Property management and key-holding in Athens and across Greece, for owners who are somewhere else. The keys held, the alarm answered, the house inspected, the contractors supervised, and the place opened and ready before you land.
A great many properties in Attica and on the islands belong to people who are not in the country for most of the year. An empty house is not a static thing: pipes fail, damp arrives, storms take tiles off, systems seize from disuse, and post accumulates on a mat where anyone passing can see it. This service exists so that somebody responsible is looking after the property between your visits, and so that you hear about a problem while it is still small.
Who this is for
Owners resident abroad who use a house seasonally. Greek owners with a second property on an island or in the country. Families who have inherited a property they are not yet ready to decide about. Owners letting a property who do not want to be the person a tenant telephones on a Sunday. And buyers who have just completed and have no one on the ground at all — often clients from our property valuation and mediation work.
Key-holding and alarm response
We hold a set of keys and access codes under controlled conditions, logged, and released only against instructions we hold from you in writing. When an alarm activates, a member of our team attends the property, establishes whether it is a genuine event or a fault, and reports to you with what was found.
We are a private company and not a police force: where a break-in has occurred we secure the site, notify the police, and stay until the property is closed up again. What we can do — and what a monitoring contract alone cannot — is put a person at the door who can tell the difference between a forced lock and a shutter left loose in the wind, at three in the morning, without your having to fly.
Routine inspection
Scheduled visits
Interior and exterior walked to a fixed checklist at an agreed frequency: weekly, fortnightly or monthly according to the property and the season. Water, electricity, damp, pests, drainage, garden, pool, roof, shutters and the state of the boundary.
After weather
Additional attendance following storms, heavy rain, high winds or freezing conditions, which is when most avoidable damage occurs and when a delay of a fortnight turns a slipped tile into a ruined ceiling.
Photographic reporting
Every visit produces a dated written report with photographs, so that you have a record rather than a reassurance. If something is deteriorating slowly, the file shows it.
Opening and closing the property
Before you arrive: the house aired and cleaned, water and electricity on, boiler and air conditioning tested, pool serviced, linen prepared, the refrigerator stocked to a list you give us, and a vehicle waiting at the airport if you want one — arranged with our transfer service.
After you leave: everything shut down properly. Water at the mains, appliances off, waste removed, shutters closed, perishables cleared, and the alarm set. This is the part owners most often get wrong themselves, in a hurry, on the way to a flight.
Maintenance and contractors
We hold the relationships with plumbers, electricians, pool technicians, gardeners, glaziers and builders, and we supervise their work rather than merely passing on a telephone number. That means quotations obtained and explained before anything is authorised, a person present while the work is done, and the job inspected before it is paid for.
Below an agreed threshold we act without troubling you, so a failed water heater in February is simply replaced. Above it, nothing proceeds without your approval.
Bills, charges and paperwork
Electricity, water, building common charges, municipal fees and annual property tax all continue to fall due while you are away, and an unpaid utility is a supply disconnected and a reconnection fee. We monitor what arrives, keep the account settled to your instructions, and hold the correspondence.
Where documents must reach you, a lawyer or a notary in original form, they travel through our confidential document transport rather than by ordinary post.
Letting oversight
For owners letting long-term, we handle the tenant relationship — the reference checks, the inventory, the deposit, the periodic inspection, the repairs and the calls — so that you are not the point of contact. For short-term letting we manage changeovers, cleaning, linen, guest access and the condition report between stays, and keep the property registered as it must be for the tax authority.
We will also tell you honestly which of the two suits your property. Not every apartment earns what a projection suggests once cleaning, commission, voids and wear are taken out of it.
An empty property, and who knows it is empty
A house with shutters permanently closed and no vehicle outside advertises itself. Part of the work is making a property look attended: post cleared, lights varied, shutters moved, the garden kept. Where the property or its owner warrants more, a full assessment is available through our security consulting practice, and residential cover through close protection.
Frequently asked questions
How quickly can you attend an alarm activation?
For properties in Attica we aim to have someone at the door within the hour, at any time of day or night. On the islands and in more remote parts of the mainland, attendance depends on the location and is agreed in writing before the contract starts, so you know the real figure rather than a marketing one.
How are the keys kept?
Keys are held coded rather than labelled with an address, secured, and logged in and out. No single key is identifiable to a property by anyone who might come across it, and release is only ever against your standing written instructions.
Can you manage a property I have never visited?
Yes. We take on properties bought remotely and inherited properties that have stood closed for years. In those cases the first visit is a full survey with photographs, so you know what you actually own before any schedule is set.
Do you charge a percentage or a fee?
Management is a fixed periodic fee, set by the property, its location and the frequency of attendance. Contractor work is charged at cost with the invoices passed to you. Letting oversight is quoted separately. We do not take undisclosed commission from tradesmen.
What happens if there is an emergency and you cannot reach me?
The contract sets a spending limit and a list of actions we may take on our own authority to prevent further damage — stopping a leak, boarding a broken window, isolating a supply. Beyond that limit we keep trying to reach you and take no irreversible step.
Will you work alongside a property I already have someone looking after?
Often, yes. Existing gardeners, cleaners and caretakers frequently stay in place and we coordinate them. Replacing people who know a house is rarely in the owner’s interest.
Arranging property management
Tell us where the property is, how often you are there, and what currently goes wrong. We will propose a schedule and a fee, and say plainly if a quarterly visit is all your property actually needs. We are reachable at any hour, and initial conversations carry no obligation.