Who actually qualifies for the November rent refund?
Tenants renting a primary residence, or paying for student accommodation, who fall under set income and asset limits. According to reporting on the government's own figures, the thresholds are drawn wide enough to cover roughly 80% of renters nationally, cited by en.parapolitika.gr.
The published limits for a primary residence are a single person with annual income up to €20,000 and real estate assets up to €120,000, a couple without children up to €28,000 income and €140,000 assets, and an increase of roughly €4,000 income and €20,000 assets for each child, per en.parapolitika.gr's coverage of the scheme's eligibility criteria. Student tenants are assessed on the income test alone, with no separate asset test, according to athens-times.com.
The refund itself is the lower of two figures: the rent stated in the declared lease, or the rent income the landlord actually reported on their own tax return. That double-check exists so the state never refunds more than the rent that both sides confirmed was paid, as described by taliro.gr's summary of the scheme.
Why does the lease have to be declared and accepted in AADE?
Because the refund is calculated from the lease record held by AADE, not from what the tenant says they paid. If the lease was never declared, or was declared but never confirmed by the tenant online, the tax authority has no verified rent figure to refund a twelfth of.
The process is the same declaration covered in Rental Agreement Greece: Terms, Clauses and Legal Pitfalls in a 2026 Lease and in How to Find Tenants in Athens. The landlord files the lease electronically, including the tenant's AFM (the Greek tax number) and the property's energy certificate number, and the tenant then accepts it online. For the refund to apply, that acceptance has to actually happen, not just be pending.
There is a second layer specific to the refund. If a landlord reports part of the year's rent as unpaid and does not correct that record by the return deadline, the unpaid portion is simply excluded from the tenant's refund calculation, per mercan-asia.com's account of the rules. A tenant who paid in full but whose landlord under-reported the year has no way to fix that gap themselves.
What is code 081, and why does it matter?
Code 081 is the field on the E1 tax return where the tenant enters their lease's registration number from AADE. Without it, the return has nothing to link the taxpayer to a confirmed lease, and the refund cannot be matched to them, per mercan-asia.com.
The tenant must enter this correctly by the E1 filing deadline, which for the 2025 rent year fell on the last business day of September 2025, according to taliro.gr. A wrong digit, a lease number left blank, or a return filed against the wrong property will all produce the same result: no refund, with no automatic correction afterwards.
For tenants who moved during the year, or who rent two homes (a common pattern for public-sector workers assigned away from their registered home), each active lease needs its own correctly declared and accepted record. Coverage of the scheme's expansion noted that eligibility criteria were widened partly to cover this dual-rent situation, per athens-times.com.
What breaks the refund?
Several ordinary landlord and tenant habits can quietly disqualify a lease from the refund, even where nothing dishonest is happening.
| What happens | Effect on the refund |
|---|---|
| Lease never declared to AADE | No refund. There is no verified rent record to calculate from. |
| Lease declared but tenant never confirms it online | Treated as unresolved. Refund is not paid on an unconfirmed lease. |
| Landlord reports part of the rent as unpaid, uncorrected | That portion is excluded from the refund calculation, per mercan-asia.com. |
| Code 081 missing or wrong on the E1 | The return cannot be matched to the lease record. |
| Rent paid partly or wholly in cash from 2026 | Excluded under the bank-payment requirement in Law 5222/2025. |
| Tenant or property exceeds the income or asset limits | Not eligible regardless of paperwork. |
The cash issue is the newest and most consequential. From 1 January 2026, residential rent must be paid through a bank account registered with AADE, under Law 5222/2025, and this applies to both new and existing leases, as reported by greekcitytimes.com. A tenant paying €800 a month who continues paying any part of it in cash after that date will be excluded from the refund and from other rent-linked state benefits, per trustate.gr's summary of the rule. This sits alongside the wider shift toward traceable rent payment described in Rent Collection in Greece, and it removes any grey area for landlords who have historically taken part-cash arrangements.
Do tenants need to apply, or is it automatic?
For most eligible tenants, no separate application is required. The refund is calculated and paid automatically once the tax return with a correctly declared lease has been processed, according to taliro.gr. The tenant's job is limited to filing the E1 correctly and confirming the lease online when the landlord declares it.
The money itself lands once a year. For the 2024 rent year, the full eligible amount was deposited by 30 November 2025, per taliro.gr, and the government has described the scheme as a permanent, recurring measure funded from tax-evasion enforcement revenue rather than a one-off pandemic-style payment, according to en.parapolitika.gr. Renters should expect a similar November payment cycle going forward, tied to whichever tax year's return has just been processed.
What to do next
Tenants should check that their lease is declared in AADE, confirm it online as soon as the landlord submits it, and enter the correct lease number under code 081 when filing the E1. Landlords should declare leases promptly, correct any rent recorded as unpaid before the deadline, and move any remaining cash arrangements onto bank transfer well before the 2026 cash ban takes effect. mamaXO manages leases, AADE declarations and rent collection for owners who let long-term in Athens, structured so tenants' records stay clean and refund-eligible. For a review of your lease paperwork, get in touch.
About mamaXO
mamaXO is an Athens-based property and Golden Visa operator. This guide is produced by the mamaXO editorial team and reviewed by our in-house legal, tax and property specialists.
Sources
- AADE, E1 income tax return instructions and lease declaration platform.
