Buying a villa or a plot on Mykonos: how to verify the building permit, the title and the risks the island adds

Mykonos villa or plot: the out-of-plan permit freeze, ministry inspections, how to verify the building permit and title, and what to do if a check fails.

This guide is a preliminary screen for a purchase or permit question, not legal, surveying, engineering or tax advice; read the full scope and limits before relying on it.

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The checks for a house on Mykonos are the same in law as anywhere in Greece: a valid building permit, a building that matches it, a clean title in the land registry, nothing on the foreshore. What differs is the pressure on each of them. Since 2023 the Ministry of Environment and Energy (ΥΠΕΝ) has treated the island as a test case: Parliament froze new building permits outside the town plan and the settlements, the ministry's inspectors have run repeated site visits with drones and satellite images, and the ministry's appeals council has upheld demolition orders. A villa that would pass a quick look on another island can fail here, and the buyer who signs is the one left with the order.

This guide is written for someone buying a finished villa or a plot on Mykonos, often from abroad. It goes through the island-specific rules first, then the permit check, the title check and the coast, and ends with what to do when one of them fails.

What is different about Mykonos

New permits outside the plan were frozen by statute

Article 270 of Law 5037/2023 (Government Gazette Α΄ 78/2023) suspended the issue of building permits in the areas of Mykonos that lie outside the town plan and outside settlements (εκτός σχεδίου πόλεως και εκτός οικισμού) until the Special Urban Plan of the Municipality of Mykonos (Ειδικό Πολεοδομικό Σχέδιο, ΕΠΣ) is approved. Repairs to lawfully existing buildings, kept inside their legal outline and volume, were exempted, and the permits that remained possible were moved from the local building office to a ministry directorate in Athens, the Directorate of Architecture, Building Regulations and Permits (ΔΑΟΚΑ).

The suspension carried an outer date, and that date has been moved by later laws:

That is the last extension we could read in the text of a published law. Press reports since then describe further freezes on Mykonos; we did not find their enacted text, so we give no later date here. The ΕΠΣ itself was presented by the ministry with alternative scenarios for land uses and building terms across the island, with Delos, Rineia and the islets left to archaeological and environmental law; in the sources we read it had not been approved.

What this means for a buyer is simple to state. If you are paying for an out-of-plan plot on the strength of a house you intend to build, the price assumes a permit that the law did not allow to be issued from 2023 until at least the end of 2024. Before any deposit, get a written answer from the building service on two points: can a permit be issued for this plot today, and under which building terms. The ΕΠΣ will set new terms for out-of-plan land on the whole island, and a plot priced on the old ones will be repriced when the plan is published.

The ministry's inspectors work on the island

In February 2025 mixed teams of the ministry's Inspectors and Auditors Corps (Σώμα Επιθεωρητών και Ελεγκτών ΥΠΕΝ) and the Financial Police inspected properties on Mykonos between 13 and 18 February, using drone photographs and satellite images to pick sites. One finding from the ministry's own release is the clearest illustration of what a buyer is up against.

At Tourlos, out of plan and inside a protection zone, on a property of 4,093 m² holding a building permit for a two-storey house of 200 m², the inspectors recorded rock excavation of about 1,500 m³ and other works on the natural ground that did not match the approved drawings of the revised permit. Inside that protection zone the destruction or alteration of rock outcrops is prohibited. The ministry said it was examining revocation of the permit if a legality review showed it had been issued on false data.

Put the numbers side by side. The permit allowed 200 m² of floor area on 4,093 m², a ratio of about 0.05. The excavation, 1,500 m³, is the volume of a 200 m² footprint dug 7.5 m deep. A buyer reading only the permit would have seen a modest two-storey house; the site held a basement-scale cut that the permit did not cover. A permit number on the contract proves that a permit exists. It says nothing about whether the building on the ground is the building on the drawings.

The ministry stated in the same context that once a breach is finally established, the owner must demolish within 30 days. Earlier cases show the appeals route does not reliably save an owner: the Central Council for Urban Planning Matters and Disputes (ΚΕ.ΣΥ.ΠΟ.Θ.Α.) ruled in 2023 on unauthorised structures in the Psarrou area, and where the objections were rejected the structures became liable to demolition, with the penalties of articles 271 and 271A of Law 5037/2023: fines for erecting and for keeping the structure, criminal sanctions and suspension of operating licences.

