Greece’s supreme administrative court has examined a group of bids to force Athens municipal authorities to shut down short-term rentals in the capital’s central Plaka district that were initially used as residences.
The Council of State will have to determine whether the City of Athens legitimately rejected formal applications for the rentals to be forced to close, based on the characteristics of the properties and the specific use that is being made of them. Court officials have already ordered an inspection of the properties.
The lawsuits were brought by the Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, or ELLET, which had initially asked municipal authorities to close down the short-term rentals, arguing that it was illegal to change their original residential use.
ELLET held that the only legally permitted use of such properties in Plaka is residential.
