New AADE updates for owners and managers

The AADE has amended its guide to short-term leasing with updates for owners and managers of short-term rental properties.

Of particular interest is what property owners who have outsourced the property management to a company or to another individual should be aware of.

Updates for owners, managers and their obligations

The guide notes that a short-term rental property manager is defined as the natural or legal person, or any kind of legal entity that undertakes the process of posting a property on digital platforms for the purpose of short-term rental and generally takes care of the short-term rental of the property.

According to the AADE guide, a “Property Manager” by definition can be:

• the owner of the property
• usufructuary (a person having use or enjoyment of the property)
• a tenant
• a third party

According to the guide, if the owner or “Property Manager” (usufructuary/tenant), entrusts the management of his/her property to a third party for the purpose of short-term rental, they are obliged to submit a Property Lease Statement in which he/she will register the details of the property manager. Failure to do so, automatically deems them to be the legally recognised manager of the property.

In the case of co-ownership of a property, where one of the co-owners is the manager of the property, the other co-owners are not required to submit a Property Lease Statement.

If the owner, usufructuary or tenant has the right to sub-let, they are still obliged to submit the Property Lease Statement in accordance with the provisions in force.

According to the AADE guide, a  “Trustee” third party is exclusively defined as:

a) the guardian of a students inheritance

b) the executor of an estate

c) the executor of a will

d) the bankruptcy trustee

e) the temporary administrator

f) the guarantor

g) the guardian, custodian, court guardian, or parent exercising parental authority as the case may be

5 obligations for those starting out in STR

Do you plan to carry out short-term rental (STR) with or without the use of digital platforms?
You have the following basic tax obligations:

The Property Manager must:

1. Be registered in the official “Register of Short-Term Properties” maintained by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE).
2. Register the property in the special application for Short-Term Rentals on the website of the Hellenic Tax Administration and, specifically, in the “Short-Term Rentals Register”. The entry in the Register of Short-Term Rentals is made on a property-by-property basis. Upon registration of each property, a Property Registration Number (PRN ) is issued.
3. Highlight the Property Registration Number in a prominent place on digital platforms, as well as on any media if displayed.
4. Submit a “Short Stay Declaration” for each short-term rental. The deadline for each declaration is the 20th of the month following the day of the tenant’s departure from the property and is submitted via the above application. In case of cancellation of a short-term lease and where a cancellation policy provides for payment of a rental amount by the tenant, an initial “Short Term Rental Declaration” must be submitted by the 20th of the month following the cancellation.
5. Finalise the data added to the “Register of Short-Term Residence Properties” by the 28th February of the same year you sumbit the Income Tax Return, in order to determine the taxable income per income beneficiary.

In case a Special Operating Signal (SOS) has been obtained or a notification of a Furnished Holiday Home has been submitted and it is rented on a short-term basis through the digital platforms of the sharing economy, all the above obligations apply, with the exception that:

• When the property is registered in the “Short Term Residence Property Register”, a Property Registration Number (PRN) will not be issued,
• The property will be registered in the Registry with its SOS or Unique Disclosure Number (UDN) and the digital platforms will have to display the relevant one.

Short-term rental income tax

Income earned by individuals from the short-term rental of up to two properties is considered income from immovable property so long as no services are provided, except for the supply of bed linen.

Income earned by individuals from short-term leases of three or more properties is considered business income and is taxed at a progressive rate of 9% to 44% after deducting business expenses, including maintenance and development expenses. In this case, the owner must pay as a business.

Income earned from three or more leased properties and legal entities is subject to VAT at a rate of 13%.

Attention: In determining the number of properties operated by a natural person for short-term rental, any other properties operated by the same person exclusively outside the short-term rental framework are not taken into account. For example, in the case of a natural person who owns 4 properties, two of which he has entered into annual residential leases and the other two of which he has registered in the Register of Short-Term Rented Properties to be used for short-term rentals, only two of these properties are considered to be available for short-term rentals (E 2024/2024).

See the full Guide, here.