When your client is buying property in Greece, having an independent buyer's adviser alongside the legal team makes the transaction cleaner, faster and better protected.
The Greek property market presents specific challenges for international lawyers advising clients on an acquisition. The legal framework is distinct from UK, US or continental European practice. Title registration, the tacktopoiisi regularisation process, succession planning under EU Regulation 650/2012 and the interaction between Greek forced heirship and English law wills all require Greek legal expertise that sits alongside rather than within the international firm's competence.
Pelagos works as a buyer's adviser, not as a lawyer. We identify and access properties, manage the commercial negotiation and coordinate the advisory team around the client. We then introduce independent Greek legal counsel where the client does not have their own, and work alongside the legal team through due diligence and to completion. The result is a client who has both commercial representation and legal protection, clearly separated.
Off-market access to properties that do not appear on public portals. Independent assessment of properties against the client's brief, including the commercial due diligence that precedes legal due diligence. Coordination of the full advisory team, including independent Greek lawyers, tax advisers and currency specialists. Negotiation experience in the Greek prime market specifically. And a straightforward buy-side mandate — we earn from the client, not from the seller, which means there is no conflict of interest for a law firm to navigate.
A significant proportion of the international clients we work with have English or American wills that have not been drafted with Greek property ownership in mind. Forced heirship provisions under Greek law can override a foreign will unless an explicit election under EU Succession Regulation 650/2012 has been made. We flag this consistently and work with the client's legal team to ensure it is addressed before rather than after completion.
We welcome introductions from international law firms at any stage of a client's enquiry about Greek property. Contact us at hello@pelagosprivateoffice.com.