Renting in Greece

With the worlds economy in the state it is, it seems that more and more people in a host of different countries will spend the majority of their lives living in rented property, either through the inability to get on the housing ladder in the first place, or through losing their homes due to a change of circumstances.
We’ve rented property in England and Ireland without any problems and know of people who live happily in their rented homes for years without any disruptions. Greece however is a different matter. We’re in our fourth rented property and each one has been a nightmare in its own special way. This is not just peculiar to us, we’ve not just been spectacularly unlucky, we’ve heard tales from other people of their unreasonable landlords and sub standard houses. Whilst the owners of properties seem to be more than happy to take your money, they seem to be rather unwilling to pay out anything on upkeeping their property.
When we moved in to our current house there were no plug sockets in the kitchen. Not a single one. How can you put a kitchen in without any power points? Sean had an electrician friend come in and put some in as well as a point for the electric cooker. He then found that some of the other sockets weren’t even earthed and were therefore potentially dangerous. The electrics are, to put it kindly, mildly eccentric! If you put the washing machine on then you can’t have any other electrical appliance on otherwise it will trip a fuse. More than two heaters on at the same time? No chance. We have four UPSs connected so that our things don’t get fried when the power goes and then comes back on again. Madness.
When we chose this house it had just been renovated and so the garden was like a building site but we were assured it would all be sorted and made into a pleasant space for Junior and the animals. Nearly 2 years’ on and it still looks like a building site but they’ve planted some trees! Why would you plant some trees in the middle of a wasteland? When Sean mentioned the state of the garden last year they said they wondered why we hadn’t sorted it out! After explaining that it’s their house and we’re only here temporarily and therefore why on earth would we spend money on making a garden for their benefit they conceded that was a fair point but still nothing has been done to remedy the situation.
After the leaking roof and subsequent mold on the ceilings and walls they said the house would be redecorated at Easter………….last Easter………….still waiting. We know there is no point in asking for the things to be done, they’ve got no money.
Renting in Greece? No thanks.