Renting your Greek property long-term.

If you've read our STR-vs-long-term comparison and concluded that long-term residential letting is the right model for your Greek property, the next set of questions is operational. What does Greek lease law actually require of you? What tax do you owe on the rent? How do deposits work? What happens if the tenant stops paying or refuses to leave? And how on earth do you do any of this from another time zone?

This article is the comprehensive 2026 answer for diaspora landlords. Long, but it's worth a careful read before you sign your first lease — most of the painful situations we've seen could have been prevented with two hours of preparation.

The legal frame — what governs a Greek residential lease

Greek residential leases are governed primarily by the Civil Code (αστικός κώδικας), and additionally by specific tenancy-protection laws (most notably Law 1703/1987 and its amendments). Key features:

• Minimum lease term: 3 years for residential leases. Even if your written contract specifies 1 year, Greek law extends it to 3 by default. The tenant is entitled to remain for the full 3 years; you cannot terminate early absent the limited grounds in law (non-payment, owner's own use, structural unsafety).
• The tenant may terminate at any time on 1 month's notice after the first year, without owing the remaining balance.
• Rent indexation is permitted but capped at the official CPI or, since 2023, at lower government-defined ceilings during cost-of-living protections.
• At the end of 3 years, the lease either renews on the same terms (if both parties continue) or terminates with proper notice. There is no automatic statutory renewal beyond the 3-year minimum.

The 3-year minimum is the single most important fact for a new landlord. You are not signing a 1-year arrangement — you are signing a 3-year commitment that the tenant can exit but you generally can't.

What a Greek residential lease must contain

Standard contents:

• Identity of landlord(s) and tenant(s) — full names, ΑΦΜ numbers
• Property identification — full address, surface area, characteristics
• Lease term — start date, end date
• Monthly rent and payment day
• Indexation formula (if any)
• Deposit amount and terms
• Permitted use (residential)
• Permitted occupants and any subletting prohibition
• Allocation of utility, building dues, and minor maintenance responsibilities
• Inventory of furnishings (if let furnished)
• Termination terms — grounds, notice periods
• Forum and governing law clauses (Greek law, Greek courts)

The contract should be in Greek (a parallel English translation is fine for the tenant's reference but the Greek version is what governs). You sign in two original copies — one for each party.

The mandatory AADE registration

Since 2014, every residential lease in Greece must be electronically registered with AADE via the "Δήλωση Πληροφοριακών Στοιχείων Μίσθωσης" (Lease Information Declaration). This is:

• Filed by the landlord (or the landlord's tax representative) within 30 days of the lease starting
• Submitted electronically through the AADE Taxisnet portal
• Required for every renewal or material amendment
• The legal basis for both the landlord's income reporting and the tenant's right to certain protections

Penalty for failing to register: up to €100 per missed lease, with retroactive obligations. More importantly, an unregistered lease creates evidentiary problems if you ever need to pursue an unpaid rent claim or eviction. We don't recommend operating informally — the small fee paid for proper registration is worth orders of magnitude more in protection.

Deposits — what's legal, what's customary

Greek practice for residential deposits:

• One month's rent is the customary minimum deposit, though anything up to three months is legally permissible and is increasingly the norm in Athens, Thessaloniki, and high-demand Riviera markets
• The deposit is held by the landlord (not by a third-party deposit scheme — Greece has no equivalent of the UK's TDS)
• The deposit is returned at the end of the tenancy, minus deductions for documented damage beyond fair wear, unpaid rent, or unpaid utilities
• The deposit is not part of your taxable rental income

Because the landlord holds the deposit personally, disputes happen. Best practice — and what we recommend to landlord members — is to hold the deposit in a separate bank account, document the property's condition with a full photo inventory at lease commencement, and return the deposit promptly at the end with itemised deductions. Withholding a deposit without clear justification is one of the fastest ways to a small-claims action.

Taxation of rental income

Long-term residential rental income is taxed in Greece on the following progressive scale for individuals in 2026:

• First €12,000 of annual rental income: 15%
• Next €23,000 (€12,001 to €35,000): 35%
• Above €35,000: 45%

These rates apply on gross rental income less allowable deductions. Allowable deductions include:

• 5% standard deduction for maintenance and repairs (no documentation needed)
• Actual building maintenance costs where above the 5% (with documented invoices)
• Insurance premiums on the property
• ENFIA — for STR rentals partially; for long-term residential, ENFIA is NOT deductible from rental income (it remains a separate tax)
• Bank charges related to rental income collection

The rental income is declared on form E2 alongside your annual E1 income tax return, filed by your tax representative.

Worth noting: Greece taxes Greek-source rental income regardless of where the landlord lives. Australian, US, Canadian and UK landlords will then need to declare this income in their home country, where double-tax credit relief typically prevents double taxation but the home-country return still must be filed.

Worked example — typical Athens apartment let

A 75 sqm apartment in Pangrati let at €750/month. Annual gross rent: €9,000.

