GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Nikolaos Koulocheris, Ioannis Charalampopoulos, Rozita Karasso and Dimitra Kotsovelou, Machas & Partners
3. Real Estate Finance 3.1 Financing Acquisitions of Commercial Real Estate
pledges of claims include claims arising under or in connection with construction, operation and maintenance. Additionally, floating charges and subordination 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 agree - ments, 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 withhold - ing taxes and foreign regulations. Exceptions apply to real estate property near the Greek bor - ders, 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 lawyer fees, registration fees (Land Registry or Cadastral 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) hypotheca - tion, (iii) notional pledge and (iv) floating charge are subject to a registration fee at the compe - tent 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 Dig - ital Governance and Economy, following input from the Cadastre.
In Greece, acquisitions of commercial real estate are financed through a variety of channels, including the acquirer’s own equity, traditional bank loans, private equity, real estate invest - ment funds, and corporate debt and bond loans. For larger transactions, joint ventures and more complex financing structures involving syndi - cated loans are commonly used, particularly 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 typi - cally secure financing through various security interests. The most common is a pre-notation of hypothecation or a hypothecation on the prop - erty. These encumbrances serve a similar trans - actional purpose to a common law mortgage, which involves the transfer of legal ownership from the mortgagor to the mortgagee. 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 hypotheca - tee 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, pledg - es of shares and pledges of claims by way of assignment, including most notably claims aris - ing out of or in connection with bank accounts, lease agreements, management agreements, other real estate operation arrangements and insurance contracts. For development projects,
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