Greece: Great plans of mice and men - Mike Saunders, Snobby Homes

Great plans of mice and men

It is only natural when buying a property abroad that you invariably rely upon the bench mark of all your experience previously gained in the UK. However, in Greece procedures can be somewhat different. Your mindset can be travelling quite happily along one path, convinced that surely this is the right way to go – only to discover it’s done differently! “Nobody told us,” you cry, but if you don’t ask the question, nobody will realize you need an answer.

The Greek planning system is totally different from the UK. Whereas experience tells you a planning application has to be made to ascertain whether in the first place land is suitable for building, in Greece this is already determined, by plot size and position. However, this is not to say Greek planning laws are non-existent. Far from it. Outside cities and large towns building is limited to two storeys and building within 50 metres of the sea is not allowed. Thus Greece does not suffer from the high rise concrete jungle so prevalent in Spanish development.

You may see houses with three storeys, but this is a cunning exploitation of planning which allows the construction of a basement. But isn’t a basement an underground room without windows? Well yes, but picture yourself standing in front of a two storey house, but the plot of land slopes steeply away behind. From the back, the sloping elevation allows a ‘basement’ to be built above ground, creating a third storey! It’s perfectly legal. Planning laws state that at road level only a two storey property may be constructed.

While there are innumerable planning rules and regulations, these often seem to be open to individual interpretation and this, coupled with the Greek propensity for finding ways round the rules, it’s small wonder that sometimes a little flexibility is sometimes demonstrated from the original design.

Ins and outs of building a house

If you are interested in buying a house or land then two main criteria applies. Does the land fall within or outside of the village boundary?

Outside means a plot of land must exceed 4,000 square metres – approximately an acre – and on that land you can build up to 200 square metres in total. That’s not the footprint, but the total build and you cannot build anywhere on the land. Generally a building has to be 15 metres away from the boundary. What’s more, the 200 square metres refers to a single dwelling, but developers get round this by building say, three 68 sq. m. houses, but joined in some way. While this is common practice it means the land is ‘horizontally’ split into three. Owners of the three houses own a third of the total land – with ownership and position of each house identified on the topographic survey. However, should a neighbor contravene the law, such as by building an extension to his house, then all owners of the land are jointly and severally held legally responsible.

Apart from the bureaucratic checks of forestry and archeological departments to ascertain building suitability, there is also the question of water and electric connection, which can cost thousands if a supply is not nearby.

Some villages have a council-defined building "zone", which usually extends 500-750 metres from the village limits. If a village has such a zone, then with a minimum plot size of 2,000 square metres, you are able to build up to 200 square metres, within 5 metres of the land boundaries.

These regulations are designed to stop the spread of concrete boxes across the countryside.

Planning within a village boundary however, is far more flexible. Utilities are close by and land comes with a build capability of some 70% - 80% of the plot size - usually up to a maximum of 400 square metres, but building generally has to be at least 2.5 metres from the boundary. Land within the village boundary also has the British feel good factor of being able to be ‘vertically’ cut. That means each plot is legally owned by the purchaser in his own right.

The edge of these guidelines are very much drawn in grey as each planning area has its own perception, individuals also apply their own interpretation and the whole bureaucratic process can often take many months to inexorably grind through the system.
Finally, the cost of securing a building license will be around 4% of the build cost, based upon your engineer’s planning submission. On top of that there is IKA to pay – national insurance for workers – and this is irrespective of whether you actually build the house yourself, utility connections, taxation and legal costs which can all add up to 15% or more of the house price.

Building your own home in Greece is not the easiest thing in the world to do and will invariably cost you far more than you ever thought possible – despite all the research you undertook initially. If your budget is fixed it is a far more stress free – and cost controlled option – if you buy off-plan from a developer who will then be able to integrate your own personality within an existing design.

Mike Saunders

Mike is Marketing director of Snobby Homes, wwww.snobbyhomes.co.uk