The land registry moved to the cadastre in December 2023

The Hellenic Cadastre opened its Mykonos branch (Υποκατάστημα Μυκόνου) on 1 December 2023, under a decision published in Government Gazette Β΄ 6671/27.11.2023. It belongs to the Cyclades Cadastral Office, covers the former communities of Mykonos and Ano Mera, and replaced the salaried Mykonos land registry (έμμισθο Υποθηκοφυλακείο Μυκόνου). The cadastre, with its parcel codes (ΚΑΕΚ), is now the register for the island, and the cadastral extract is the document a title check starts from. Older transactions still sit in the books inherited from the registry, which your lawyer reads for the chain of title.

Not a border area

Foreign buyers without EU or EFTA citizenship need a committee decision to acquire property in the border areas listed in article 24(1) of Law 1892/1990, as replaced by article 43(1) of Law 4278/2014. The Cyclades islands named there are Thira (Santorini) and Skyros; Mykonos is not on the list. A presidential decree can change the list, and your notary checks the position at signing, but on the statute as it stands a US, UK or Swiss buyer does not need border-area consent on Mykonos. Our border-area guide has the full list. You will still need a Greek tax number (ΑΦΜ) to sign.

How to verify a villa's building permit

Do these in order. Together they answer the question most buyers type into a search box: is this house legal.

1. Get the permit and the full file. Ask the seller for the permit number, every revision, and the approved drawings (plans, sections, topographic diagram). A permit without drawings cannot be compared with anything. For the general method see how to verify a building permit in Greece.
2. Have your own engineer compare the building with the drawings, on site. Measure floor areas, heights, number of levels, the pool, pergolas, retaining walls and any excavation. The Tourlos case is the reason this step exists: the permit was real, the ground works were not covered by it. Do not rely on the seller's engineer for this.
3. Ask what has been legalised, and check it covers what you see. Many Greek houses carry declarations that brought earlier breaches under a legalisation law (τακτοποίηση). Ask for each declaration number and its drawings and compare them with the building, square metre by square metre. A pool or a guest studio added after the last declaration is outside it.
4. Get the engineer's certificate before the deed. Under article 368 of Law 5306/2026 (Government Gazette Α΄ 88/8.6.2026, the planning code that carried over former article 83 of Law 4495/2017), every transfer needs the owner's sworn declaration and an engineer's certificate (βεβαίωση μηχανικού) with a topographic diagram, confirming that there is no unauthorised work or that what exists has been legalised. It is valid for two months. Article 367(1) of the same code makes a transfer of a property carrying unauthorised work absolutely void. See our guide to unauthorised structures.
5. Check the Electronic Building Identity. Articles 342–351 of Law 5306/2026 regulate the building's electronic identity file, declared per building or per divided property and updated after any permitted works (article 345). Ask for its number and read it against what you saw on site; our guide explains what the engineer certifies in it.

The certificate in step 4 is signed by the seller's engineer and keeps the deed valid. The ministry can still inspect the house next year, and what protects you then is your own engineer's comparison in step 2.

How to check the title

1. Cadastral extract by ΚΑΕΚ. Ask for the ΚΑΕΚ and obtain the cadastral extract and diagram from the Mykonos branch or online. Check the owners, their shares and every encumbrance: mortgages, seizures, claims, easements. Our KAEK guide shows where to look the parcel up on the map.
2. Compare three areas. The area in the cadastre, in the seller's title deed and on the permit's topographic diagram should agree. On Mykonos, where a few hundred square metres decide whether a plot meets an out-of-plan minimum, a gap matters; see title deed and boundaries.
3. Chain of title. Your lawyer reads the seller's deed and the earlier ones in the inherited registry books. Where the seller inherited together with others, every co-owner signs, or nobody does.
4. Who holds the road. A villa reached over a neighbour's land needs a registered easement or a recognised public road. Check the cadastral diagram for the access strip.

