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The meaning of the lease is formulated in the provision of article 574 of the Civil Code, indirectly, by defining the obligations of the contracting parties.Thus, a lease is a contract by which one party (the lessor) undertakes to grant the other party (the lessee) the use of a certain thing (movable or immovable) for the agreed period of the lease (fixed or indefinite) and the latter undertakes to pay to its counterparty in return the agreed price (rent). The lease of residence (old and new leases) is regulated both by the general provisions of the Civil Code (articles 574 et seq.) and by law 1703/1987 as amended by law 2235/1994.
By general provisions of the Civil Code derive the freedom of the parties (under the freedom of contract, principle governing private relations) to conclude the lease agreement for the period of time they wish or even a period of time may not be anticipated, but to draw up an indefinite lease agreement, without imposing a minimum time limit that should apply to residential leases.

However, Law 1703/1987 (amended by Law 2235/1994) stipulates in Article 2§1 that: The lease of real estate for residence is valid for at least three (3) years, even if it has been agreed for a shorter period of time or for an indefinite period of time. This provision is valid even after 1.7.1997. Shortening of the three-year period is allowed with a newer agreement, which must be concluded from the beginning of the lease agreement, at least six (6) months after its preparation and proved by a notarial document “. From this provision, directly follows the obligation of the parties to conclude the lease agreement with a minimum duration of three (3) years. The parties, of course, can set a shorter period of time (e.g. one or two years), but by law, before the expiration of three years, neither the lessor can demand from the lessee to abandon the lease, nor the lessee to leave the lease at a loss, as he will be obliged to repay the remaining rents until the end of the three-year term.

Article 1 of the same law delimits its scope and states that its provisions include the leases of real estate used in the lease for a main residence. Therefore, the three-year minimum period for the duration of a tenancy relationship only applies to the main residence cases.
Thus, this law does not apply to any other lease for different use, such as the lease for a secondary or holiday home, which as a civil is governed by the provisions of the Civil Code. If the lease agreement has agreed on the use of the lease for another use and not as the main residence, and the lessee, without having even implicitly amended the contract, uses the lease as his main residence, the lease is not subject to the provisions of the lease 1703/1987 from the mere fact of the arbitrary use of the lease as the main residence, but is still regulated by the provisions of the Civil Code.

In conclusion, the lease of the main residence has a minimum duration of three years, mandatory for both parties, even if a shorter or indefinite time has been agreed, while the shortening of the three years is allowed only with a newer notarial deed, drawn up at least six months after lease. However, it follows from the provisions of articles 185, 189, 192, 361, 574, 599, 608 par.1 that the residential lease agreement, the duration of which has been agreed for a shorter period of three years or for the legal time of the three years can be terminated by a newer agreement which exists even when, before the expiration of the contractual or legal time, the lessee returns the lease to the lessor and the latter receives it, for the purpose of terminating the lease; to prove this agreement is not required a document. Such an agreement, which may be tacit, involves the voluntary delivery by the lessee of the lease keys to the lessor and their receipt by him (Supreme Court 998/2006, 495/2001).