Greece Golden Visa rental and Airbnb rules
Greece Golden Visa rental and Airbnb rules allow long-term residential letting but prohibit covered properties from being used for short-term letting through sharing-economy platforms. The restriction is not retrospective, and a breach can mean permit revocation plus a €50,000 fine.
What are the Greece Golden Visa rental and Airbnb rules?
For property acquired under the current regime, a normal long-term lease is allowed but a short-term Airbnb-style let within the sharing economy is not. Article 100 paragraph 7A also blocks short-term subletting, so using a tenant or manager as the platform host does not avoid the rule.
- Standard residential lease of 60 days or more
Allowed
It falls outside the statutory short-term letting definition. Register and declare the lease through the normal Greek process.
- Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com or a similar sharing platform
Prohibited under the current regime
The platform does not need to be named in the statute. The restriction follows the sharing-economy model.
- Platform listing through a tenant or property manager
Prohibited under the current regime
The subletting language prevents an owner from routing the same short-let activity through somebody else.
- Personal or family use
Allowed
The property can be occupied by the investor or kept as a second home. The permit itself has no minimum-stay condition.
- Lease or sublease to a tourism business
Possible with conditions
The ministry has distinguished professional tourism use with additional services from a sharing-economy short let. Conversion-route properties have a separate restriction on use as a business seat or branch.
Legal basis: Migration Code (Law 5038/2023), article 100 paragraph 7A, inserted by article 64 of Law 5100/2024; Ministry Circular 9/2024; Ministry Circular 1/2026.
Are private or direct bookings under 60 days allowed?
No. For a covered property, a rental or sublease for fewer than 60 days is short-term when no services beyond accommodation and bed linen are provided, regardless of whether the property is listed or the agreement is concluded through a digital platform. A lease of 60 days or more falls outside that statutory short-term definition.
Who is exempt from the new short-let restriction?
Properties acquired under the rules that applied before Law 5100/2024, and investments completed within its statutory transition, are not caught by the paragraph 7A prohibition. Ministry Circular 9/2024 stated that exception expressly, and the 2026 implementation clarification retained it.
This is another point where broad statements such as “all Golden Visa properties are banned from Airbnb” are wrong. The practical question is when and under which rules the investment was completed. A permit renewed after the reform does not, by itself, prove that the property moved into the new regime.
If the purchase relied on a transitional deposit or completion deadline, ask the lawyer handling the permit to confirm the exemption against the purchase contract, payment record and application file before advertising the property.
What happens if a covered property is put on Airbnb?
Article 100 provides two consequences: revocation of the investor residence permit and a separate €50,000 administrative fine imposed on the owner or holder of the property. The statute does not describe the fine as a maximum or a percentage of rental income.
The residence consequence can also affect family members whose permits depend on the main investor. A platform listing should therefore be treated as an immigration-law issue, not merely a tax-registration mistake.
Does the rule change between the property routes or locations?
No geographic zone creates an Airbnb exception under the current regime. The restriction applies to covered property whether it qualified through a standard purchase, a commercial-to-residential conversion or restoration of a listed building.
Conversion properties carry one additional rule: they may not be used as the registered seat or branch of a business. That matters if a proposed management or tourism arrangement would put the operator's business at the property address.
What should you check before buying for rental income?
Model the investment on long-term rent first, then confirm the legal route, the property's permitted use and the proposed lease structure before signing the purchase contract. An Airbnb forecast is not a compliant base case for a new-regime Golden Visa property.
- 01
Confirm the regime
Record whether the investment is current-regime, old-regime or transitional. Keep the documents that support that conclusion.
- 02
Read the building rules
Check the building's constitutive deed and regulations. They can restrict rental or professional use even where immigration law permits it.
- 03
Check the lease before marketing
Decide the duration, tenant, services and registration route before the property appears on any platform.
- 04
Calculate net long-term yield
Allow for vacancy, management, ENFIA, maintenance and Greek rental-income tax rather than importing an Airbnb occupancy forecast.
- 05
Protect the permit file
Make the lease and tax declarations available to the lawyer handling renewal so the property use can be explained consistently.
What do other rental guides get wrong?
The recurring errors are saying the ban covers every Golden Visa property regardless of acquisition date, promising Airbnb exceptions by tier or location, and suggesting a direct booking can avoid the short-let rule.
- Incorrect: “All Golden Visa properties are banned from Airbnb.”
- The ministry exempts properties acquired under the previous provisions and investments completed within the statutory transition.
- Incorrect: “Some new-regime property categories can still use Airbnb.”
- The sharing-economy restriction applies across the current property routes and across Greece.
- Incorrect: “A property manager can list it instead.”
- Article 100 also addresses short-term subletting, so an intermediary is not a workaround.
- Incorrect: “A direct booking avoids the ban.”
- The short-term definition applies regardless of whether the property is listed or the agreement is concluded through a digital platform. An accommodation-only rental of fewer than 60 days remains a short-term let.
Common questions about Golden Visa rentals
The questions to settle before a purchase or lease is signed.
- Can I rent out a Greece Golden Visa property?
- Yes. Long-term residential letting is allowed. The restriction under article 100 paragraph 7A concerns short-term letting and subletting within the sharing economy for properties acquired under the current regime.
- Can I put my Greece Golden Visa property on Airbnb?
- Not if the property is covered by the current regime. Airbnb and similar digital platforms fall within the sharing-economy restriction. Breach can lead to revocation of the residence permit and a €50,000 administrative fine.
- Is a 60-day lease allowed?
- A lease for 60 days or more falls outside the statutory definition of a short-term lease, which covers periods of fewer than 60 days where no services are supplied beyond accommodation and bed linen. The lease must still be structured and declared correctly.
- Does the Airbnb ban apply to an older Golden Visa property?
- Not necessarily. Ministry Circular 9/2024 and the 2026 implementation clarification state that the restriction does not catch properties acquired under the previous rules or investments completed within the statutory transition. The transaction documents, rather than the permit card alone, determine whether that exception applies.
- Can I avoid the rule by asking a manager to list the property?
- No. The rule also addresses subletting, so placing a manager or another tenant between the owner and the platform does not create a safe Airbnb workaround.
Primary sources and guidance
- Law 5100/2024, article 64 inserting article 100 paragraph 7A and the €50,000 sanction.
- English reproduction of Ministry Circular 9/2024 on the scope of the restriction, permitted use and the old/transitional-regime exception.
- Greek Housing Policy Portal summary of the Golden Visa short-term letting prohibition.
- EY summary of Ministry Circular 1/2026 covering the short-term letting definition and tourism-business treatment.
- AADE short-term rental guidance and article 111 of Law 4446/2016.
Not yet reviewed by a Greek-qualified lawyer. Last checked 2026-08-14. General information, not legal or tax advice. Have Greek counsel confirm the acquisition regime and lease structure before relying on rental income or advertising the property.
Buying with rental income in mind?
Tell us the property, purchase route and intended lease before you commit. We will build those constraints into the case plan and coordinate the Greek legal checks.