A reservation agreement can be useful when a buyer needs time to complete legal and technical due diligence while a specific unit is removed from the market. It can also create avoidable risk if the property is described loosely, the deposit is sent to the wrong account, or the refund terms depend entirely on the seller’s discretion.
For a Greece Golden Visa commercial-to-residential conversion project, the reservation document should connect the commercial transaction to the evidence that will later be needed for the property purchase and residence-permit file. It should not attempt to replace the final notarial deed, the engineer’s technical report or independent legal review.
1. Identify the exact property
The agreement should identify more than the development name. It should include the Santheos ST project number where applicable, building address, unit number, floor, area and any parking or storage space included in the transaction. If a separate horizontal property and cadastral identifier already exist, those details should be recorded or attached.
A marketing code is useful for communication but is not a substitute for the property’s legal description. The reservation, due-diligence documents and final deed must refer to the same asset.
2. Name the legal seller and the receiving party
The entity marketing a project is not necessarily the registered owner. The agreement should name the legal seller, its tax number and registered details, and explain whether Santheos or another party is acting as developer, coordinator or authorised representative.
If the deposit is paid to someone other than the registered seller, the agreement should state the legal basis for that arrangement, the capacity in which the recipient holds the money and what happens to the funds if the transaction does not proceed.
3. State the purchase price and what it includes
The document should distinguish the price of the property from furniture, equipment, management services or other packages. It should also identify whether parking or storage is included in the same consideration and contract.
The official change-of-use procedure requires a minimum acquisition value of EUR 250,000 in one property for this route. Buyers should not assume that every additional commercial item counts toward that investment value.
4. Define the deposit precisely
The agreement should state the amount, currency, due date, bank account and legal recipient. It should say whether the payment is part of the purchase consideration, a reservation fee, an advance or another type of payment.
The payment reference should identify the buyer and property. Receipts, bank confirmations and account details should be retained from the start. The official procedure requires full payment of the agreed property consideration through permitted, traceable methods. A notarial certificate later records the consideration, payment method and execution of payment.
5. Set a clear reservation period
The buyer needs enough time to receive and review the file. The agreement should state the start and end of the exclusivity period, whether the property will be removed from sale, and the circumstances in which an extension is available.
An undefined or extremely short reservation period can pressure the buyer to sign before title and technical questions are answered.
6. Attach the due-diligence document list
The agreement should identify the documents the seller must provide and a deadline for delivery. Depending on the property, the list may include the ownership deed, cadastral or land-registry details, encumbrance information, building permit, plans, horizontal-property documentation, electronic building identity materials, change-of-use act and the engineer’s supporting file.
The purpose is not to collect a large folder. It is to give the buyer’s lawyer and engineer enough evidence to match the seller, the legal property and the proposed Golden Visa route.
7. Make satisfactory review a condition
The buyer should discuss with the appointed lawyer whether the transaction is conditional on satisfactory legal and technical due diligence. The condition should be objective enough to operate in practice.
Examples include confirmation of the seller’s ownership and signing authority, absence or acceptable removal of encumbrances, consistency of the unit with approved plans, and documentary support for the qualifying change of use.
8. Separate current evidence from future work
If the change of use or construction is still in progress, the agreement should identify what has already been completed and what remains outstanding. It should state the required evidence and deadline for each milestone.
For the EUR 250,000 conversion route, the change of use must be completed after 5 April 2024 and before the residence-permit application is submitted. A promise that it will be completed later is not the same as a completed, documented change of use at filing.
9. Define the route to the final deed
The agreement should specify the intended deadline for signing the notarial purchase deed and list the events that must occur first. It should also explain how delays caused by document production, tax registration, powers of attorney or technical work are handled.
A date without dependencies is not a reliable transaction plan. A useful timeline identifies the owner of each action and the evidence that closes each stage.
10. Write the refund triggers and deadline
The word “refundable” is insufficient. The agreement should state which events produce a refund, who determines that the event occurred, how the buyer gives notice and how many days the recipient has to return the money.
The buyer should discuss possible triggers with counsel, including an unsatisfactory title review, a material mismatch in the technical file, failure to deliver agreed documents, failure of a stated condition, or inability to complete a promised project milestone by the long-stop date.
11. Balance the default provisions
The document should explain the consequences if the buyer withdraws without a contractual reason and if the seller sells the unit to another person, changes the agreed commercial terms or cannot complete the transaction.
One-sided language that makes the deposit automatically non-refundable for almost every event should be examined before payment, not after a dispute begins.
12. Control language, amendments and signatures
The buyer should know which language version prevails, which law governs the agreement, how notices are delivered and whether amendments must be in writing. The signatory for a company must have current authority to bind it.
No reservation agreement should state that a project or buyer is guaranteed to obtain a residence permit. The document can define the transaction and evidence obligations; the immigration file is assessed under the rules and documentation in force when it is submitted.
A practical sequence before payment
Before sending the deposit, the buyer should receive the final reservation text, verify the bank-account holder, obtain identification for the legal seller, confirm that advisers have received the promised initial file, and save the signed agreement and payment evidence in one transaction folder.
Santheos’ internal legal and risk-control teams review the project documents and transaction structure available to the company. The buyer’s appointed lawyer and engineer should then complete their independent property-specific review and approve the reservation wording and payment route.
For further transaction and document questions, consult the Santheos Greece Golden Visa Encyclopedia: 338 Answers.
