Is the lawsuit for rent payment is declared mandatory enforceable?
Often a tenant asks us, “The lease has expired, how long do I have to vacate the property?”
The answer has two sides, a legal one and a realistic one. The legal aspect is partly self-evident. On the day the lease expires – in “fixed-term” contracts, i.e., contracts with a predetermined duration (which we remind you are at least three years for primary residence contracts), the tenant is obliged to return the property to the owner. If the tenant continues to reside in the property, then the so-called “re-lease” takes place, and the lease becomes indefinite. This means that it can be terminated at any time with notice. The notice is “activated” at least fifteen days before the end of the calendar month. That is, if the owner initiates a “notice” and requests that the tenant vacate, the tenant must vacate on the date the notice is activated. These were the provisions of the law.
Suppose the tenant does not vacate the property. What will happen in this case? The owner will have the right to exercise the so-called “rental recovery lawsuit.”
Depending on the amount of rent, it will be determined in either the Justice of the Peace court or the First Instance court. The decision that will be issued is declared provisionally enforceable. That is, practically within a short period of time after the decision is issued (after 3 working days from the delivery of the decision as an official document, the landlord will be able to evict the tenant – any appeal by the tenant does not suspend the execution of the eviction.
A specific request for “suspension of execution” must be submitted. However, the chances of success are practically zero. It should be noted that according to Article 615 of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure, the court is entitled to set a deadline for the delivery or payment of rent within thirty (30) days from the publication of the decision. Furthermore, during the tenant’s stay in the rental property after the expiration of the lease, the tenant will owe a “usage compensation” to the owner, which will be equal to the actual and current rental value of the property (not necessarily equal to the rent paid while the lease was in effect).