If I had to pick just one thing that you should do when buying property in Greece, it would be to find yourself a good, honest, independent, English-speaking lawyer to hold your hand – metaphorically speaking of course – through the whole process.

I repeat - it is absolutely essential that you retain your own lawyer when you undertake a property transaction in Greece – the END!! I have just put the telephone down on an OGC reader who has been through a wealth of problems seemingly without end because she retained someone who had been recommended and who proved to be unreliable. And that raises another hornet’s nest of questions – exactly how does one guard against this?

Well, that’s not an easy one to answer but here are a few guidelines.

MY first rule of thumb would be never to use the lawyer suggested to you by your developer or estate agent. However, having said that, I must add that I personally met with a lawyer on Corfu, recommended by one of our OGC readers - I wanted someone that I could recommend to the many people who ask me for a lawyer on Corfu. I really liked him immensely and have had really excellent references on him from our reader. BUT…when chatting to the wonderful and reliable estate agent on the island that we recommend, she said that they too recommended him.

Now in this case I felt it was a plus: a heartfelt recommendation from someone I trust implicitly…but an estate agent nevertheless. I think what I am saying here is that you have to do your checks. I would not use a lawyer recommended by a developer, but in this case I would go with my gut feel…See what I mean about it not always being easy?

Speak to expats, friends located where you want to buy or, failing all of that, the British Embassy in Athens provides a list of English speaking lawyers in Greece and the Islands. Bear in mind that this is not necessarily a recommendation and you still need to ask for references and do your own checks. Do they belong to a legal society for instance? Trawl the Internet and make sure there are no bad reports on your lawyer – nothing is sacred on the Internet today!

Speaking to someone who had purchased property on Corfu recently he agreed with me that sometimes we Brits are just too reluctant to offend. And we also agreed that perhaps when abroad one is a little out of one’s comfort zone? There is a need to be liked, to be agreeable…FORGET IT! You, as I have said very often, are not making a new best friend. This is a business deal of large proportions and should be treated as such.

Personal references are the way to go and if you get chatting to expats sooner or later you will connect with someone who has used a lawyer or knows someone who has. Perhaps go online to an expat website and ask if anyone has used your lawyer – perhaps they could let you know their experience?

Remember too that your lawyer is NOT a surveyor. He can only go by the papers handed to him. Personally I would always get a reputable surveyor or Mechanikos Politikos (again - do the checks – do not use a surveyor who has anything to do with either the vendor OR the developer/builder!) to make quite sure that you know exactly what you are getting and then make sure your lawyer feels that all is well. 

Make sure too that your lawyer speaks English – this does away with a mass of misunderstandings and is absolutely essential.

I know this all sounds like common sense but I cannot tell you how often I hear very sad tales of people who have disregarded the basic, common sense approach. The last person that I chatted to who had done so – with almost disastrous results – was herself a property lawyer – go figure!