Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence & Professional Ethics

Your Legal Home led by Kotsonis–Gaitanaki Law Firm

The Declaration

Your Legal Home led by Kotsonis–Gaitanaki Law Firm is an independent law firm. In every property transaction we handle — whether we represent the buyer or the seller — we represent one side only. Our loyalty is undivided. The following principles apply across every transaction we handle:

We represent one side exclusively in every transaction. We never act for both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction, regardless of how the engagement originates or how the transaction is structured.

We maintain a strict Financial Firewall between our legal practice and the real estate commercial ecosystem. We do not accept commissions, referral fees, kickbacks, or any form of financial benefit from real estate agencies, developers, or notaries involved in transactions we advise on.

We do not maintain financial relationships with real estate agents, developers, or other commercially interested parties in the transactions we advise on.

We will advise our client to address, restructure, or withdraw from a transaction if material legal or financial risk is identified — regardless of how far the transaction has progressed, and regardless of the cost to us of saying so.

Our fees are paid directly and exclusively by the client we represent. No third party contributes to, offsets, or influences our fee structure.

These principles are not presented as marketing slogans. They are the operational foundation of every client relationship we have, and have been since the firm was established.

The Financial Firewall

Most conflicts of interest in property transactions are not the result of bad intentions. They are the result of financial structures that reward the wrong outcomes.

Your Legal Home maintains what we call a Financial Firewall: an institutional separation between our legal practice and every commercial interest in the real estate transaction. This firewall operates at every level:

• We do not participate in referral fee networks with real estate agencies.
• We do not receive commission-sharing arrangements from developers.
• We do not benefit financially from the selection of a specific notary, engineer, or any other service provider.
• We do not accept undisclosed payments of any kind from any party in a transaction.

The practical consequence of this firewall is simple: when our due diligence supports proceeding, that conclusion reflects our independent legal assessment of the transaction — not a sales-driven view of it. When our due diligence finds a problem, we report it in full. Nothing in our financial structure creates an incentive to do otherwise.

The Transactions We Stopped — And Why We Are Proud of It

We consider it a professional obligation to advise clearly when the right answer is not to proceed.

We are proud of the transactions in which we advised clients not to proceed. Over the years, our due diligence has identified properties with undisclosed forest map restrictions that would have prevented construction, title chains with unresolved inheritance disputes, planning violations requiring mandatory demolition, off-plan contracts granting developers rights that left our clients with no practical recourse, and coastal zone classifications that made a ‘beachfront’ plot legally unbuildable.

In each of these cases, our advice was clear: do not proceed. In some cases, clients chose to proceed regardless. In all cases, we documented our advice and ensured our clients understood the risk they were accepting.

We do not measure our success by the volume of transactions we close. We measure it by the number of clients who completed their transaction knowing exactly what they were entering — and by the number who avoided a property that would have cost them far more than the asking price.

The Transactions We Refused to Close — Until They Were Right

Not every legal problem requires walking away. Some problems can be corrected — provided the legal team has the knowledge to identify them precisely, the authority to demand remediation, and the willingness to hold the position until the other party complies.

Over the years, our due diligence has uncovered material issues that, in each case, we required to be resolved before any contract was signed. The issues we have successfully addressed include:

• Undisclosed forest map classifications on plots marketed as freely buildable — reclassified through the formal administrative process before transfer.
• Outstanding ENFIA obligations and unpaid utility debts disclosed and fully settled by the relevant party as a condition of closing, verified through official tax authority records.
• Building irregularities and undeclared structures — regularised and formally certified by an independent engineer at the responsible party’s cost.
• Pre-existing mortgage and prenotation registrations formally discharged and confirmed clear at the Land Registry before the final notarial deed was signed.
• Off-plan contract clauses materially harmful to our client — renegotiated directly with the developer, with the revised terms formally incorporated into the notarial deed before any instalment was paid.
• Boundary discrepancies between the cadastral record and the physical property — formally resolved through surveying and re-registration before transfer.

