
Why it matters more from 2027. From tax year 2027 the surface area in the building identity will be used for ENFIA where it is smaller than the area in the title, the permit or the Cadastre. Owners whose E9 declaration overstates the area will pay less; owners whose identity reveals more than was declared will have questions to answer.
Time and cost. Two to four weeks for a building with a complete permit file; longer where plans must be redrawn because the permit file at the planning office is incomplete, which is common for buildings from the 1960s and 1970s.
The seller’s full checklist
Alongside the three engineer’s documents, a seller needs: tax clearance; ENFIA certificate for the last five years; municipal clearance on the property’s charges; social-security clearance where the seller has a business; the title deed and Cadastre extract; and, for a horizontal property, the building’s regulation and table of shares. The lawyer collects these in parallel with the engineer’s work. The engineer’s work is the critical path.
For the buyer
Ask for all three documents before the preliminary agreement, not at the deed. An EPC and a building identity already on file mean the seller has been through the process. An engineer’s certificate that is “being prepared” means the building has not yet been checked, and the preliminary agreement should make the deed conditional on it, with the deposit refundable if the works cannot be legalised.
Frequently asked questions
My apartment is in a 1965 building and the planning office has lost the plans. Can I still sell? Yes, but the engineer must survey and redraw, which is the main cost and delay. Start early.
Does a lease need the building identity? No; a lease needs the EPC. The identity is for transfers.
I inherited the property. Did my parents’ certificates pass to me? The EPC does, if still valid. The engineer’s certificate and building identity are prepared for the transfer, so a new one is needed when you sell.
Who pays? The seller, for the certificates on the property being sold; the cost is usually built into the asking price.
This article is general information, not legal advice; it reflects the position on the date above and may change.
To have a property’s certificates prepared ahead of a sale or lease, contact us at info@katslaw.eu or +30 210 8982 864.
