Greece’s highest administrative court reheard a case Wednesday over the conversion of entire buildings in Athens’ historic Plaka district into short-term rental accommodations, with the Tourism Ministry arguing that such uses may undermine longstanding protections intended to preserve housing in the neighborhood.
The case was brought by the Hellenic Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, which has challenged the transformation of buildings into Airbnb-style rentals in an area where new hotels have been prohibited since 1993 under a special protection framework.
According to submissions presented to the Council of State, short-term rentals in protected areas such as Plaka should not be treated differently from hotels when they effectively serve tourism demand. The ministry argued that, in such circumstances, they can operate as an indirect substitute for prohibited tourist uses, circumventing restrictions designed to preserve the residential character of the district.
The dispute began in 2023 after heritage society said residents observed a growing number of homes being converted into short-term rentals. The organization selected 16 cases involving entire buildings and asked Athens municipal authorities to seal them, arguing the change in use violated protections that have applied to Plaka since the late 1970s.
