By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

In view of the new tourist season, no one is justified in supporting “I didn’t know, I didn’t know” since it was submitted to the Parliament and in a few days the bill of the Ministry of Tourism which explicitly defines the specifications that a property must meet in order for it to be available to short term rental.

The conditions must be met cumulatively, i.e. all at the same time:

  • To be an area of ​​primary residential use and to have natural lighting, ventilation and air conditioning
  • To have liability insurance for damages or accidents that may occur
  • Have an electrician’s responsible statement, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, cut-off relays or anti-electric shock relays and escape markings
  • To have a certificate of mycicide and disinfestation, a pharmacy with first aid items, as well as a guide with emergency telephone numbers.

At the moment the properties in short-term lease are estimated at approx 160,000 throughout Greece and it is estimated that the vast majority meet the specific conditions.

The Ministry of Tourism and the AADE are jointly responsible for whether or not the above conditions are met. Mixed levels of employees of the 2 agencies will carry out on-site inspections of the property available for short-term rental and which has been declared on the special platform of AADE.

The bill provides – at least 10 days before the audit – informing the property manager to provide all necessary supporting documents.

If deemed necessary, the assistance of the Greek Police may be requested from the auditors to assist in the audit.

The law provides for a “bell” of €5,000:

  • If the inspection is obstructed by not allowing entry to the property to be inspected
  • If any of the specifications are not met
  • If there is no compliance with the original specifications within 15 days of the confirmation of the administrative fine
  • If a new inspection is carried out within one year of the notification of the act imposing a fine and a violation of the specifications is found, the fine is doubled to €10,000, while for each new recurrence it is quadrupled to €20,000.

The bill does not, however, seem to “cure” the biggest concern of the players in the short-term rental market and it has to do with the
the body responsible for carrying out compliance checks, i.e. the competent Ministry of Tourism.

Given that short-term leases are urban leases, the market fears that scrutiny by the Ministry of Tourism may lead to appeals and possibly court rulings to label the properties touristic. If such a thing does happen, many properties such as apartments in apartment buildings must automatically be “excluded” from short-term rental, since the bylaws of many do not allow the existence of apartments for tourist use.

In such an eventuality, the same factors argue that the ones who will be affected are the small owners who have 1-2 apartments and not the large companies who have bought entire apartment buildings for the purpose of short-term rental.

Somehow and in extremis, some believe that the bill will act as a Trojan horse for hotels to reduce short-term rental properties and therefore competition.