Commercial Real Estate.

By operation of law, commercial leases in Greece are subject to a minimum term of 3 years, even if the written contract specifies a shorter period — the statutory minimum simply overrides it. There are narrow exceptions where a tenant can validly opt out of the minimum term, but they are limited and easy to get wrong, which is why the term clause deserves more attention than it usually gets in a lease drafted quickly.

It depends on how the lease is drafted and how it is brought to an end. Non-renewal and termination mechanics for Greek commercial leases carry specific notice requirements, and in certain circumstances a tenant may be entitled to compensation on termination, particularly where goodwill or a key-money position is affected. This is one of the most frequently litigated areas of Greek commercial leasing, and the answer genuinely depends on the facts and the drafting — which is exactly why we build the exit scenario into the lease at negotiation stage rather than leaving it to be argued about later.

“Aéras” (literally “air”) refers to a payment made for the value attached to an existing commercial lease position — commonly in Greek retail leasing, where an established location or footfall carries real commercial value independent of the physical premises. It is a longstanding market practice, but its legal treatment is more delicate than its commercial ubiquity suggests, and how it is structured — as part of the lease, a separate agreement, or a payment to an outgoing tenant — materially affects whether it can actually be relied on or recovered. We structure or resist these payments with that distinction firmly in mind.

Greek commercial leases commonly index rent to inflation (CPI-linked indexation) on an annual basis, though the mechanism and any caps or collars need to be drafted precisely rather than left to a boilerplate clause. Where rent includes a turnover component — standard in shopping-centre and larger retail leases — the lease should give the landlord genuine audit rights over the tenant's reported turnover, and give the tenant clarity on what counts as turnover in the first place. Both sides get this wrong more often than they should.

Non-payment of rent is grounds for termination and eviction, but Greek eviction proceedings for commercial premises follow a defined court process that takes materially longer than landlords typically expect, and the timeline is affected by whether the tenant contests the claim. Courts have also, since the COVID-19 period, shown a demonstrated willingness to weigh force-majeure and hardship arguments in commercial tenancy disputes, which changed how some non-payment cases were actually decided — landlords pursuing eviction, and tenants defending one, both need current advice rather than assumptions based on how the process used to work.

No general restriction prevents a foreign company from leasing office, retail or industrial premises in Greece, and multinational occupiers and retail chains lease commercial space here routinely. The practical issues are different: making sure the entity signing the lease has the right standing and authority, aligning a foreign-drafted heads-of-terms with the statutory minimum term and renewal mechanics that will actually govern the tenancy, and — for a multi-site rollout — keeping terms consistent across landlords who each negotiate differently.

"Aéras" (literally "air") refers to a payment made for the value attached to an existing commercial lease position — commonly in Greek retail leasing, where an established location or footfall carries real commercial value independent of the physical premises. Its legal treatment is more delicate than its commercial ubiquity suggests, and how it is structured materially affects whether it can actually be relied on or recovered.