How often does a building lift need an inspection in Greece?

The short answer

A lift in a residential building in Greece needs a periodic inspection by an accredited inspection body every 6 years if it serves up to 6 stops, and every 5 years if it serves more than 6. Lifts in buildings used for business have shorter intervals (4 or 3 years), and lifts open to the general public are inspected every year. The intervals come from article 10 of the joint ministerial decision Φ.Α/9.2/Οικ. 28425/1245 (ΦΕΚ Β' 2604/2008).

After each inspection, a second step follows: within 60 days you must apply to the municipality to renew the lift's registration, attaching the new inspection certificate. That 60-day clock, not the inspection itself, is the deadline that is easy to miss.

The intervals

The decision sets the gap between inspections by building use and number of stops:

• Residential building, up to 6 stops: every 6 years
• Residential building, more than 6 stops: every 5 years
• Business premises, up to 6 stops: every 4 years
• Business premises, more than 6 stops (and hotels up to 200 beds): every 3 years
• **Public spaces, stations, airports, car parks, hotels over 200 beds, hospitals,

theatres, cinemas and other buildings serving the wider public**: every year

The gap is counted from the issue date of the previous inspection certificate, and the certificate itself is valid for at most that interval. For a lift whose certificate was issued under earlier rules, the same intervals apply counting from that earlier certificate's issue date.

Inspection is not the same as maintenance

The inspection is separate from the routine servicing your lift's maintenance company does. The same decision requires every lift to be maintained by a licensed maintenance firm, at a minimum frequency that depends on where it is installed: every two months in a detached house and every 45 days in a multi-unit building or a hotel of up to 200 beds. Owners may agree on more visits. The maintenance logbook, which the maintainer keeps up to date, has to be available to the authorities and to the inspection body.

Who is responsible

The decision consistently puts the duty on "the owner, the administrator or their legal representative" (ιδιοκτήτης ή διαχειριστής ή νόμιμος εκπρόσωπος). It does not say which of the three acts in a given building. In an apartment block the building administrator usually arranges this on behalf of the co-owners, but that is a matter for your building regulations and the owners' assembly, not something the decision assigns to each flat owner individually. If you own a single flat, the practical step is to ask your administrator for the date of the last certificate and when the next one falls due.

What happens if it is missed

The codified text of the decision provides for a fine of up to €1,500 on an owner or administrator who fails to arrange certification and registration of the lift, or who fails to renew the registration. Before a fine is imposed, the authority is supposed to establish whether the delay was the owner's own fault or came from a dispute over the inspection report or over who pays for the fixes. Those figures come from the 2008 text as codified on e-nomothesia.gr, so check the current amount with your municipality.

Registration is now with the municipality

The decision refers to prefectural authorities, but the registration and renewal of lifts in the lift register is now handled by the municipality (Δήμος) where the building stands, according to the state's public-service portal mitos.gov.gr. For lifts that were never registered, a 2022 ministerial decision (ΦΕΚ Β' 6794/2022) set a deadline of 31 December 2023 to complete registration; that deadline has passed, so an unregistered lift should be registered now.

Turn the interval into a reminder

A six-year gap is long enough that the certificate gets lost with the previous administrator. In Epimeleia, add the lift as an item on the property, record the certificate's issue date and the inspection interval that applies, and set a reminder ahead of the next inspection. You can also set a second reminder for the 60-day renewal window after it. Track this deadline in Epimeleia, and keep the certificate attached to the record for when a buyer or an insurer asks.

Before you rely on this

This guide covers the periodic inspection, the renewal step and the maintenance minimums in decision Φ.Α/9.2/Οικ. 28425/1245 as codified, plus the municipality's registration service on mitos.gov.gr. It does not cover installing a new lift, modernisation, or the technical content of the inspection, and it states no inspection fee: inspection bodies set their own prices. Confirm the interval for your building's use with your administrator or an accredited inspection body before relying on a date.