The supervisory authority in the Greek Ministry of Finance has a list that includes the "addresses" and names of about 200 Greeks who own properties in expensive areas of London. Cross checking of information will begin immediately so that those who have moved “dirty money” out of the country during the crisis and have them invested in the London real estate market can be found.
The list was sent by the British Finance Ministry to the Greek authorities and it contains detailed data, not only on the Greek buyers, but also the real estate salespeople, sale prices of each property and even the taxes paid to the British tax authorities.
According to sources the list includes names of lawyers, doctors, journalists, businessmen and artists. All of them will be subjected to an investigation in order to determine whether the money with which the properties were bought, was from declared income.
Data available to the Ministry of Finance shows the following:
The price of the properties owned by Greeks in London, starts from 100,000 Euros and reaches 3 million Euros. It is estimated that the Greek real estate investments in the UK capital are 1 billion Euros.
Most real estate properties, mainly luxury apartments in expensive suburbs of London, were bought in the last two years, i.e. when the economic crisis erupted in Greece it forced many to withdraw their deposits from banks and invest them in real estate properties abroad.
Many purchases were made on behalf of offshore companies. In these cases, as explained by a senior official in the Finance Ministry, a special inspection will be held in order to identify the true owners of expensive properties, hidden behind offshore companies.
Property declarations
The initial investigation will focus on whether taxpayers have declared that they own property abroad, which they were required to do by filling code 029-030 in Table 2 in application Ε1 of their tax return forms filed in 2011. The tax returns investigation will be thorough. Those who will not be able to justify the property purchase in London, based on their income, are facing the possibility of being taxed retroactively with a tax of 45 percent. If charged with "money laundering" Greek buyers in London will be facing the freezing of their bank accounts and real estate properties.
Real estate companies in London
How much they spent in 2010 and 2011
Greeks are one of the best clients for real estate companies in London. According to real estate brokers, the number of Greeks seeking housing, mainly in London, has tripled in the last three years. A small one bedroom apartment with an area of 60 square metres costs between 1.2 million and 1.4 million British pounds. According to statistics from an international real estate company in London, the percentage of Europeans buying properties in the UK capital now, has increased from 11 to 18 percent and in this percentage Italians account for 5 percent, Greeks for 4.5 percent and Spanish for 2.5 percent.
According to calculations of intermediary companies, in 2010 Greek citizens spent 295 million Euros purchasing real estate in London. The most sought after areas are Kensington, Chelsea and Hampstead. These are wealthy Greeks who want to invest their capital abroad. It is estimated that for 2011 the amount invested by Greeks in real estate in London exceeds 250 million British pounds.
Traditionally London is one of the most preferred cities of Greek investors, as most of them know it very well.
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