By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

A fine that cannot be less than €20,000 awaits anyone who writes the law on the oldest of their shoes and takes out short term rental his property in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Municipal Community of the Municipality of Athens. This is defined in the tax bill that the Ministry of Finance put up for public consultation last night.

The regulation to limit short-term rentals provides that from the New Year 2025 and until December 31, 2025, registration in the Short-Term Property Registry is not allowed for properties located in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Municipal Communities of the Municipality of Athens.

In case of non-compliance, a fine equal to 50% of the income obtained from short-term rental from January 1, 2025 and until the inspection, which is not lower than €20,000, is foreseen. In case of recurrence within the period, the fine is equal to 100% of the rents that have been collected and cannot be less than €40,000.

The first Municipal Community includes the center of Athens and specifically the areas:
– Cuckoo
-Plate
-Colonaki
– Syntagma – Omonia – Monastiraki
-Existence
-Ilisia
-Naples

The second municipal community includes the South-East districts from Neo Kosmos to the Stadium and specifically the areas:
-Mets
-New World
– Saint Artemios
-Pagrati

In the third Municipal Community are the Southwest districts:
-Botanical
– Silk factory
-Gas
– Petralona
– Roof
– Thisio

On the contrary, those who withdraw their properties from the short-term lease and make them available for the long-term, then they are exempt from the rent tax for 3 years.

Conditions:

-The property should not exceed 120 sq.m

– To sign a lease contract for at least 3 years between September 8, 2024 and December 31, 2025.

-The property must have been on short-term lease for at least the 3 previous financial years, i.e. 2022-2023 and 2024, if the lease is signed in 2025.

The durability fee, which increases significantly for short-term rental properties, is expected to be equally restrictive.

From now on, for the period from April to October, any property that will be available through short-term rental will be charged with a durability fee of €8/daily use. As long as it is about single-family houses over 80 sq.m. the fee almost doubles to €15.

For the period from November to March, the durability fee is set at €2/day use and at €4 for detached houses over 80 sq.m.

According to the Ministry of Finance, these measures are the first set of restrictive short-term rental measures and are part of addressing the housing problem. Their result will be examined and if deemed necessary there will be a further set of measures, even tougher by expanding the areas where new short-term leases will be prohibited or even time restrictions, for example to be prohibited for a period of more than 3 months per year.