Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use 2026 Comparisons

The main sources of planning and zoning laws in Greece are:

• constitutional provisions, which define the fundamental limits of land use regulation, including property rights, environmental protection and the principles of legality and proportionality;
• the statutory framework – ie, acts of Parliament establishing the system of spatial planning, land use regulation and building controls;
• regulatory instruments, such as presidential decrees, ministerial regulations and technical or administrative rules that implement and specify statutory planning mandates;
• local planning instruments, such as municipal or regional plans, zoning maps and detailed development regulations governing permissible land uses and building standards;
• judicial decisions, which interpret planning legislation and constitutional constraints, and shape the limits of administrative discretion; and
• European Union and international law, such as EU directives and regulations on environmental protection, sustainability and strategic environmental assessments, along with relevant international conventions.

Planning and zoning powers are constrained by constitutional principles of property rights, equal protection and due process. Land use regulations must pursue legitimate public purposes, treat similarly situated properties consistently, and comply with both procedural fairness and substantive rationality. These principles ensure that the planning authorities advance community welfare without imposing arbitrary, disproportionate or rights-violating burdens on property owners.

In Greece, the main responsible authorities are:

• the Ministry of Environment and Energy;
• the central government agencies;
• the regional governments; and
• the Municipal Planning Departments.

In Greece, land use and development are regulated through a multi-tiered system of national, regional and local authorities. The Ministry of Environment and Energy sets the legal framework, regional governments co-ordinate planning and infrastructure, and municipal departments implement local plans, issue permits and approve developments, with specialised agencies overseeing environmental and heritage compliance. Informal actors – such as local consultative committees, professional associations, NGOs and public consultations – can influence decisions, although they lack formal authority.

Regulation typically covers zoning, building standards, infrastructure, environmental protection, heritage conservation and safety, with Strategic Environmental Assessments and special permits shaping approvals in constrained or sensitive areas.

Over the past 12 months, planning and zoning in Greece have focused on regulatory consolidation and modernisation, with the government moving toward a unified spatial and urban planning framework to streamline procedures and improve transparency.

Restrictions on settlement expansion, particularly in communities of under 2,000 inhabitants, have aimed to curb unregulated sprawl, while instruments such as Land Use Control Areas clarify building rights. Authorities have also emphasised co-operation with professional bodies to enhance technical reliability in approvals. Finally, the submission of Greece’s maritime spatial plans to the EU highlights increasing regulation of coastal and marine uses, including tourism, aquaculture and renewable energy projects.

Over the past 12 months, Greece’s real estate market has been dominated by mega-projects, foreign investment and tourism-driven acquisitions. The Hellinikon Metropolitan Park redevelopment continues to attract domestic and international capital, combining luxury residential, commercial, hospitality and leisure components, including the Riviera Tower. Residential and mixed-use projects such as Keranis Residences target Golden Visa investors, while the hospitality sector sees expansion by international operators across resorts. Foreign direct investment exceeded EUR2.75 billion in 2024, with Golden Visa-linked purchases from China, Turkey and Israel sustaining strong demand and underpinning both urban regeneration and resort development.

Rising inflation and higher interest rates in Greece over the past year have slowed development activity, increased borrowing costs and moderated property price growth, while reducing mortgage demand and delaying new building permits. Developers and investors have adapted by prioritising high-quality, sustainable and yield-oriented projects, particularly in tourism, logistics and urban regeneration sectors. Lenders have tightened credit standards, reflecting higher funding costs and market volatility, while stakeholders remain attentive to policy and regulatory shifts, including residency-linked investment schemes. Overall, the market exhibits selective resilience, with cautious capital deployment and risk-adjusted project strategies shaping the current real estate landscape.

Greece has introduced significant national policy changes that affect real estate development both positively (via legal consolidation, administrative reform and tax clarity) and restrictively (through tightened settlement controls, building limitations and environmentally sensitive zoning). Collectively, these measures are shaping development patterns, investment decisions and long‑term land use planning in the Greek real estate sector.

Greece is implementing significant planning and zoning reforms, including centralising municipal urban planning offices into a National Cadastre and Building Control Agency, codifying over 170 fragmented laws into a single Planning Code, and clarifying settlement boundaries for communities of under 2,000 residents through Land Use Control Areas and a Presidential Decree (D’ 129/2025). These measures aim to streamline permitting, enhance legal certainty and balance development rights with sustainability, but they also impose stricter controls on expansion outside historic settlement cores. Collectively, the reforms are likely to materially influence investment, development feasibility and local planning autonomy across Greece.

Greece is advancing a range of planning reform proposals – from centralising permit authority to redefining settlement limits and updating peri‑urban zoning tools – that promise greater procedural clarity and sustainability but also generate resistance and uncertainty among developers and local authorities. Broader political debates over decentralisation, regulatory certainty and administrative capacity continue to shape real estate development dynamics.

