Day limit for short-term rentals

The government’s decision to expand interventions in the short-term rental market, especially in Athens, seems definitive, following the new statements Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made on Wednesday.

“We are studying the Airbnb market mainly in Athens, to see if we can logically limit short-term rentals, to free up more properties for long-term rentals.” At the same time, he added that “we will also see how much time we should allow in total during the year that a property can be rented through Airbnb-type platforms. We are studying it because it is a complex issue,” he pointed out.

One of the options that exist concerns the activation of the existing institutional framework, providing that by joint decision of the ministries of National Economy and Finance, Development and Tourism, for reasons related to housing protection, to define geographic areas where restrictions on the availability of properties for short-term rental will apply.

These restrictions include, for example, not allowing short-term rentals in more than two properties per tax registration number (AFM) of income beneficiary or time restrictions, such as, for example, not to allow the short-term rental of any property for a period of longer than 90 days a year. If the property is located on an island with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, the time limit is reduced to less than 60 days per year. However, if the annual income is lower than 12,000 euros, the maximum period of short-term rental can be extended.

Any changes being pushed forward will reportedly be made after the summer season so as not to disrupt the industry. This means that this summer will probably be the last that the sector will operate under the current regime.

Based on the data compiled recently by the company AirDNA on behalf of Kathimerini, during the first quarter of this year in the center of Athens, 18.5% more properties operated as short-term rental accommodation, with their number amounting to 12,762 assets, despite that being the quarter with the lowest demand throughout the year.