The coast

Villas on Mykonos sell on sea views and beach access, and the shore is public. Article 1 of Law 2971/2001, as replaced by article 23 of Law 4607/2019, defines the foreshore (αιγιαλός) as the strip of land wetted by the sea at its largest ordinary wave run-up. It belongs to the state and cannot be built on, and on many stretches of the Greek coast the line has never been formally drawn. A terrace, pool deck or steps that reach towards the water may sit on public land. Check whether a foreshore line has been delimited at the property, and where it runs relative to the structures; see our coastal zone guide.

When a check fails

The building is larger than the permit, and nothing legalises the difference. The deed cannot be signed validly until the engineer can issue the certificate. Either the seller legalises what the law allows, at the seller's cost and before signing, or the parts that cannot be legalised are removed. Put this in the preliminary agreement with a deadline and a refund clause.

The ministry has already inspected the property, or a demolition protocol exists. Ask the seller directly and in writing, and have your lawyer check for any protocol and any appeal to the ΚΕ.ΣΥ.ΠΟ.Θ.Α. A property with a final finding of a breach carries a 30-day demolition obligation. Walk away or price the demolition in.

The plot is out of plan and the price assumes a new house. Without a written statement that a permit can issue today, you are buying land whose building rights depend on a plan not yet approved. Pay land value, or make the purchase conditional on the permit.

The areas do not match. Have a surveyor redraw the parcel and correct the cadastre or the deed before signing. A sale on wrong areas carries the mismatch to you.

Part of the property is on the foreshore. The foreshore is public and cannot be built on, so a deck or stairs on it do not pass to you with the villa. Price their removal and ask your lawyer how the line affects the plot's area.

What a LandCheck report covers here

A LandCheck report for a Mykonos parcel shows the cadastral outline, the town plan and settlement limits, land uses, forest maps, the foreshore line where one has been delimited, and natural hazards, each with its source and the date it was read. That answers the planning side of the question: is this parcel inside or outside the plan, what constraints sit on it. It does not check the building permit, the legalisation declarations or the title, and it is neither a valuation nor a legal opinion. Those stay with your engineer and your lawyer. It is a preliminary screen.

Check a Mykonos parcel in a LandCheck report → · Read a full sample report

Sources

• Law 5037/2023 (Gazette Α΄ 78/2023), article 270, suspension of building permits outside the plan and settlements on Mykonos; ministry statement on the provision, powergame.gr; Cyclades engineers' association notice, koinignomi.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• Law 5079/2023, article 65, extension of art. 270 Law 5037/2023, taxheaven.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• Law 5131/2024, article 42, extension to 31.12.2024, taxheaven.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• Special Urban Plan of Mykonos, presentation of scenarios, michanikos.gr and powergame.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• ΥΠΕΝ, "Τα ευρήματα του Σώματος Επιθεωρητών και Ελεγκτών του Υπουργείου Περιβάλλοντος και Ενέργειας στη Μύκονο", ypen.gov.gr, and "Μικτά κλιμάκια ... Τα ευρήματα από τις αυτοψίες στη Μύκονο", ypen.gov.gr (inspections 13–18.2.2025, Tourlos findings); text also reported at oenet.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• ΥΠΕΝ, "Αποφάσεις του ΚΕ.ΣΥ.ΠΟ.Θ.Α. σχετικά με αυθαίρετες κατασκευές στην περιοχή «Ψαρρού» του Δήμου Μυκόνου", ypen.gov.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• Hellenic Cadastre, start of operation of the Andros and Mykonos branches on 1.12.2023 (Gazette Β΄ 6671/27.11.2023), oenet.gr and powergame.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• Law 5306/2026 (Gazette Α΄ 88/8.6.2026), articles 342–351 (Electronic Building Identity, taxheaven.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026), 366–368 (unauthorised works, nullity of transfer, engineer's certificate), taxheaven.gr, text read for LandCheck's guides on 1.8.2026.
• Law 1892/1990, article 24(1), as replaced by article 43(1) Law 4278/2014 (Gazette Α΄ 157/4.8.2014), consolidated text at nomoskopio.gr, read 1.8.2026 for our border-area guide.
• Law 2971/2001, article 1, as replaced by article 23 Law 4607/2019, definition of the foreshore, taxheaven.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.