In Greece, new construction, redevelopment, extensions and changes of land use generally require planning and zoning approvals, including building permits, zoning consent and, where relevant, environmental or heritage permits. Property transfers alone do not trigger approval, but any subsequent redevelopment or change of use does.

Certain approvals are discretionary, including variances to zoning limits, development in protected or peri‑urban areas, and projects requiring Strategic Environmental Assessments. Local and national authorities jointly oversee these processes, balancing regulatory compliance, sustainability and public interest.

The Greek government may acquire private land through expropriation (απαλλοτρίωση) or compulsory purchase for public purposes, including infrastructure, urban regeneration, environmental protection and other development projects deemed to be in the public interest. The power is exercised under the Greek Constitution (Article 17) and the Expropriation Law (Law 2882/2001, as amended), which govern the procedures, compensation and judicial oversight.

Expropriation is permitted when land is required for public works and infrastructure (roads, ports, airports, utilities), urban planning or redevelopment projects, environmental protection, conservation or archaeological purposes. Private development projects generally cannot trigger expropriation, unless the project has been formally designated as serving a public interest or under a public-private partnership explicitly authorised by law.

The expropriation process in Greece begins with a formal Declaration of Public Interest, followed by efforts to achieve a voluntary acquisition through negotiated compensation. If negotiations fail, the state issues an Expropriation Decree, after which owners are entitled to fair market value compensation, including potential damages, and may seek judicial review of both the declaration and the compensation. Expropriation has been used for major regeneration projects such as Hellinikon, but only where a clear public interest is established, and procedures remain highly formalised. In practice, judicial challenges and administrative steps often prolong timelines, affecting the pace of development.

In Greece, land use authorities evaluate the external impacts of proposed development primarily through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework and the planning permit process. Projects with significant environmental, traffic, social or infrastructural effects – particularly large-scale, tourism, industrial, coastal or energy developments – must undergo either a full EIA or a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), both of which assess impacts on ecosystems, public infrastructure, cultural heritage and surrounding communities.

While Greece does not maintain a standalone “community impact assessment”, public consultation is embedded in EIAs and in the approval of Local and Special Urban Plans. Authorities review these studies alongside zoning rules, infrastructure capacity and compatibility with approved land use plans to determine whether a project can proceed, and may impose mitigation conditions or deny approval where impacts are excessive.

In Greece, regulatory authorities address entitlements for large-scale or multi-phase projects by approving them through Special Urban Plans or SEAs, which allow a project to be authorised at a conceptual or master-planning level even when detailed designs for later phases are not yet known. These instruments set binding land use parameters, density limits, infrastructure obligations and phasing frameworks, while permitting subsequent phase-specific permits to be issued once detailed architectural and engineering studies are prepared.

To balance developers’ need for early approvals (often essential for financing), authorities allow conditional or staged permitting, in which high-level entitlements are granted subject to later compliance with technical, environmental and design requirements. Community engagement is integrated at the strategic planning stage through public consultation under the SEA/EIA procedures, enabling authorities to secure early community input while preserving flexibility for developers in later phases. This two-tiered system provides sufficient regulatory certainty to support investment while maintaining oversight and public participation as project details evolve.

In Greece, land use authorities may impose a range of conditions on development approvals, including compliance with zoning parameters, infrastructure obligations (roads, utilities, drainage), environmental mitigation measures, archaeological supervision, and design or density restrictions. Monetary, land or facility contributions are permitted under specific legal frameworks – for example, land reallocation and contribution requirements under urban planning laws, obligations to fund or construct public infrastructure within development zones, and mitigation payments required through EIA approvals.

Authorities do not formally require Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) as used in the US; however, functional equivalents arise through binding obligations imposed in Special Urban Plans, SEAs, or large-scale investment procedures, where developers may be required to provide public spaces, infrastructure upgrades, environmental restoration or social amenities as a condition of approval. Thus, while CBAs are not a standalone legal instrument in Greece, community-oriented contributions are routinely embedded within the planning and permitting process.

In Greece, decisions denying a development permit or a designated land use approval may be appealed either administratively or judicially, depending on the nature of the act. Most planning and permitting decisions (eg, denial of a building permit, refusal of land use approval, environmental permit decisions) may be challenged before the Administrative Courts or, for high-level regulatory acts (such as Presidential Decrees or Special Urban Plans), directly before the Council of State.

Appeals are subject to strict deadlines. Judicial challenges to administrative acts must generally be filed within 60 days of notification, while challenges to regulatory acts (eg, zoning decrees) must be filed within 60 days of publication in the Government Gazette. Administrative objections or internal appeals (where provided) must usually be filed within 30 days. Failure to meet these deadlines renders the decision final.

