Problems with a company tenant in Greece: the owner's options

Short answer

A company tenant is bound by the lease and the Civil Code like any tenant: for unpaid rent the owner can terminate on one month's notice (for leases of a year or more), and for misuse after protests the owner can terminate at once and claim damages. Business leases covered by presidential decree 34/1995 and concluded after law 4242/2014 came into force run for at least three years. To recover the premises the owner can apply for an order for return of the property, which for applications filed from 1 January 2026 is issued by a designated lawyer rather than a judge. If a director or shareholder signed as guarantor, that person can be pursued as well, under the terms of the guarantee.

First, check the lease, the company and any guarantee

Start with the documents: the lease and its renewals, the date the lease began, any written notices, and proof of what has been paid. Business leases covered by presidential decree 34/1995 and concluded after law 4242/2014 came into force run for at least three years, even if a shorter or indefinite term was agreed, and can be ended early by a new agreement in a document bearing a certain date; a notice of termination under that rule must be in writing and takes effect three months after service.

Check the tenant company itself in the General Commercial Registry (GEMI): its exact name, registered seat and current status. Notices and applications must be served on the right legal person at the right address.

If a director or shareholder gave a personal guarantee, the guarantor answers for the company's debt as it stands at any time, including the consequences of its default. A guarantor may normally insist that the owner first try enforcement against the company, but not if the guarantor waived that defence, for example by signing as a principal debtor (autofeiletis), if the company has been declared bankrupt and the owner holds no pledge, or if enforcement against the company would plainly be fruitless.

Unpaid rent: termination and its limits

If the tenant is late with all or part of the rent, the owner may terminate the lease on at least one month's notice where the agreed term is one year or longer, and ten days' notice in other leases, and may also claim damages for the early end of the lease. The termination has no effect if, before the notice period runs out, the tenant pays the overdue rent together with the costs of the termination.

Clauses that shorten these periods, or that end the lease automatically or give the owner a right to end it the moment the tenant falls into arrears, are void. A company lease with a 'default means immediate termination' clause therefore still needs a proper notice.

Misuse, subletting and staying on

If the tenant, despite the owner's protests, does not use the premises with care and as agreed, or does not behave as it should towards other occupants, the owner may terminate the lease immediately and claim damages at the same time.

Unless the lease says otherwise, a tenant may sublet or let a third party use the premises, but remains liable to the owner for that third party's fault. When the lease ends, the owner can claim the premises back from the subtenant as well.

A fixed-term lease ends when its term passes, with nothing more needed. But if the tenant keeps using the premises and the owner knows and does not object, the lease is treated as renewed for an indefinite period. A tenant that holds on after the end owes the agreed rent as compensation for that time, plus any further damage.

The order for return of the premises

Where rent is withheld out of obstinacy (dystropia), or the fixed term has expired, and the start or end of the lease can be shown in writing, the owner can apply for an order for return of the use of the premises. A written demand must first be served by a court bailiff at least fifteen days before the application; it is needed only the first time. Payment of the rent within those fifteen days, proven in writing, prevents the order, unless there is repeated late payment out of obstinacy.

For a lease whose term has expired, the owner must also serve an extrajudicial invitation to return the premises at least three months before the term ends, or, if the lease has become indefinite after its end, at least three months before the order is served. In that case enforcement can begin two months after the order is served on the tenant.

Under law 5221/2025, applications filed from 1 January 2026 are decided by a lawyer, a member of the bar association of the court district where the dispute belongs, chosen from lists kept at each court of first instance, instead of by a judge.

After the company leaves

The tenant must return the premises in the condition in which it received them, but is not liable for wear or changes that result from the agreed use. Claims for damage to the premises are time-barred six months after the owner takes them back, so an inspection with photographs and a written record at handover matters.

Unpaid rent and other sums remain claims against the company and, where there is one, the guarantor. A payment order for rent can be sought on its own or together with return of the premises; under the 2026 rules either kind of rent application is assigned to a lawyer from the return-order list.

Questions clients ask

Can I change the locks or cut utilities if the company does not pay?

The routes the law gives the owner are termination, damages and the order for return of the premises, which is then enforced. Changing locks or cutting utilities is not one of those routes; take legal advice before any step of that kind.

The company was dissolved. Is the rent lost?

Not necessarily. A guarantor who waived the exhaustion defence, for example by signing as principal debtor, can be pursued without first enforcing against the company, and so can any guarantor once the company has been declared bankrupt and the owner holds no pledge, or where enforcement against the company would plainly be fruitless.

I live abroad. Can this be handled without travelling to Greece?

Much of it can: the demand before a return order is served by a court bailiff, and before the courts the owner is represented by a Greek lawyer acting on a power of attorney, while the owner supplies the lease, payment records and correspondence.

Sources

This page is general information, not legal advice; the answer in any real case depends on its facts and dates.

L+A advises property owners in Greece and abroad on leases, tenants and property disputes in Greece.

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