Finding Student Accommodation in Greece. Guide and Advice

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Finding student accommodation in Athens, Patras and Thessaloniki has once again become a headache for parents and students, as rental prices are sky-high. It is easy to run into scammers or rent an apartment with problems.

Author's note: The material is written on the basis of personal experience, received while searching for housing for his youngest daughter.

Since the transition of most real estate to short-term rentals (Airbnb, etc.) in major cities in Greece has sharply reduced the number of real estate offers, and Student housing has become a major headache for parents and childrenwho managed to enter university.

At the moment, each apartment has several contenders, and when you come to watch, there is a high probability that you will have to endure natural competitionwhere you will be assessed based on your appearance, documents and status (important for foreigners).

Student housing: cyens

1) Attica

• Neos Cosmos: 40 – 50 sq.m from 450 – 550 € / month
• Kukaki: 40 – 50 sq.m from 600 € / month.
• Zografou: up to 35 sq.m. from 400 – 550 € / month.
• Kipseli: up to 35 sq.m. from 350€ – 500€ /month – 50 sq.m., up to 590€ /month

2) Patras

City center, Psila Alonia:

• up to 25 sq.m. 270 € / month.
• 50 – 60 sq.m. 600 € / month.

Neighboring areas (Zarukhleika, Psarofai)

• 40 – 50 sq.m. from 300€ to 400€/month

3) Crete (Chania)

• 45 sq.m. 650 €/month
• 50 – 60 sq.m. up to 850 €/month

4) Thessaloniki

• 30 – 45 sq.m. from 300 – 600 €/month
• 50 – 60 sq.m. from 450 – 750 €/month

Monthly expenses of a student

• Rent: 350€ – 500€
• Electricity: 50 – 60 €
• Water: 10€
• Internet: 25€
• Mobile phone bill: 25€
• Supermarket: 150 – 200 €
• Walking – coffee – food – cinema: 200 – 250 €
• Total: 825 – 1,100 €

What parents and students should pay attention to

To find housing, in every city there are real estate agencies, ads, websites, ads on poles or boards, etc. It is recommended to start with local publications, evaluate ads on special boards in schools, visit real estate agencies, walk around the city, looking at poles and entrances to buildings.

In any case, when looking for a home, you need to know:

• Houses in city centres are generally older and more expensive than those on the outskirts or outside the city.
• We check the location of the house, the area and what it offers (supermarket, banks, regular public transport, access to the university campus, etc.).
• We thoroughly inspect the house to find any defects and point them out to the owner so that they can be corrected before we start living in the house.
• Be very careful when you begin negotiations with the owner about renting a house.

We must know:

1. When renting a home, the amount of rent is freely negotiated and is binding on both parties.
2. A residential lease agreement is valid for at least three years, even if a shorter or indefinite term is agreed upon. This is what the law says.
3. If the term of the contract is less than three years and there is no agreement on rent adjustment for the remaining period, the rent amount will increase annually by 75% of minimum subsistence levelset by the Bank of Greece over the past 12 months.
4. A fixed-term lease expires at the end of this period without any further requirements. In fact, it is considered extended for an indefinite period after a three-year period, if the tenant continues to use the property and the landlord does not object.
5. A lease for an indefinite period shall terminate after a three-year period by notice of termination by the landlord or tenant.
6. Rent is paid on the date agreed between the landlord and the tenant.
7. Payment of security deposit is not the responsibility of the tenantarising from the law, but prevailing as a rental custom.
8. We do not accept or sign terms that we do not understand or with which we do not fully agree. Many lease agreements contain terms that are disadvantageous to tenants, such as: “if the tenant terminates the lease before the agreed term, he is obliged to pay the entire rent until the end of the lease term” “(λήξη).)Such conditions must be excluded.
9. The landlord is obliged to provide the tenant with residential premises suitable for their intended use and to maintain them in proper condition during the lease term.
10. The landlord bears the burden of maintaining the property (taxes, etc.).
11. The lessor shall reimburse the lessee for necessary expenses incurred by the lessee in connection with the property.
12. The tenant is not responsible for any damage or changes caused by the agreed use.

Thus, it can be stated:

1. The owner undertakes to make, at his own expense, the necessary repairs to the house (e.g. painting, repairing windows, etc.) to make it suitable for habitation,
2. The owner undertakes to repair at his own expense any damage caused to the house during its normal use by us. Of course, the owner is not obliged to compensate for damage caused as a result of improper use of the house.

Having agreed, we always sign a written lease agreement, which the landlord registers with the tax office within a month, and we must accept it. Do not, under any circumstances, accept offers for rent receipts or contracts for amounts different from the actual amounts. We become complicit in the landlord's tax evasion.

1. We, as tenants, must be consistent in paying rent, maintaining good use of the property, and complying with building and community codes.
2. Late payment of utility bills has the same consequences as late payment of rent.
3. At the end of the lease term, the tenant is obliged to return the house in the same condition in which he received it.
4. If we contact a real estate agency, we make sure that it is legal. The realtor has the right to a fee, so we ask what his fee is, and We only pay it if we rent the house he recommends.. Do not pay intermediaries before concluding a contract or unless they have concluded an official contract with you on a form with an account number and a seal.
   Attention! We pay after signing the contract with the owner. Be careful, there are a lot of scammers.

Before signing the contract

1. We will definitely find out about utilities, house bills and all expenses that we will incur in addition to rent. This is a very important point, since in some houses such payment can be very high or comparable to the cost of rent. Ask about the cost of payment utility bills in winter, since in many houses where heating is done with diesel fuel, they collect money for the entire winter at once, and this can be a sum of several hundred euros.
2. Before or on the day of signing the contract, we take photos of the water and electricity meters (gas, if any) so that you do not have to pay the bills for the previous tenant (or owner).
   *We take photographs with the date and give them to (send them to) the owner or (and) the realtor.
3. If there is one in the apartment furniture, household appliances, home appliances and morecarefully check their functionality and technical condition. A burnt-out light bulb is your problem, but a TV that burnt out through no fault of yours is the owner's problem.
   *We always take photos or videos demonstrating the operation of the above-mentioned equipment, furniture and other equipment at home.
   We send photo and video materials to the owner and/or the realtor. If the latter refuse, we save the photo and video materials on an external storage device with the date of shooting.

*Some tenants who are embarrassed or consider it unnecessary to do such filming later bitterly regret not having done it. The owner's persuasion that this is unnecessary is not accepted here, his puffed cheeks or frowning eyebrows are not taken into account. If something happens to the above-mentioned household items, appliances or furniture, No one will feel sorry for you. They will make you pay in full.

Living together as a way out

On social networks offer an option cohabitationwhich allows you to share expenses between 2 or more people. In such cases, you can rent 2-, 3- or more-room housing. There are now significantly more such offers on the market than one-room apartments. For example, if a one-room apartment costs 400 euros, in the same area a 2-room apartment will cost 600, and a 3-room apartment 800 euros.

Such options do not always work out, especially if you are just entering a university. However, in the second half of the year or in the 2nd and higher years, this is a completely realistic option. The main thing is to find adequate roommates.

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