Rent refund 2026 in Greece: who gets it under the new limits

The rent refund is in article 70 of Law 5217/2025, and it was paid for the first time in 2025. Law 5313/2026, in Government Gazette A 102/25.06.2026, changed the income limits1:

The limit for one person rose by 25%, and for a couple also by 25%. The biggest change is for single parents: €8,000 more. The law says the new limits apply to refunds from 2026 on, for rent paid from 2025 on1. So they already count for this November’s refund. The 2025 refund, for the rent of 2024, used the old limits. If you were left out then, the answer may be different this year, even if nothing changed in your life.

The other parts of the rule did not change. The amount is one month’s rent a year, up to €800, plus €50 for each child. The property limit stays the same. And the refund comes without an application.

The law judges on the family income of the previous year1. For the 2026 refund, that is the income of 2025, as shown on the tax return you filed this spring.

All of the family’s income counts, taxable and exempt, actual and presumed1. If you are married, your partner’s income counts too. If you received a benefit that is not taxed, it may count as well. Look at your tax assessment and add up every amount it shows, your salary included.

Take a couple with no children, with an income of €31,500 from their two salaries, as their tax assessment shows it. Their limit is €35,000, so they are in. But if one of them also lets out a small flat of their own for €400 a month, the rent they receive counts as income too, and the couple passes €35,000. Then they are out.

AADE takes the figures from the tax return as it stands on the last working day of September1. If you filed an amended return after that day, the 2026 refund is worked out on the old figures. So if you forgot to enter the number of your lease and noticed in October, the correction comes too late for this year.

Both limits, for income and for property, change with the household. For a single parent, the €5,000 is added for each child after the first1:

As with any limit, there is no half refund. A couple with no children and €34,900 gets the whole refund, while one with €35,100 gets nothing. If you are close to the limit, do the sum carefully, with every income on the tax return.

The figure you compare with the limit is the income on your tax return, as your tax assessment shows it. Do not work it out in your head from your monthly gross pay. The return may hold other amounts too, such as interest, rent you receive or a benefit, and a small difference is enough to put you out. The calculator asks for exactly this figure.

The second limit is property. What counts is the value on the ENFIA property tax statement of the year of payment, so for 2026 the ENFIA of 20261. For one person the limit is €120,000. A spouse adds €20,000, and each dependent child another €20,000.

All the property you own in Greece counts, and your shares in property you own with others. A plot, a storeroom or half of the family home all go into the ENFIA total.

This limit is stricter than it looks. A tenant in Athens who has inherited a house in the village, or a share of the family home, may pass it without knowing. Open your 2026 ENFIA statement and look at the total. That is what you compare with the limit.

The calculator on this site checks both limits together. It checks nothing else, because the law on the refund has no limit on savings.

The refund is 1/12 of the rent you paid in the previous year, which is one month’s rent. The maximum is €800 a year, and it rises by €50 for each dependent child1. If you moved during the year, the rent on both leases is added together.

See what this means for some common rents:

Up to a rent of €800 a month, the refund is the same as the rent. Above that, the ceiling cuts in. With two children, the ceiling rises to €900.

So for most tenants, the €50 for a child does not change the amount. If your rent is €600, you get €600, with children or without. Children help you elsewhere: each one raises the income limit by €5,000 and the property limit by €20,0001. That is usually where it is decided whether you get anything.

One special case is parents who have separated. The law says the supplement for each child is given to both parents1. If each of them rents their own home and fits the limits, each gets their own refund, with the €50 for the child. The refund is free of tax, cannot be seized and cannot be set off against debts1.

One group gets two months’ rent. These are teachers, doctors and nurses who serve outside Attica and Thessaloniki. The islands of Attica count as outside. Their refund is 2/12 of the rent for the year, with a maximum of €1,600 plus €100 for each child1.

A primary school teacher in Trikala with a rent of €450 a month pays €5,400 a year. 2/12 of that is €900, under the €1,600 ceiling. So she gets €900, where another tenant with the same rent would get €450.

The ceiling matters for high rents. A doctor in Kalamata with two children and a rent of €900 a month pays €10,800 a year. 2/12 of that is €1,800, and his ceiling is €1,600 plus €100 for each child, so €1,800. He gets the whole €1,800.

The income and property limits are the same for everyone. In the calculator, tick the box for a teacher, doctor or nurse serving outside Attica and Thessaloniki to see the double amount.

The law also gives a refund for the rent of the home where a student lives. The amount goes up to €800 for each student1. For a student flat only the income limit applies. The property limit is not checked.

This helps many families outside the big cities, who own a home where they live and rent a second one in the city where their child studies. Owning the family home does not put them out, as long as the family income fits.

Take a family from Kozani with a child who studies in Thessaloniki and rents a studio for €350 a month. The rent for the year is €4,200, and the refund is one month’s rent, €350, under the €800 ceiling. The family, a couple with one child, has an income limit of €40,000. Their house in Kozani does not count.

If the student files their own tax return and is the tenant, the law treats them like any tenant of a main home1. Then their own limits apply, for income and for property.

The refund needs no application. AADE works it out itself from the tax return for the previous year1. But it needs two things, and if one is missing, the refund is lost.

The lease declared to AADE. The landlord files the declaration of the lease details, and it must have been filed by 15 July of the year of payment, on time or late1. For the 2026 refund, that deadline passed on 15 July 2026.

The number of the declaration on your tax return. The number of the lease declaration must appear on your own tax return for the previous year1. If your 2025 return does not have it, AADE cannot see that you rent.

If you moved, each lease needs its own declaration by the landlord, and its own number on your tax return. The law adds up the rent on consecutive leases in the year1, but only if both of them show. A missing lease means months of rent that do not count.

AADE may check the lease and the rent with any information it has. If you get more than you are due because of wrong details, you pay it back with interest, and you are left out for three years1. That is why it is a good idea to pay your rent through a bank, so that it shows.

The law says the refund is paid once a year, by the end of November, to the bank account you have declared to AADE1. For the rent of 2025, the payment is therefore due by the end of November 2026.

AADE had not announced an exact day for 2026 by 19 October 2026. When it does, you will see it in its announcements2. Until then, check that the IBAN you have declared is active, because that is where the money goes.

How to see your amount, what to do if it has not arrived, and what happens when you moved house or separated is explained in the article on the payment.

If your income is low, there is also a second help with the rent, the housing allowance of OPEKA, the welfare benefits body. It is a monthly sum, and it does not replace the AADE refund. The calculator on this site checks both together.

The housing allowance is €70 a month for one person, plus €35 for each other member, up to €210. The income limit is €7,000 for one person, plus €3,500 for each other member, up to €21,0003. It also has its own property limits, from €120,000 for one person to €180,000 for five members or more. It needs an application to OPEKA every 6 months. OPEKA also checks other criteria, such as savings, which the calculator on this site does not check. For the final answer, see the OPEKA page3. A couple with one child and an income up to €14,000 may get €140 a month from OPEKA, as well as the rent refund from AADE. A person living alone, with an income up to €7,000 and a rent of €300, may get €70 a month from OPEKA and €300 a year from AADE. Together the two cover almost four months’ rent a year.