Before spending time and money to travel and visit a yacht, you can place an offer, subject to successful sea trial and survey. If there will be a verbal agreement then you can proceed to the inspection. Some potential buyers decide to appoint a surveyor of their choice to perform a pre-purchase condition survey and after they receive the surveyor’s report, proceed to their own inspection.

From the Purchase Offer till the Completion of the Sale, there are specific steps to be followed. The most common practice in Greece is the appointment of a lawyer with expertise in yachting transactions. The lawyer will draft the Memorandum of Agreement, check the Title Status of the vessel, examine all documentation required from the Seller before and at the closing, check for any loans, encumbrances, mortgages, liens etc., perform the closing procedure and supervise the deletion from the existing registry.

There are three options regarding the VAT of the vessel:

I) If the vessel will be acquired by an EU individual or legal entity, not having commercial activity, the applicable VAT will be calculated on the purchase price of the vessel and has to be paid by the Buyer.

II) If the vessel will be acquired by an EU individual or legal entity, having commercial activity and having been registered for VAT purposes in its state, the transaction will be considered as an intra-community transaction and the obligation for the payment of the VAT will be transferred to the Buyer (he will have to deal with the payment or not of the VAT in his country).

III) If the buyer of the vessel will be a non EU individual or legal entity (US, Russian, Japan etc) no VAT will be calculated and paid as the transaction will be considered as an exportation out of EU.

1. Certificate of Incorporation and Statement of Incorporation, in original, notarized and apostilled in original
2. Certificate of Good Standing, notarized and apostilled in original
3. Minutes of the Board of Directors (BOD) of Buyer regarding the purchase of the yacht, notarized and apostilled in original
4. Power of Attorney of the Buyer resolving the purchase of the vessel and authorizing persons to complete the sale and sign all the necessary docs, notarized and apostilled in original

• Inspection of the vessel by the Buyer
• Price agreement between Buyer and Seller, subject to successful Sea trial and Condition Survey
• Draft of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), signed by Seller and Buyer, describing the whole procedure
• Down payment, usually 10%, to be transferred to the stakeholder, as per MOA terms and conditions
• Sea Trial performance (costs for haul in/haul out and gas are on the buyer)
• Pre-purchase condition survey (costs for haul in/haul out are on the buyer)
• Examination by the lawyer of all vessels’ documentation
• Signing of the original Bill of Sale in English and Greek, and certify them with Apostille
• Meeting for the closing of the yacht sale where the Buyer and the Seller are present (or their legal representatives). The Buyer gives instructions to his bank to pay to the Seller, with same day value date, the balance of purchase price in the account to be designated by the Seller's instructions
• Physical delivery of the yacht and signing by both Buyer and Seller of the Protocol of Delivery and Acceptance
• Insurance as per new possession
• Deletion from the Greek Registry. The representative of the Seller and the Buyer will go to the Greek Registry and submit all the documents for the deletion of the yacht from the Greek flag. The deletion from the Greek flag usually takes some days to be issued by the Greek Registry that means we will not get it at the date of the closing but some days later
• Transit log shall be issued if the yacht will leave Greece by the sea

The bank prepares in cooperation with its attorney the documentation relating to the discharge of mortgage of the yacht and delivers it to the attorney in charge. It is a very normal procedure that a lawyer with yachting expertise can perform successfully.

We contact both regular and custom market research for all the yachts that we have for sale. We want to ensure that you are aware of the competition your yacht has and the real possibility to be sold within a reasonable period of time. A “competitive market value” can reduce the time for selling a yacht. On the other hand, if a yacht will stay for too long “on the shelves” then she loses attraction and interest.

Greece has a large number of motor and sailing yachts. Most of the Greek owners, traditionally maintain their yachts in a professional way.

Most of them they owned a yacht since many years ago. But a first question could be: How can I be sure about the condition of the yacht I am interested for. First of all, we will try to provide you with all available information and images about the yacht you have contacted us for.

On the other hand, we always recommend the appointment, by the buyers, of qualified surveyors -and there are many of them in Greece, who will "scrutinize" the yacht and will come up with a full survey report that will reveal every single part of the yacht that should draw attention. With this survey and report you will know precisely what the condition of the specific yacht is. A second question is what about the legal part of the yacht i.e. validity of documents, liens, mortgages, loans etc. In Greece there are experienced lawyers who, for decades have dealt with international and Greek yachting matters. They have contributed to the transactions of thousand of yachts and they present a long and deep experience. The Greek authorities, although bureaucratic, they provide all the required documentation that secures the transactions in yachting matters i.e. every demand on a yacht (mortgage, encumbrances, liens, loans) is submitted to the specific governmental office. Thousands of yachting transactions have been performed with foreign customers during the last decade, proving that Greece is a very interesting destination for yacht buyers.

Normally from the signing of the MOA till the closing of the sale and the deletion from the Greek registry it takes approx. 4-5 weeks. For foreign flag yachts, it can take less time, but this should be examined case by case.