We are currently buying a small house on Corfu (not athens I know!), and our lawyer has given us the final costs. She gave us these on friday night, one week before the deal is set to be rubber stamped. The estate agent had told us that the costs would be between 11-15% of the purchase price.
This is the information our lawer has sent us.
The house price is 60 000 euro.
Tax 6000 euro.
Notary fee 2000 euro
Lawyer's fee 2000 euro
Estate agent fee 1200 euro + vat
We had been advised that we would be paying tax based on the assessed value rather than the purchase price, but the lawer now tells us we must pay based on the purchase price. http://athens.angloinfo.com/information/housing/buying-property/property-taxes This link confirms that this is appropriate, but I still don't see how it comes to 6k?
We had been advised the notary fee would be 1-2% but 2k is around 3.3%
The lawyer told us her fee was 2% but now says the cost is 2k euro as there is a 520 euro payment to the greek legal society and vat of 23%.
There have been no surprises regarding the estate agent fee.
Overall the additional costs come to 19.3% rather than the 11-15% we were advised we would pay. I have asked the lawyer to explain the taxes and the notary fee further.
I'm getting the feeling I am being ripped off and we are now in the position where we need to hope the £ holds it's position against the euro this week, or we won't have enough cash to go through with the deal.
Has anybody else experienced additional costs at 19+%? Do these seem excessive?
