Neighbors take Airbnb host to court
The absence of an adequate and integrated legal framework on short-term property rentals through websites such as Airbnb and HomeAway is leading to individual apartment blocks coming up with their own regulations and solutions for any problems that emerge.
Legal sources are reporting an increasing number of lawsuits by neighbors of rented properties, and point to a recent decision by a Thessaloniki court that banned the short-term rental of a holiday home through online sites.
In the case in question the court forced the property’s owner to stop using it for that purpose and ordered her not do so again in the future, threatening her with a fine of 1,000 euros for each instance she was found to be in violation of the ruling. It also forced the owner to pay her neighbors in the same building complex 4,400 euros in total for violating the block’s regulations.
The decision was reached at end-2018, but it has just been published in the Athens Bar Association data bank and is the first of its nature and significance. The owner has a furnished apartment for which she had obtained the special badge from the Greek National Tourism Organization. She had listed the property with over 15 websites and agents.