In Greece, third parties – typically neighbours, affected landowners, environmental groups and local community organisations – may participate in the planning and zoning process primarily through statutory public consultation during the SEA/EIA process, and through the public notice and comment procedures for Local and Special Urban Plans. There is no general right to intervene in individual building permit decisions, but third parties may judicially challenge approvals or denials of land use decisions before the Administrative Courts or, for regulatory acts, the Council of State, provided they can demonstrate a direct, personal and legitimate interest.

Third-party objectors can be highly influential, particularly in environmentally sensitive, coastal, island or heritage areas, where objections often prompt additional studies, lead to the imposition of mitigation measures, or result in annulments by the Council of State on sustainability, zoning or procedural legality grounds. Greece does not recognise formal CBAs, and regulatory authorities do not negotiate such arrangements in response to third-party requests; however, community-oriented obligations may be incorporated indirectly through environmental permitting conditions, infrastructure requirements or binding terms within Special Urban Plans. This framework provides avenues for public influence while maintaining a largely technocratic permitting system centred on legality and environmental compliance.

In Greece, development projects frequently require agreements with local authorities, government agencies or utility providers to secure infrastructure connections, co-ordinate public- works obligations or formalise planning conditions. Typical instruments include:

• Infrastructure and Utility Connection Agreements;
• Memoranda of Cooperation with municipalities for road, drainage or public space works; and
• Implementation Acts in planned urban expansions, which allocate land contributions and infrastructure obligations.

For large or strategic investments, authorities may also enter Special Urban Plans and accompanying Binding Development Agreements under the Investment Facilitation Laws, although Greece does not have “planned unit developments” or “transfer of development rights” schemes in the US sense.

Government authorities derive the power to enter development-related agreements from the Urban Planning Code, the Municipal Authority Law, the Strategic Investments framework and specific statutes governing infrastructure or utilities (eg, energy, water, telecommunications). These agreements typically address land use parameters, infrastructure construction or financing, environmental mitigation, phasing and timing obligations, public space provision, archaeological oversight, and compliance with approved plans and EIAs. While not contractual zoning, this framework provides a structured mechanism for co-ordinating development obligations between private developers and the state.

Most land use approvals – including building permits and special planning consents – do not apply in perpetuity but are subject to fixed validity periods (typically four years for building permits) and lapse if construction does not commence or if specific conditions are unmet; by contrast, zoning designations and land use classifications generally “run with the land” unless amended through formal planning procedures.

If an application is denied, developers may re-apply without a statutory bar, although authorities may reject repetitive applications that fail to remedy prior deficiencies. Rights are considered “vested” once a permit has been lawfully issued, all prerequisite conditions have been fulfilled and works have commenced, at which point the state cannot retroactively impose more restrictive zoning except under narrow public interest grounds and accompanied by compensation.

The Greek system relies on short, rigid deadlines to ensure legal certainty in planning and land-use decisions – typically 30–60 days. Once these deadlines lapse, approvals and denials become final.

Land use decisions are subject to strict legality review by the administrative courts (including the Council of State for regulatory acts), which assess compliance with statutory planning rules, environmental law, procedural requirements and constitutional principles such as proportionality and protection of the environment. Overturning an approval or denial is possible but difficult, as courts do not reassess planning policy or technical judgments unless there is a clear error of law, inadequate reasoning or procedural defect.

Judicial review is common, especially by environmental NGOs and local residents, who routinely challenge major projects; developers also litigate when approvals are denied or delayed. Opponents often succeed in delaying projects through interim measures, but ultimate annulment on the merits is less frequent, while developers’ challenges succeed primarily where authorities have committed identifiable legal or procedural violations.

In Greece, developers facing judicial challenges to land use approvals often seek to de-risk project timelines by securing multiple, independent regulatory approvals (eg, environmental, archaeological, traffic), structuring phased permitting to allow early-stage works to proceed, and obtaining interim court orders confirming the continued validity of permits pending judgment. Investors and lenders commonly rely on robust legal due diligence, contractual risk allocation and step-in rights to maintain project momentum during litigation.

To prevent or neutralise opposition, developers increasingly engage in early community consultation, modify project design to address environmental or neighbourhood concerns, and build comprehensive administrative records that withstand strict legality review. In high-impact projects, negotiating mitigation measures or community benefits – although not formally required – can also reduce the likelihood or intensity of litigation from organised opponents.

Greek authorities deploy a range of development incentive mechanisms aimed at attracting investment, accelerating strategic projects and facilitating regeneration. Key tools include:

• density and height bonuses for urban redevelopment;
• transferable development rights for protected or underutilised properties; and
• fast-track strategic investment procedures (notably under Laws 3894/2010 and 4864/2021), which streamline permitting and offer tax and land use incentives for qualifying projects.

