EOT licence

In order to legally rent your Greek property to holidaymakers you must obtain a licence from the Greek National Tourist Organisation (EOT in Greek).

Whether you rent to friends or through a third party, if you are receiving an income from the house as a holiday rental you are required by Greek law to have an EOT licence.�

In order to obtain an EOT licence the property must conform to set standards and specific conditions which are determined to ensure both the safety and comfort of the paying guest. For this reason, old or existing houses can find it difficult to conform to such conditions without undergoing structural work.

� The most vital specification is that the building is built exactly to the architect plans, and rooms must conform to set minimum measurements. The rules are complicated and liable to change, while each application is looked at individually.

� EOT will not issue a licence for one or two individual properties on a shared plot. This situation is being reassessed by EOT and could change in the future.

Any holiday rental property with a swimming pool also has to meet extra, strict, standards. For instance, the pool must have depth markings and warning signs; if its depth exceeds 1.70m a lifeguard should be on duty. In the event of accidental injury to a holidaymaker in your pool, if unlicensed, you are liable for prosecution and perhaps imprisonment.