Buying a property on Santorini

The six things that actually matter

Estate agents will show you the view. These are the six findings that change the price or the decision, in order of how expensive they are to discover late.

1. Does what is built match what is permitted? An unauthorised extension, enclosed terrace or converted store blocks any future permit and complicates resale. It is extremely common on older property here. See legalisation.
2. Is the cadastral position clean? Unresolved inheritance, undivided shares among many heirs, or a registered area that does not match the plot. This is a legal check, and it can add months to any build programme. See Κτηματολόγιο.
3. Where does vehicle access actually end? Not "is it walkable" — where does a lorry stop. On a stepped-lane property this is the single largest multiplier on every future job. See Oia.
4. What is behind the plaster? In a cave property this is everything: vault geometry, previous alterations, cement render trapping moisture, and where the water is coming from. See cave house renovation.
5. Drainage: network or cesspit, and what capacity? If you intend to let it, a system sized for a family will fail in August. See drainage and septic.
6. Terraces over occupied rooms. Waterproofing failure here is the most commonly deferred capital cost in the island's stock. See waterproofing.

What a pre-purchase building survey covers

This is a construction survey, not a valuation and not a legal search. It sits alongside your lawyer's work, not instead of it.

• Comparison of the physical building against the permit record, and a plain statement of anything that does not match.
• Structural observations, and a recommendation for an engineer where the situation warrants one.
• Opening up where the vendor permits it — a patch of render, a floor corner, an inspection of the cistern. This is where the value is and it is worth negotiating for.
• Moisture assessment, particularly in cave and vaulted property.
• Services: drainage route and capacity, electrical supply and board, water source and pressure.
• Access assessment — the practical route, and what it means for future work.
• An indicative view of what putting it right would involve, so the finding turns into a number.

What surprises buyers most

Access cost

A property three hundred metres down a stepped lane will cost substantially more to renovate than an identical one with a road outside — for the life of the building, not just once.

The permit history

The charming extra room is frequently the unauthorised one, and it is the reason the permit application will not proceed.

Cave damp

Beautifully finished cave properties can be hiding a moisture problem behind new lime-look paint. The finish is the last thing to fail.

The cost of doing nothing

Deferred terrace waterproofing above an occupied room does not stay the same size. It grows into the ceiling below it.

Programme, not price

Buyers plan a purchase and a six-month renovation. Approvals frequently take longer than the works.

When we would tell you to walk away

Rarely, and it is worth saying when.

• Unauthorised work that cannot be regularised because of where it is, rather than because of process.
• Structural movement near a caldera edge that the vendor will not allow to be investigated.
• A cadastral or inheritance position with no clear resolution path, where a build programme is not plannable.
• A price that assumes the property is sound when the survey says otherwise, and a vendor unwilling to move.

None of those is common. Most findings are priceable rather than fatal, and knowing about them is what lets you negotiate rather than discover.