Before you rent for the season: what to ask and what to look at

Read the listing to the end

Most answers are already written down. Before you message the landlord, open the listing on Find your Home and go through it in order:

• The type: “Entire place”, “Private room”, “Shared room” or “Studio”. For a room, ask how many people live in the home and what you share.
• The dates: “Available from”, “Available until” and “Minimum stay”. If your contract ends before “Available until”, the place works; if it ends after, you will need a second plan for the end of the season.
• The price: whether it says “Bills included” or bills are extra. If they are extra, the rent is not your whole monthly cost.
• The deposit: the listing states it in months of rent, so you know in advance what you will need to hand over.
• The amenities: kitchen, washing machine, air conditioning, heating, WiFi. After shifts in a kitchen or a hotel, laundry and air conditioning matter more than you think.
• The video, if there is one: it shows how the rooms connect, which photos tend to hide.

If the description is written in Greek, tap “See translation” where it appears. And remember the pin on the map is approximate: the exact address appears once your request is accepted.

What to ask the landlord

Put your questions in the message to the landlord that goes with your request; it becomes the first message of your chat. Ask whatever the listing does not already say:

1. What exactly the rent includes, and how the bills it does not include are paid: by the actual bill, as a fixed amount, or split with housemates?
2. When and how the deposit comes back at the end, and what could be kept from it.
3. Your move-in and move-out days, and what happens if you arrive late at night off the last ferry or flight.
4. What happens if your job ends before “Available until”: can you leave early, with how much notice, and what happens to the deposit?
5. How far the place is from work, and how you get home after a shift that ends when the buses have stopped.
6. Are guests allowed, and are there house rules about noise?
7. If something breaks, who do you tell and how quickly does it get fixed?

The answers also tell you something about the landlord. Someone who answers clearly now usually answers when the water heater breaks in August too.

When you see the place: photos from day one

Do not rent without seeing the place in person. On move-in day, before you unpack:

• Photograph and film every room: walls, floors, mattresses, doors, windows. Where there is damage, take a close-up too.
• Test that everything works: air conditioning, hot water, fridge, cooker, washing machine, locks.
• Make a list of the furniture and equipment you are handed, and send it to the landlord in the chat.
• Photograph the electricity and water meter readings if bills are not included.

These files are dated, and in the chat they stay on record for both of you. They are your best evidence when it is time to get the deposit back.

Get it in writing, and the myAADE declaration

Whatever you agree should be written down: rent, deposit, bills, dates, and what happens if you leave early. A lease (“μισθωτήριο”), or at the very least the essentials in a written message. Verbal agreements are the ones that get “forgotten” in October.

In Greece the landlord declares the lease on myAADE, the tax authority's portal. Once it is filed, you get a notice in the “My Messages” inbox on myAADE, in the myAADEapp and by email. You sign in with TAXISnet credentials and accept or reject it, giving a reason if you reject it.

There is a deadline that runs from the notice, and if you do nothing before it passes, the declaration counts as accepted. So read it straight away and make sure the dates and the rent match what you agreed. No TAXISnet account yet? Sort that out first, as you will need it for work too.

The deposit: when it comes back

The deposit is normally returned at the end of the lease. The landlord can keep all or part of it only for something specific: unpaid rent, unpaid bills the agreement puts on you, damage beyond normal wear and tear, or a breach of a core term of the lease.

Wear and tear, such as faded paint or minor scratches, is not your responsibility. A broken window or a damaged appliance may be. That is where your day-one photos decide it.

• Before you leave, compare the place with your photos and clean it.
• Pay any bills that are yours and keep the receipts.
• Do a final walk-through with the landlord, take photos again and hand back every key.

How a request works on Recruvo

1. On the listing's availability calendar, pick your dates from the days marked available.
2. Write your message with your questions and send the request. The landlord sees it and answers in the chat.
3. An unanswered request expires after 7 days, so you are never left waiting indefinitely.
4. If you change your mind, “Cancel booking” withdraws the request or cancels the booking, as long as the stay has not started.
5. Once it is accepted, you see the exact address and contact details are no longer hidden.