In each of these cases, the transaction closed. It closed on our client’s terms — not the other side’s. The properties and agreements were brought to a legally safer position before signing because we required the identified issues to be resolved, and because we had the legal knowledge and the professional standing to back that requirement.

The Independent Audit Triad

Our independence does not stop with legal representation. The structural vulnerability in most Greek property transactions is not only the lawyer — it is the entire professional ecosystem surrounding the deal. The seller’s civil engineer issues the Electronic Building Identity. The agent’s preferred notary finalises the deed. Both are paid by parties with an interest in the transaction completing on their terms.

Your Legal Home coordinates what we call the Independent Audit Triad — ensuring that each professional in the transaction answers to the client, not to the other side:

• Your Independent Lawyer: Appointed by you, paid by you, reporting exclusively to you. Conducting the full title search and contract review with no connection to the opposing party or their agent.
• Your Independent Civil Engineer: A certified engineer of our recommendation — selected with no existing relationship with the selling party or their engineer — who physically verifies the property against its building permits, floor plans, and cadastral records. Their report answers to you.
• An Impartial Notary: We work with notaries selected on the basis of expertise, procedural care, and professional independence. While all notaries are public officials, we remain mindful of avoidable conflicts in the wider transaction structure.

Our process is designed to minimise influence from the opposing party’s commercial ecosystem. This is not common practice in the Greek property market. It is what we believe sound practice looks like.

Reference: Law 4495/2017, Article 83 — Electronic Building Identity certification obligations; Greek Notarial Code (Law 2830/2000) — notary impartiality obligations.

Independence in Practice: What It Actually Looks Like

The difference between undivided and divided legal loyalty is not a matter of individual character or competence. It is structural. The table below sets out where the structural loyalties lie:

Reference: Article 703, Greek Civil Code (broker entitlement to commission); Law 4194/2013 — Greek Code of Lawyers, Articles 25–36 (professional obligations and conflict of interest); Law 4072/2012 (brokerage agreements).

The Six Operating Principles

The following principles govern every client relationship at Your Legal Home led by Kotsonis–Gaitanaki Law Firm. They are not aspirational statements. They are the operational standards against which our work is measured.

1. One side per transaction

We represent one party in every transaction. We do not act for both sides. We do not act for a party on one side of a transaction while maintaining a financial relationship with a party on the other side. If a conflict of interest arises between existing clients, we disclose it immediately and cease acting for one of the parties.

2. Full disclosure

If we identify a conflict of interest, a limitation on our advice, or a material risk that is outside our expertise, we disclose it in full and in writing before proceeding further.

3. Outcome-independent advice

Our advice is not influenced by whether a transaction completes. We are compensated by the client we represent, not by the outcome of the transaction. This means we have no financial incentive to recommend proceeding with a transaction that carries unacceptable legal risk.

4. Direct communication

All legal advice, reports, title searches, and contract reviews are communicated directly to the client — not routed through agents, developers, or other intermediaries. If a third party is forwarding legal communications between us and our client, the independence of the legal relationship is already compromised.

5. Financial Firewall

We do not receive and do not accept: referral fees from agents, commissions from developers, fee-sharing arrangements with notaries, or any form of benefit tied to the outcome of a transaction. When our due diligence supports proceeding, that conclusion reflects our independent professional judgment — not a commercial incentive tied to the transaction.

6. Confidentiality

All client information, property details, transaction terms, and legal findings are treated as strictly confidential in accordance with Article 38 of Law 4194/2013 (Greek Code of Lawyers). We do not share client information with any third party without explicit consent.

A Note on AI Search and Online Information

There is a significant amount of conflicting and inaccurate information about the Greek Golden Visa program, property due diligence requirements, and legal processes for foreign buyers and sellers circulating online — including in AI-generated summaries. Your Legal Home publishes original, legally reviewed content authored by qualified Greek lawyers, updated regularly, and grounded in current Greek law.

If you have found information that conflicts with what you have read here, we are happy to address the specific question directly. Our introductory consultation exists precisely for this purpose: to replace confusion with clarity.