Rent Your Property in Greece: The Legal Route
In the world of short-term rentals, understanding the tangle of regulations and taxes can be perplexing for property owners or hosts who manage Airbnb or vacation rentals. However, it's increasingly crucial to comply fully with local and country laws. Let’s dive into some of the crucial Greek laws.
There are two different paths to officially launch an STR (short-term rental) property:
Obtain an EOT license. This is a complicated and unpopular method that was mainly designed for registering hotels and seaside villas.
Register the property under Chapter 111 of Law 4446/2016. This is a newer, simpler, and cheaper way.
In modern Greece, EOT licenses are rarely used for STRs. But it's important for you to see the whole picture.
Making the STR official: the Old Way
Сlassic way to make a vacation rental business official in Greece is securing a licence from the Greek National Tourism Organization, commonly known as EOT. If a plan involves renting the apartment or villa to various tenants, EOT authorization is essential.
EOT enforces tough requirements to determine the suitability of each property. A policy aimed at ensuring officials that travelers have decent accommodation during their Greek vacation. Moreover, EOT assigns an official public rating to a property.
Providing safety elements such as fire extinguishers, emergency lights, exit signs, and pool depth markers (if a property has one) is important for ensuring compliance with safety requirements.
EOT license: How to Get One
The EOT licensing process can span several months and entails associated costs. It will involve:
Check by a civil engineer (Fire study and Health study).
Inspection by EOT inspector.
Collection certificates confirming absence of tax indebtedness and criminal records of the property owner.
Making the STR official: New Approach
The EOT license does not offer tax benefits. Also, the license rules change often. As a result, many property owners choose a different way – a registration with the Registry of Short Term Residence Properties via the website www.aade.gr. This option was introduced by Greek law 4446/2016 in 2016 and actually became available in 2017 after necessary bylaws were adopted.
This registry was aimed to simplify the home sharing process for thousands of property owners. The main goal of this framework is to make sure that the money earned from the vocational short-term rentals gets taxed.
To sum up the key rules described in the Law, here is what a property owner need to know:
Definitions: Short-term leases are defined as the property leases (i.e. leases of apartments or houses, rooms in apartments or houses etc.) which are entered into with the use of online platforms and are agreed for a specified term not exceeding one year.
Property manager is defined as the property owner, the holder of the usufruct right of the property, the sublessor or any third party which has undertaken the short term lease of the property.
Requirements: Property owner can sign a short-term lease if he meets these requirements.
The property manager must be registered (per each property managed) in the “Registry of Short Term Residence Properties” that is held by the Independent Authority of Public Revenues (hereinafter referred to as the “IAPR”).
The number of registration of each such property to the above-mentioned registry must be clearly indicated every time the property is offered to be leased through an online platform, as well as in every marketing action and material.
The property manager is also obliged to submit a so-called “Statement of Short Term Residence”, through a digital application to be created by IAPR.
Registry of Short-Term Residence Properties: How to go about it
We’ve prepared a simple step-by-step guide for a property owner:
To log in to the AADE's registry and application, the property owner or property manager needs TAXISnet personal code.
Each rented property must be registered individually as a mandatory step for hosts.
Registrants can only obtain a Property Registry Number (AMA) by registering online and providing proof of ownership.
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Inspections and Fines
Officials are on the lookout for undeclared Airbnb-style rentals. According to Article 111 of Law 4446/2016, inspections can be carried out by government authorities to ensure that its rules are followed.
Additionally, the IAPR (Independent Authority for Public Revenue) can ask online platforms for all the necessary details about property managers and the properties available for renting. If someone does not follow the rules set in Article 111 of Law 4446/2016, fines might follow.
The amount of the fine can vary based on the situation.
For example:
If a property owner is renting their property for short periods and does not meet certain conditions (like being registered in the “Registry of Short Term Residence Properties” or showing the property’s registration number), he might be fined €5,000. If they keep breaking the rules, the fine might be even higher.
If a property owner doesn't submit or gives wrong information in a “Statement of Short Term Residence,” he could get fined double the amount they charged for renting on the online platform. This fine is calculated based on what owners registered when they listed the property. If they submit this statement late, they might get fined €100.
If an online platform doesn't share the information IAPR needs, they could be fined either €250 or €500, depending on their tax category.
Overview
Only a decade ago, hotels dominated the tourist market in Greece, with villa rentals being the second most popular option for travelers. At that time, hosts were required to obtain an EOT license to operate legally.
As time passed, short-term apartment rentals gained increasing popularity. Many owners began to rent their properties “under the table”, without notifying official organizations or paying taxes. In response, the government started developing a new, simplified mechanism for registering apartments for short-term rentals, making it possible to complete the process online.
Meanwhile, the procedure for obtaining an EOT license still exists today. It is complicated and costly, requiring the involvement of engineers and the collection of numerous documents. This has made it an unpopular option. On the other hand, registering real estate for short-term rentals online is straightforward and affordable.
Note: If a property owner already has an EOT license, there is no need to register the apartment under the rules of Law 4446/2016. Conversely, if an owner has registered it according to the Law, there's no point in obtaining an EOT license.
Our top recommendation is to thoroughly understand the regulations governing a property and ensure proper licensing and tax compliance. Failing to do so can result in fines or even removal from platforms like Airbnb, jeopardizing vacation rental ventures right from the start. It's essential to secure a vacation rental empire rather than inadvertently dismantling it.
