Managing your property

If you are buying a holiday home in Greece, or a property that you plan to rent out, you will need to hire a property management company. There are a number of different services that these companies can provide for you, from key-holding to managing rental bookings. Remember to check with an established rental agency what regulations exist on renting property in Greece before you buy. As a guide, a management company’s services could include the following:

Key-holding

This is useful whether or not you rent out your property. For example, if there is a domestic emergency and someone needs to enter the property in your absence.

Bills and accounting

Your property will come with on-going bills, including utilities, which you can ask your management company to take care of for you.

Changeovers and cleaning

This includes preparing everything for – and meeting - rental guests, and carrying out inspections during changeovers.

Rental bookings

You can choose to get bookings yourself, or you could instruct your management company to fill the weeks for you.

Pool maintenance

Ideally, this should be carried out on a weekly basis, and include cleaning the filters, testing the water’s chemical levels and cleaning the patio and patio furniture.

Garden maintenance

Lawns will need regular mowing, especially in summer, and borders and pathways will need weeding – appearance is especially important for rentals.

Protecting your property & yourself

Enjoy the good times, but insure against the bad.

It’s a fact of life that natural disasters, accidents and thefts happen all over the world. You can minimise the risk of exposing yourself to such unfortunate instances through diligent research on where to buy your property. However, there is no substitute for having your property and its contents fully insured in the unlikely event that the worst does happen. The contents of an insurance policy, cost and eligibility requirements will differ from country to country, and depending on the insurer itself. It’s a good idea to use a reputable international insurance company who can provide you with a comprehensively tailored policy to meets your needs, written in your native language. If you are buying property as a second home and intend to rent it out, you will need to ensure that your insurance policy accommodates this. If the property will not be your primary residence, you should consider a UK-based company that specialises in holiday home insurance. This way, you can pay for your policy in sterling and by direct debit, and often enjoy higher liability limits. Some companies will even have a 24-hour helpline offering assistance in the case of domestic emergencies.