Greece worker accommodation and the obligations an employer carries

An employer bringing in a seasonal third-country worker must prove, through a declaration certified for authenticity of signature, that suitable accommodation is provided. The declaration has to carry evidence of ownership or possession and confirm that the property meets health and safety specifications. Without it the file is incomplete.

Accommodation is not an accessory to the hire. It is a condition for issuing the permit and, after issue, a subject of inspection. The Greek rule rests on article 176 of Law 5038/2023, the enabling provision for the joint ministerial decisions that fix the document list, and it carries forward the guarantees the European framework sets for seasonal workers.

What the declaration has to prove

The declaration is not a general statement of good faith. The National Register of Administrative Procedures requires three things to be visible in it: who owns or possesses the property, what its address is, and that it is suitable for residence against health and safety specifications. Alternatively the worker can declare their own accommodation, in which case the duty shifts to the worker.

In practice the services check for coherence. The address of the accommodation is compared with the place of work stated in the contract. Housing eighty kilometres from the farm, with no transport arranged, does not pass as suitable. The number of workers is compared with the size of the property. Eight names in a two bedroom flat produces a question, not an approval.

Where the route runs through a temporary work agency the duty survives but moves. The framework introduced by Law 5275/2026 places the provision of accommodation on the indirect employer, meaning the business where the seasonal worker actually works, unless the cooperation agreement between the agency and the business says otherwise. A cooperation agreement that is silent leaves the duty with the indirect employer.

The rule on rent

The point employers most often miss does not sit in the Greek file but in Directive 2014/36/EU on seasonal workers. Where accommodation is arranged by or through the employer, the directive imposes two limits. The rent may not be excessive relative to the worker's net remuneration and to the quality of the accommodation. And the rent may not be automatically deducted from the wage.

The second limb is the one most often breached. Subtracting rent from the payslip before the worker sees the money is exactly what the directive prohibits. The lawful route is the full wage into the worker's account and a separate, agreed payment of rent.

Distance is the second axis examined alongside size. Accommodation without organised transport to the workplace shifts a cost onto the worker that appears nowhere in the contract, and in rural areas without public transport the problem shows up in the first week. The documentation that survives an inspection is plain: title deed or lease for the property itself, a floor plan or description with the bed count, a named list of workers per room, and a written arrangement for transport. That file is kept at the company, not only at the authority.

What happens at inspection

Inspection does not happen on paper. If it is found that suitable accommodation has not been provided, or that what was provided fails the specifications, the employer is required to evidence that suitable housing is in place and faces penalties. The Labour Inspectorate usually pairs a housing check with an undeclared work check at the same site, and the fines from the second side are heavier. The scale sits in Greek labour inspection fines.

The costliest failure mode is a declaration that was true in March and stopped being true in June. A hotel declares staff accommodation, the season opens, the rooms are sold to guests, and the workers move to an improvised arrangement without notifying the service. The inspection finds an address different from the one declared, and the case is treated as a false declaration rather than an administrative omission. Every change of accommodation needs a fresh declaration before the move.

The permit documents that carry the declaration are listed in the E.6 seasonal permit, and the European guarantees binding Greece are set out in Directive 2014/36/EU. Werklist inspects housing before the file goes in, because accommodation that will not survive a June check does not survive a March declaration either. The employers page sets out what we ask the company for at that stage.