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Eviction is the backstop nobody wants to use. In Greece you cannot take the keys back yourself, and until 2026 the court route was so slow that a non-paying tenant could sit for a year or more. A reform that took effect in 2026 has made the process faster and moved it out of the courtroom, but it is still a formal, paid, multi-month procedure with real protection for the tenant. This guide is the honest version: the legal grounds, the new 2026 procedure step by step, how long it really takes, what it costs, and the things a landlord must never do.
What counts as legal grounds to evict a tenant in Greece?
Eviction needs a recognised legal reason, not just a wish to have the property back. The common grounds, set in the Civil Code and the lease, are:
Non-payment of rent (dystropia). The tenant is in arrears without lawful cause. This is the most common ground and the fastest route.
Expiry of the lease. The agreed term has ended and the tenant has not left. Since the 2026 reform this is also handled through the surrender-order route, with longer notice.
Serious breach. Significant damage to the property, illegal use, or sustained breach of the lease terms.
What is not a valid ground during the term. You cannot evict a paying tenant mid-lease simply to move in yourself or to sell. Greek residential tenancies carry a three-year minimum protected term under Law 1703/1987, and the 2026 reform expressly keeps that protection in place.
Payment order or eviction order: what is the difference?
These are two different instruments, and serious arrears usually call for both.
Order to surrender the leased property (diatagi apodosis misthiou). This is the eviction order. It recovers possession, so you get the property and the keys back. It is the one that ends the tenancy.
Payment order (diatagi pliromis). This is a money judgment for the unpaid rent and charges. It lets you enforce the debt against the tenant, including bank and asset seizure, if they have anything to take.
Getting the property back does not by itself recover the money owed, and recovering the money does not empty the flat. The 2026 framework lets a landlord pursue the surrender order and the payment order together, which is usually the right move when a tenant has stopped paying.
What changed in 2026?
The big shift is Law 5221/2025, which reworked the surrender-order process in the Code of Civil Procedure (Article 637 and the articles around it). Three things changed:
Before | From 2026 (Law 5221/2025) | |
|---|---|---|
Who issues the order | A judge, through the court | A specially certified lawyer from the local Bar register, with no hearing |
Speed of issue | Often months of court backlog | The lawyer must issue within about 20 days of being instructed |
Grounds covered | Mainly non-payment | Non-payment and lease expiry, with a longer notice for expiry |
The aim is to clear court backlogs and give owners a quicker path, while keeping safeguards for the tenant, including the notice periods and an enforcement delay below. The framework became operative on 1 May 2026, under the implementing Ministerial Decision 17255/2026.
What is the step-by-step eviction process?
For a non-paying tenant, the route runs in order. Each step builds the file for the next.
1. Serve an extrajudicial notice (exodiko). A formal demand for payment, served on the tenant by a court bailiff. This is the required first step and it starts the clock.
2. Wait out the notice period. For arrears, at least 15 days from service before you can apply. For a lease that has expired, the notice is longer, around three months.
3. Apply for the order. A certified lawyer reviews the file and issues the order to surrender the property, normally within about 20 days, with the payment order alongside it where there are arrears.
4. Serve the order on the tenant. The issued order is served, again by a bailiff. The tenant now has a window to comply or to object.
5. The enforcement wait. Enforcement can begin only after a set period from service, around two months, which is the tenant's grace period to leave.
6. Bailiff enforcement. If the tenant still has not left, a court bailiff carries out the eviction, can remove belongings and can call on the police. This is the final step that physically recovers the property.
The tenant can lodge an objection (anakopi), generally within 15 working days. An objection does not automatically pause enforcement, but a separate suspension can, and a sloppy or defective notice gives the tenant a real opening to delay. Getting the paperwork right at step one is what keeps the process fast.
How long does an eviction really take?
Honestly, months. The 2026 reform shortened the issuing stage, but the notice period, the enforcement wait and any objection still add up. Realistically:
Uncontested non-payment case: budget around six months from the first notice to getting the keys, once the notice period, the roughly 20-day issuance and the roughly two-month enforcement wait are added together.
Contested case, or the old ordinary lawsuit (agogi exosis): well over a year. If the tenancy was already terminated or the facts are disputed, you can fall outside the fast order route and into a full trial.
This is why screening and reliable collection matter more than eviction. The cheapest eviction is the one you never start. Our guides to tenant screening and rent collection are the front-line defence. Eviction is only the backstop.
How much does an eviction cost?
You pay for the process up front and try to recover it later, so treat it as money at risk, not money spent. The main costs:
Cost | What it is | Rough guide |
|---|---|---|
Lawyer's fee | Preparing and issuing the order, advising on the file | The largest single cost, and it varies by case and firm |
Bailiff fees | Serving the notice and the order, and carrying out enforcement | Several charges across the process |
Standardised order fee | The set fee for issuing the order under the new certified-lawyer system | Fixed by the reform, payable up front when you instruct the lawyer |
Court and stamp costs | Filing and official charges | Smaller, but real |
You can pursue the arrears with the payment order, but recovery depends on the tenant actually having income or assets to seize, which is often the real problem. Get the all-in cost in writing from your lawyer before you start.
What can a landlord not do?
This is where well-meaning owners get themselves into trouble. In Greece you may not take the law into your own hands (this is aftodikia, and it is a criminal matter). Specifically, do not:
Change the locks or otherwise shut the tenant out of the property.
Cut off utilities such as power or water to force the tenant out.
Remove the tenant's belongings or enter and clear the flat yourself.
Threaten or pressure the tenant into leaving.
Any of these can turn you from the wronged party into the defendant, facing a criminal complaint and a claim for damages, and can hand a non-paying tenant the moral high ground in front of a court. However slow the legal route feels, it is the only safe one.
What happens to my tax while the tenant is not paying?
Greece will tax you on rent you never received unless you act in time. Under Law 4172/2013, the Income Tax Code, uncollected rent can be left out of your taxable income only if you have started a recognised legal step, the extrajudicial notice, a payment order, an eviction order, or a lawsuit, before the tax-return deadline, and you declare the arrears correctly on the E2 form. Miss that and the unpaid months are taxed at your marginal rate, up to 45%. So beginning the eviction process promptly is not only how you get the property back, it is how you avoid paying tax on phantom income. The mechanics are covered in our rent collection guide.
What to do next
If a tenant has stopped paying, move early: serve the extrajudicial notice through a bailiff, instruct a lawyer to issue the surrender and payment orders, and start the process before the tax-return deadline to protect your position. But the better answer is to make eviction unnecessary, by screening tenants properly and collecting rent reliably from day one. mamaXO does both, and coordinates the legal process with your lawyer if it ever comes to it, so a remote owner is not managing a Greek eviction alone. If you own an Athens flat and are not in the country, the Full Service Plan covers the on-the-ground side too, and you only pay on rent actually collected. For an estimate for your property, get in touch.
