GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Nikolaos Koulocheris, Ioannis Charalampopoulos, Rozita Karasso and Dimitra Kotsovelou, Machas & Partners
acquirer’s own equity, traditional bank loans, private equity, real estate investment funds, and corporate debt and bond loans. For larger transactions, joint ventures and more complex financing structures involving syndicated loans are commonly used, par - ticularly when acquiring entire real estate portfolios or companies holding significant real estate assets. 3.2 Typical Security Created by Commercial Investors In Greece, commercial real estate investors typically secure financing through various security interests. The most common is a pre-notation of hypothecation or a hypothecation on the property. These encum - brances serve a similar transactional purpose to a common law mortgage, which involves the transfer of legal ownership from the mortgagor to the mortga - gee. However, Greek law does not recognise the split between legal and beneficial (equitable) ownership. Thus, hypothecation operates as a charge, whereby the hypothecator retains the encumbered ownership of the real estate property, while the hypothecatee is granted a security interest which does not include a right of foreclosure but rather a claim for judicial sale by auction in case of default. Other common securities in corporate lending include personal or corporate guarantees, pledges of shares and pledges of claims by way of assignment, includ - ing most notably claims arising out of or in connection with bank accounts, lease agreements, management agreements, other real estate operation arrangements and insurance contracts. For development projects, pledges of claims include claims arising under or in connection with construction, operation and mainte - nance. Additionally, floating charges and subordina - tion agreements are part of security packages. 3.3 Restrictions on Granting Security Over Real Estate to Foreign Lenders In Greece, there are no significant restrictions on granting security over real estate to foreign lenders, nor on making repayments to foreign lenders under security documents or loan agreements, as long as the foreign lender complies with Greek property laws. Similarly, there are no restrictions on repayments to foreign lenders, although payments may be subject to withholding taxes and foreign regulations. Exceptions
apply to real estate property near the Greek borders, where specific restrictions exist for foreign acquirers. 3.4 Taxes or Fees Relating to the Granting and Enforcement of Security Granting of Security The granting of security involves court fees and law - yer fees, registration fees (Land Registry or Cadas - tral Office), and notarial fees in case the security is granted via notarial deed. The establishment of the security interests of (i) pre- notation of hypothecation, (ii) hypothecation, (iii) notional pledge and (iv) floating charge are subject to a registration fee at the competent public registry proportional to the secured amount (currently around 0.8%). However, the recently enacted Law 5142/2024 stipulates that the flat and proportional fees will be redefined by virtue of a joint decision by the Ministers of Digital Governance and Economy, following input from the Cadastre. Specifically, for collateral for bond loans, a flat fee of EUR100 currently applies for each registration of security interests with the relevant public registries. As regards hypothecation deeds, where a public nota - ry needs to be involved, the notarial fees are in the range of 0.2%–1% of the secured amount. However, if the notarial hypothecation deed is provided as collat - eral for a bond loan financing, then only a fee amount - ing to EUR2,500 per deed will apply. With regard to pre-notation of hypothecation, the legal costs for the application and issuance of the court order for each hypothecation pre-notation amount to approximately The enforcement of security involves notary fees, court fees (if enforcement actions require court pro - ceedings), registration fees (Land Registry or Cadas - tre Office) and transfer tax, which is calculated as a percentage of the value of the transaction. Legal fees for the services of lawyers in enforcing the security agreements should be considered. EUR600, excluding VAT. Enforcement of Security
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