Inherited an apartment in Athens? How to make it earn without flying to Greece

By Joseph Kalaydjian, Founder & CEO, Cheez Hospitality

Somewhere in Athens there is an apartment with your grandmother's furniture in it, the shutters down and a building-fees bill on the mat. You live in London, Melbourne, Montreal or Dubai. Every year it costs you money and earns nothing.

You are not the only one. In the first seven months of 2025 Greece recorded more than 70,000 inheritance declarations and around 60,000 parental transfers. The municipality of Athens alone has around 120,000 empty homes, most of them 40 to 60 m² apartments: exactly what tenants want.

Here is how one of them starts earning, without you on a plane.

1. The papers: the part only the family can start

Your lawyer and accountant in Greece do the work. What they need from you is a decision and a signature.

• A power of attorney. Signed at a Greek consulate where you live, it lets your lawyer act for you in Athens.
• A Greek tax number (AFM) for every heir.
• Acceptance of the inheritance and registration with the Hellenic Cadastre.
• The property on your tax declaration, so income can be declared from the first rent.
• An energy performance certificate, which every lease in Greece needs.

If there are several heirs, agree in writing who decides and how the income is split. A property whose owners disagree cannot be let, by us or by anyone.

2. Decide what the apartment should be

The constant is a furnished, professionally run home. The tenure is a pricing decision, and the right one depends on where the apartment is.

• Short-term (up to 60 days) needs a registration. In central Athens, the 1st to 3rd districts, new registrations are frozen to the end of 2027, and an existing registration is deleted when the property is inherited. If your apartment is there, short-term is probably off the table.
• Mid-term (more than 60 days, up to 12 months) is an ordinary residential lease. No short-term registration, no freeze. Relocating professionals, researchers, medical staff and project teams rent this way. Read how mid-term works.
• Long-term (a year or more) is the quietest income and the lowest.

After costs, a well-run short-term let nets roughly 20 to 30% more than a long-term lease, not double. Mid-term sits between them. The right answer is the one that earns the most for your apartment, and sometimes that is long-term.

3. Get it ready without being there

Most inherited apartments need work before anyone will pay to live in them. This is where owners abroad usually stall: who chooses the builder, who checks the work, who decides what happens to the family's things?

Our Set Up is built for owners who are not in the room:

• We visit, laser-measure every room and photograph everything before anything is touched.
• Nothing is removed without your written approval. Family items are listed and photographed, then kept, stored or shipped as you decide.
• You receive a written estimate and approve it by email or WhatsApp. Three quotes on any works.
• We design, furnish and renovate, then check every item before the photographer comes in. The shoot is last.

4. Then it runs without you

Once it is ready, we rent it, clean it and run everything behind it: pricing, tenants or guests, contracts, check-in, maintenance, utilities and keys. One statement a month, every euro accounted for.

You see everything. You do not have to do anything.

The questions to ask any operator

Before you sign with anyone, ask for these in writing:

1. What the apartment earns short, mid and long term, gross.
2. Every cost line, including theirs.
3. What you net, and when it is paid.
4. Who holds the keys, and who answers at 2am.

If they cannot show you the numbers per tenure, they are guessing.

Start with a photo

Send us the address and a few photos, even old ones from the family album. We come back with what it needs and what it can earn, in writing. The visit is free.

See how Set Up works · Get your free yield estimate · WhatsApp the Athens desk: +30 695 169 7229.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your lawyer and accountant in Greece will confirm the steps for your case.

Designed Living. Operated by Cheez.