Short-term letting and home insurance: what do the terms say?
Since 1 October 2025, properties offered for short-term rental require liability insurance for damage or accidents under Law 5170/2025. Separately, inform the insurer about the property's use and check whether the home policy covers it.
What disclosure duty do the terms create?
Two of them, at two different moments. At inception, published Greek home wordings of this class provide that the policyholder «is obliged to declare to the Company every fact or circumstance known to them which is objectively material to the assessment of the risk», and to answer every relevant question.
Mid-term, the same text sets a deadline: a declaration «within fourteen (14) days of it coming to their knowledge» of anything that may materially aggravate the risk — to a degree at which, had the company known, it would not have written the insurance or would not have written it on the same terms. Once informed, the company may cancel the contract or ask for it to be varied.
Mandatory short-term rental liability insurance is separate from cover for damage to the property itself. Ask for written confirmation that the declared use and cover match your circumstances.
What do the terms provide when something is not declared?
Not one thing but two, and the difference matters. In the wording quoted here, where the omission is negligent and the risk occurs before the contract is varied, «the indemnity is reduced in the ratio of the premium that would have been set had the breach not occurred». That is a proportional reduction, not the removal of cover.
Where the omission is fraudulent, the same text gives the company a right to cancel within one month, and if the risk occurs inside that period the company «is released from its obligation to pay the indemnity». The two cases are written separately and do not merge: one reduces, the other releases, and the second is tied to a time window.
Report changes of use promptly and keep the insurer's response. A dispute about the consequences of an omission requires assessment of the contract and circumstances.
What do the terms say about premises left empty?
A separate question from disclosure, and a separate place in the document. In the special terms of the wording quoted here, among the theft exclusions, there is no cover for loss «where the premises containing the insured property remain, during the period of insurance, unoccupied for a continuous period exceeding thirty (30) days, unless a longer period was expressly agreed in writing in the policy».
Two limits, both inside the same passage. First, the clause lives among the theft exclusions and says nothing about fire or water damage — do not generalise it. Second, the text expressly contemplates that a longer period may have been agreed, in writing, in the policy itself. Whether that happened in your case is visible only on your own document.
What do you look for in your own policy?
Six things to find, with the terms as printed on Greek documents and their English equivalents.
| What you are looking for | Term on the document (Greek) | In English | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| What was declared at the start | Δήλωση λήπτη της ασφάλισης / πρόταση ασφάλισης | Statement of the policyholder / proposal form | On the proposal form and the schedule |
| The disclosure test | Αντικειμενικά ουσιώδες για την εκτίμηση του κινδύνου | Objectively material to the assessment of the risk | General terms, in the article on duties at inception |
| The mid-term deadline | Επίταση κινδύνου — δεκατέσσερεις (14) ημέρες | Aggravation of the risk — 14 days | General terms, in a separate article under that heading |
| The two consequences | Αμέλεια / δόλος | Negligence / fraud | In the consequence paragraphs of those same articles |
| The unoccupied property | Ακατοίκητο για συνεχόμενο διάστημα μεγαλύτερο των τριάντα (30) ημερών | Unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days | Special terms, among the theft exclusions |
| How the use is described | Χρήση / περιγραφή ασφαλισμένου κινδύνου | Use / description of the insured risk | On the policy schedule |
Names and structure vary by insurer and by edition of the wording. Whether a term exists in your own policy, and in what words, is settled only by your own text.
What does PolicyWallet do with this?
It reads the policy and separates out the terms that cover hangs on — conditions precedent, inviolable terms, obligations the text itself ties to keeping cover in force — and presents them as requirements to confirm: the policy asks for this, confirm it is true. It also records the exclusions as the document words them.
What it does not do: it cannot see how the property is used. It does not know whether it is let, it does not detect short-term letting, and it reaches no verdict on whether cover responds. A condition states what the policy requires; whether that is actually the case is a question for you, not a finding of the app.
You upload the PDF and the terms, conditions and exclusions appear in plain language, on the same page as the original document — so the items in the table above can be checked against the text, without crossing the whole wording.
Frequently asked questions
Is short-term letting an aggravation of the risk?
It may be a significant change for the insurer. Do not infer this from the programme name alone: declare the use and ask for a written answer about the applicable terms.
If I did not declare it, do I lose my cover?
That is not what the wording quoted here says. It distinguishes: on negligence the indemnity is reduced in the ratio of the premium that would have been set without the breach; on fraud the company may cancel within one month and is released if the risk occurs inside that period. Which wording your own policy carries is shown by your own text.
The property sits empty between lets — what does that mean?
It means the theft exclusions are worth reading. Wordings of this class exclude loss where the premises remain unoccupied for a continuous period exceeding thirty days, unless a longer period was expressly agreed in writing. In the text we read the clause attaches to theft, not to every cover.
Where is the property's use recorded?
On the policy schedule and on the proposal form that preceded it. Those are the two places where the risk is described in words rather than amounts, and they are where what the insurer knew when it priced the cover is visible.