Additional incentives include:

• tax exemptions and depreciation benefits;
• subsidies and grants under the Development Law and EU Structural Funds; and
• special regimes such as Special Urban Plans that provide flexible zoning, expedited approvals and tailored land use parameters.

In tourism, logistics, renewable energy and brownfield redevelopment, these tools function as central instruments for enabling large-scale investment and mitigating administrative complexity.

In Greece, government authorities generally apply financial, technical and legal due diligence standards when assessing applications for development incentives, focusing on the project’s viability, the developer’s financial capacity, compliance with zoning and environmental rules, and alignment with national or regional development priorities (eg, sustainability, innovation, employment creation). Authorities typically require incentivised projects to meet minimum investment thresholds, maintain verified equity participation, demonstrate secure financing sources, and comply with environmental and permitting obligations.

Projects receiving incentives are usually subject to strict performance requirements, including timely implementation milestones, job creation targets, adherence to approved land use parameters, and reporting or audit obligations. Incentives may be revoked and subsidies clawed back if the developer fails to meet the prescribed conditions, ensuring that public support is tied to demonstrable economic, social or environmental benefits.

In Greece, developers receiving incentives must evaluate several tax and compliance implications. Subsidies, grants and certain forms of public support may constitute taxable income, unless expressly exempted under the Development Law or sector-specific regimes. Accelerated depreciation, tax credits and VAT relief can materially affect project feasibility but require strict adherence to investment timelines, capital expenditure documentation and audit requirements. Developers must also consider state aid rules, particularly EU constraints on permissible aid intensity, as non-compliance can result in repayment obligations. More broadly, incentive-supported projects are subject to enhanced monitoring, reporting and performance verification, which can increase administrative burden but are essential to retain the benefits.

Development and land use restrictions are enforced primarily through administrative oversight by urban planning authorities, municipal building inspectors and specialised bodies such as the Environmental Inspectorate and archaeological services, where applicable. These authorities may conduct inspections, issue stop-work orders, impose administrative fines, revoke permits or order the demolition of unauthorised structures.

Enforcement authority rests with the municipal planning offices, the Decentralised Administrations and, for environmental and cultural heritage matters, the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Culture. Criminal sanctions may also apply in cases of serious zoning or environmental violations.

Third parties do not generally have a direct private cause of action for zoning enforcement, but they may file administrative complaints prompting official inspections, seek injunctive relief in limited cases (eg, protection of property or environmental interests), and challenge unlawful permits before the administrative courts. Environmental NGOs and affected neighbours frequently use judicial review before the Council of State to annul approvals that allegedly violate planning, environmental or procedural rules, making them influential actors in enforcement dynamics.

Government authorities have a range of remedies to compel compliance with land use regulations. Administrative measures include stop-work orders, fines, the suspension or revocation of permits, and, in serious cases, orders for the demolition of unauthorised structures. Authorities may also seek injunctive relief or enforcement actions through administrative or civil courts to ensure adherence to zoning, environmental or heritage requirements.

Third parties do not generally have a private right to enforce land use rules directly, but they may initiate judicial review proceedings against permits or approvals before the Administrative Courts or the Council of State, effectively compelling authorities to reconsider unlawful approvals. In practice, affected neighbours and environmental groups often leverage these judicial channels to enforce compliance indirectly by challenging approvals or triggering additional inspections.

In Greece, national, regional and municipal authorities impose several regulatory and professional requirements on planning and zoning practitioners and applicants. Architects, engineers and other professionals submitting land use applications must be licensed and registered with their professional chambers, comply with professional codes of conduct, and certify compliance with zoning, safety and environmental regulations. Applicants must provide complete technical documentation, including urban planning, environmental and infrastructure studies, as part of the approval process.

There is no formal lobbyist registration system comparable to that in the US, nor are there specific campaign finance rules directly to land use applications. However, applicants may encounter political considerations indirectly, particularly in high-profile or strategic projects where local councils, municipal authorities or regional governments exercise discretionary influence. Transparency, public consultation and compliance with procedural and environmental law are critical to mitigating informal political or reputational risks.

Government authorities generally seek to maintain the confidentiality of sensitive commercial or financial information submitted with land use applications, but transparency obligations under the Greek Freedom of Information Law (Law 4623/2019) and related administrative regulations can require the disclosure of planning, zoning and environmental documents. Publicly available records typically include building permit applications, zoning plans, environmental impact studies and Special Urban Plans, although documents containing trade secrets, personal data or commercially sensitive information may be withheld.

Exemptions from disclosure are provided under the law for national security, privacy or commercial confidentiality, and are invoked by the competent administrative authority reviewing the request. Third parties may challenge refusals through the administrative appeals process or the administrative courts, which assess whether the exemption was properly applied. Overall, while authorities aim to balance transparency with the protection of sensitive data, most technical and environmental documentation becomes accessible to the public through consultation and publication requirements.