• Standard 5% deduction: €450
• Taxable rental income: €8,550
• Tax at 15% (first bracket): €1,283 — 14.3% of gross rent

For two apartments at similar levels totalling €18,000 gross annual rent:

• 5% deduction: €900
• Taxable: €17,100
• First €12,000 at 15%: €1,800
• Next €5,100 at 35%: €1,785
• Total tax: €3,585 — 19.9% of gross rent

The 35% bracket is the inflection point that often determines whether a diaspora investor prefers to consolidate properties under a Greek company structure (which is taxed differently) or hold them individually — a question to discuss with a Greek tax accountant if your rental footprint is growing.

Your operational obligations during the tenancy

Greek tenant-protection law puts specific duties on the landlord:

• Maintain the property in habitable condition — structural integrity, safe electrics, working plumbing, heating that functions
• Fix tenant-reported faults that aren't tenant-caused within reasonable time
• Ensure annual safety obligations are met — boiler inspection (annually), gas safety where applicable, lift safety (handled at building level), fire-safety equipment
• Respect the tenant's privacy — entry only with prior agreement, except in emergency
• Pay your share of building dues that are categorised as ownership obligations (typically the reserve fund contributions and the elevator's annual technical inspection — the tenant pays operational running costs)
• File your annual rental income return on time

For a landlord based in Australia or America, almost every one of these is impossible to perform personally. You're hiring agents — a property manager or home-watch service for the maintenance and access, an accountant for the filings, and a lawyer for any disputes that escalate.

Ending the tenancy — the realistic picture

At the end of the 3-year minimum, you can decline to renew. Standard practice is to give 3 months' notice in writing before the end date. The tenant has to vacate; their security deposit is returned subject to any deductions.

During the term, your termination rights are limited:

• Tenant non-payment of rent. After two months of unpaid rent, you can begin formal eviction proceedings. This is a court process — see below.
• Tenant breach of contract. Subletting where prohibited, using property for non-permitted purposes, causing material damage, persistent disturbance to neighbours. All require evidence and court process.
• Owner's own-use need. Limited circumstances where the owner or close family genuinely needs the property as their primary residence. Strict evidentiary requirements; courts are sceptical of attempts to dress up commercial preferences as owner-use needs.

Eviction (έξωση) is a court process. Realistic timeline in 2026: 6–14 months from filing to actual physical vacancy, depending on court backlog and whether the tenant defends. Athens courts are slower than provincial. Tenants who claim hardship can request extensions; courts often grant them.

The practical implication is that thorough tenant selection at the outset is worth far more than recourse to the courts later. Reference checks, employment verification, prior-landlord references, and a measured "feel" interview matter more than they do in countries with faster eviction systems.

What landlord insurance should cover

Standard landlord-specific cover for a Greek rental property:

• Buildings — full reinstatement value
• Landlord's contents (where the property is furnished by the landlord)
• Public liability — tenant or visitor injury
• Loss of rent — covers rental income during the period the property is uninhabitable due to insured damage
• Legal expenses — covers court costs of eviction or landlord-tenant disputes (often the most useful clause; check it's included)
• Malicious damage by tenant — explicitly listed (often excluded from standard buildings cover)

Typical premium: €350–€700/year for an Athens apartment. Worth the cost.

The operational layer — what a remote landlord actually needs on the ground

For most diaspora landlords with one or two Greek properties, the operational stack looks like:

• Tax representative / accountant for AADE filings (rental income return E2, annual E1, ENFIA, lease registration)
• Property manager or home-watch service for inspection visits, maintenance coordination, key handover at lease start and end, ongoing tenant liaison for non-financial issues
• Lawyer on standby for any disputes that escalate beyond minor friction
• Bank account for rental income collection and outbound expenses
• Insurance structured for landlord use, including legal-expenses and malicious-damage clauses

The mistake we see most often: treating any one of the above as "I'll figure it out when I need it." All five should be in place before the first tenant moves in.

How home watch fits the long-term-rental landlord

For our landlord members we typically provide:

• Pre-lease property preparation — minor repairs, professional clean, photographic inventory
• Tenant viewings if agent coordination needs in-person presence
• Key handover and walk-through with new tenant
• Quarterly property inspections during the tenancy (with tenant agreement) — early identification of maintenance issues before they become disputes
• Maintenance coordination — plumber, electrician, appliance repair
• Building integration — receipt of κοινόχρηστα statements, building-meeting representation
• End-of-tenancy walk-through, inventory check, photograph documentation for deposit return
• Inter-tenancy refresh — clean, paint, repair before next tenant

We do not act as letting agents (we don't find tenants) and we are not legal representatives (we don't sign leases on your behalf). We work alongside your agent and lawyer as the in-person operational arm.

Companion reading: STR vs long-term rental returns, Greek building meetings explained, and choosing a Greek tax representative.