A plot inside a Greek village's limits: how to confirm it is inside, which zone it is in and which rules apply

Village plots in Greece: what counts as a settlement under Law 5306/2026, the 1985 and 2025 decrees, zones A, B and B1, and how to check a plot is inside.

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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Many plots sold to foreign buyers in Greece are described as "inside the village" (εντός οικισμού). That can mean the plot lies inside the official limits of a delimited settlement, that it sits next to the last houses but outside those limits, or that the village was delimited decades ago without a clear map. The building rules differ completely between these cases. This guide shows how to tell them apart before you sign a preliminary agreement.

Three regimes

Our guide to in-plan vs out-of-plan land covers the first and third. This one covers the middle case.

What legally counts as a settlement

The Spatial Planning and Urban Code (Law 5306/2026), article 227, defines a settlement (οικισμός) as a distinct built-up group listed in a census before 14 March 1983, including any part that existed before 16 August 1923, with up to 2,000 inhabitants. It distinguishes a coherent part, of at least ten buildings no more than forty metres apart, from scattered and sparsely built parts.

Houses around a plot do not make it a village plot. The delimitation act does.

Two decrees

For decades, villages under 2,000 inhabitants were delimited under the Presidential Decree of 24 April 1985 (Government Gazette D 181/1985). Many delimitations were made by prefect's decision; a ministry document in a parliamentary answer describes one published without its maps.

In 2025 a new decree set the criteria and procedure for delimiting these settlements and their building terms (Government Gazette D 194/2025). Press reports on its review say the Council of State upheld it with exceptions. According to the Technical Chamber of Greece, the old regime continues until a new delimitation decree is issued for each settlement.

Zones A, B and B1

Engineers' analyses of the 2025 decree describe three zones: zone A, the coherent core that predates 1923; zone B, the coherent part built between 1923 and 1983; and zone B1, the scattered part of the same period. Minimum plot area and frontage differ by zone and can differ by settlement. The analyses we read give different figures for the same zone, so we do not repeat them: read the figure for your plot in the settlement's delimitation act and have an engineer confirm it.

How to check, step by step

1. KAEK. Ask the seller for the cadastral code and find the parcel on the cadastre map; see our KAEK guide.
2. Limits on e-Poleodomia. Check whether the parcel lies inside the published settlement limit. If the limit crosses the plot, note which part is inside.
3. The delimitation act. Find the Gazette issue or prefect's decision and its maps. Without published maps, the limit can be disputed.
4. Written statement from the building office (Υπηρεσία Δόμησης). Ask for the plot's position relative to the limit and its zone.
5. An engineer's written opinion on minimum area, frontage, buildability and other constraints (forest, coast, streams, archaeology) before any deposit.

A LandCheck report shows, for the parcel you pick, the cadastral outline, published planning data, forest maps, coastal zone and risks, with source and date. It does not replace the building office's statement. Check the plot in a LandCheck report → · Read a full sample report

When the answer is bad

The plot is a few metres outside the limit. Out-of-plan rules apply, which usually need a much larger plot. Do not pay a village-plot price.

The limit cuts through the plot. Only the part inside follows village rules; ask the engineer what can be built there.

No clear maps. The risk is legal: a new delimitation could move the line. Make the purchase conditional on the building office's written statement.

A new delimitation is pending. Ask the municipality whether a study under the 2025 decree has started; new limits or terms could be stricter or looser.

Sources

• Law 5306/2026 (Spatial Planning and Urban Code), article 227, taxheaven.gr, accessed via search engine 2.11.2026.
• Presidential Decree of 24.4.1985 (Gazette D 181/1985), summary at oenet.gr, accessed 2.11.2026.
• Presidential Decree on delimiting settlements under 2,000 inhabitants, Gazette D 194/2025, Ministry of Environment and Energy, ypen.gov.gr; Council of State review (press), kefaloniamagazine.gr; zones (engineers' analyses), efsimopoulos.gr, accessed 2.11.2026.
• Transitional regime (Technical Chamber) and delimitation by prefect's decision without maps (parliamentary answer), hellenicparliament.gr, accessed 2.11.2026.