The termination of a commercial lease is regulated separately in Greek law from the termination of a regular lease, with a later published law applying specifically to those kind of leases. However, where there is no specific provision in the later law, the regulations for regular leases apply correspondingly.
There are many legal grounds for terminating a commercial lease. Firstly, Law 34/1995, which generally regulates leases, provides for “termination by repentance” on the part of the lessee, which can be exercised at any time without the need to provide a reason for terminating the lease.
However, the later Law 4242/2014, which deals exclusively with commercial leases, does not allow for the termination of the lease at any time and without penalty for the contracting parties, within the legal three-year mandatory duration of the commercial lease. Furthermore, it provides for the refusal to waive the mandatory three-year period, even with the agreed contrary will of the parties.
In short, all commercial leases concluded before 2014 are subject to the previous law, i.e. Law 34/1995. On the other hand, those concluded later are subject to Law 4242/2014, and therefore to the three-year restriction.
In any case, and in addition to the above regulations, the termination of a commercial lease can be based on various legal provisions. Firstly, on the right to extraordinary termination of a continuous contractual relationship, as it arises from the combination of articles 281, 288, 588, 672-766 of the Greek Civil Code, as a general principle of law. This termination can be made at any time and requires the existence of a “serious reason”, which exists when, based on good faith and transactional ethics, the continuation of the lease is considered excessively burdensome for one of the two parties.
Secondly, specific reasons for early termination of a commercial lease are provided separately for each of the parties in the relevant law. Within this framework, the existence of a “serious reason” has been deemed to be interpreted narrowly.
Finally, the possibility of terminating a commercial lease can also be inferred from the general principle of freedom of contract, of article 361 of the Greek Civil Code. Based on this, the termination can be effected by a new agreement of the parties, after the conclusion of the initial contract.