What the law requires

Applications for a building permit (οικοδομική άδεια) are filed online. Under the Spatial and Urban Planning Code (Law 5306/2026), they include a topographic survey plan tied to the national coordinate system, which has been submitted to the Hellenic Cadastre and has an electronic diagram code. Among other documents, the application also includes the title deeds or the cadastral sheet, the extract of the cadastral diagram, the coverage diagram and the engineering studies.

The Code also sets what the survey plan contains: the corners of the property tied to the national triangulation network, the outline of existing buildings with coordinates, full photographic documentation and a survey of levels. Where required, a certificate from the municipality's technical service on the final kerb level is attached.

Inside or outside the town plan

The first question is where the property lies. Greek law calls a property inside an approved town plan, or within the limits of a settlement without a plan, an urban plot (οικόπεδο), and a property outside the plan a land plot (γήπεδο). The rules on whether and how much you can build are completely different in each case.

Town plan and building terms

The street alignment line (ρυμοτομική γραμμή) is set by the approved plan and separates the city block from roads and squares. The building line (οικοδομική γραμμή) is the limit up to which you may build towards the public space, and the strip between them is the front garden (προκήπιο). If the street alignment line runs through the property, part of it may be reserved for a road or square. The building terms (building regulations) set the building coefficient, the coverage, the maximum height and the distances from the boundaries. They are confirmed by the competent Building Service (Υπηρεσία Δόμησης); the surveyor applies them to the actual shape of the property.

Minimum plot size

Inside the plan, a plot is conforming and buildable (άρτιο και οικοδομήσιμο) when it has the minimum area and the minimum frontage on a public space set by the building terms of the area. The date the plot was created also matters: plots created after 18.12.1985 are subject to different conditions from older ones.

Outside the plan, the general rule is an area of at least 4,000 m² and a frontage of at least 25 m on a public road, with higher requirements on national, provincial and certain other roads. As a rule, the building must be at least 15 m from the plot boundaries. Smaller plots have been covered by exceptions with special conditions and deadlines; the deadlines set by the law at any given time apply. For the frontage to count, the road must be public, and a farm track you can see on the ground is not always a “road” for building purposes.

Levels and area

The ground level and the maximum height are shown in the section of the coverage diagram, so the survey of levels is not a detail, especially on sloping plots. We survey the ground, kerbs, pavements and neighbouring roads, and deliver spot levels and contour lines.

The surveyed area is compared with the title deeds and the Cadastre. For properties whose area was measured before 8.8.2013, the Code allows a tolerance in the area deviation of ±5% inside the plan or a settlement and ±10% outside the plan. A larger difference needs investigating before the design starts.

What we hand to the design engineer

The signed survey plan as PDF, and a DWG/DXF file in GGRS87 (ΕΓΣΑ87), the national coordinate system of Greece
A coordinate table of the corners and the area
Existing buildings, fences, spot levels and contour lines
The street alignment line and building line, or the settlement boundary, where they exist
The code of the online submission to the Cadastre
Photographs of the property

The coverage diagram and the studies are prepared by the design engineer; we give them a base that will not need surveying again.

What you need / steps

Title deeds and, if they exist, earlier survey plans and subdivisions
The KAEK (the 12-digit cadastral code) or the location of the property on the Cadastre map
Contact details of the design engineer, so that we agree what the plan must show
A survey in the field, tied to GGRS87
Application of the town plan and the building terms to the survey
Preparation, submission to the Cadastre and hand-over of the files

If you are preparing a permit, send us the location and title deeds before the architectural design starts. See what a MAPS survey plan includes.

Survey plan for a building permit: what is checked and what is delivered