Uri is a man who knows how to make deals. Ten years of real estate investing in Israel, several apartments in Beer Sheva, experience with tenants who didn't always cooperate. He thought he knew the subject.
Uri came to me with a smile.
Not the smile of someone who found a great deal, the smile of someone who had already made the decision and only wants confirmation that he hasn't missed something. An apartment in Athens, two rooms, a good neighborhood, a price that seemed reasonable. He already knew that in Greece there is demand for apartments, that tourism is booming, that short-term rental apartments generate a yield you don't see in Israel. The calculation was closed.
“There's a tenant there,” he said, “but I was told he's leaving at the end of the year.”
I asked: “Who told you?”
“The broker.”
I stopped there. Not because the broker necessarily lied, but because “the tenant is leaving at the end of the year” is something the broker cannot know. He can repeat what the seller told him. He can convey an understanding. But in Greece, if the law says something else, what the seller said doesn't matter.
And indeed. I checked the lease. The tenant had signed eight months before Uri bought the property. A one-year contract - that's how it looked on paper. But in Greece, the residential tenancy law sets a minimum of three years of protection for a tenant in a primary residence, regardless of what is written in the contract. That is, even if both sides signed for one year, the tenant has the right to stay three years from the day he signed. As long as he meets the conditions.
I told Uri. The smile dropped.
“So how long can he stay?”
“Another two years and change. And after that, you may have to begin an eviction procedure, which takes additional months.”
“And if he doesn't pay?”
“Then there are grounds. But he pays on time, hasn't broken anything, hasn't bothered the neighbors.”
That was the moment Uri understood the real scale of the situation. He hadn't bought an apartment with “a tenant leaving at the end of the year.” He had bought an apartment with a tenant protected until at least 2027, with no legal mechanism to shorten it other than the tenant's own agreement.
And there is another thing to understand about Greece: selling a property is not grounds for terminating a lease. As in Israel, the buyer steps into the seller's shoes exactly. The same contract, the same limitations. Even if Uri wanted to live in the apartment himself, the law doesn't recognize that as grounds for eviction. In Greece, the legal ways to evict a residential tenant are: non-payment of rent, significant damage to the property, illegal use. A seller who said “he's leaving” - that doesn't exist.
We sat and did the math. Wait? That is, hold a property generating long-term rent when the entire plan was built on short-term, two years and more. Go to court? There are no grounds. So one option remained: talk to the tenant.
We opened talks. No pressure, no threats. We presented a simple offer - a one-time compensation, an agreed exit, earlier than the date the law guarantees him. The tenant considered. It took him a few weeks. He agreed.
Uri paid an amount that hadn't been planned. Not devastating, but not free. When we later sat down and rebuilt the ROI, that eviction payment reduced the first year's yield in a noticeable way.
He didn't lose the property. But he paid expensive tuition on a question that could have been asked before he signed.
And here I want to expand, because this subject doesn't end in Greece.
In every country I work in, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Portugal, the question “what happens if the tenant doesn't leave?” is a question that needs to come up before the purchase. Not after it. In some countries the eviction process takes six months. In some, a year. In Cyprus, under the protected tenancy law for buildings built before 1999, I have seen proceedings that lasted two years or more, even when the grounds were clear.
Even when there are good grounds, even when there is a ruling - eviction is a process. Courts, hearing dates, appeals. A tenant who decides to stay, and understands local law, can stretch the time again and again.
In Greece, by the way, a reform took effect at the beginning of 2026 that streamlines the procedure, a so-called “fast track” for eviction. Even there, the minimum is about half a year from the start of the procedure. The reform did not touch the tenant's right to three years of protection.
When buying a leased property abroad, the question is not “is there a tenant?” but “what are this tenant's rights under local law, and how much will it cost to get him out if he decides to stay?” Both of these questions need to be inside the pricing. Not a surprise after the signature.
Stories are based on real situations, with identifying details changed. Not legal advice.
Translated from the Hebrew original. עברית