In Poland, short-term apartment rentals will be significantly restricted

Poland plans to significantly change the rules for short-term renting housing in apartment buildings. The Ministry of Sport and Tourism has prepared a draft law that essentially equates most such properties to hotels in terms of safety requirements. This is reported by InPoland.

According to the document, simplified fire safety rules will apply only to small buildings with no more than six apartments and a maximum of 30 sleeping places. All other short-term rental properties will have to comply with full hotel standards, which for many owners means expensive and complicated renovations.

Short-term rental in Poland: new housing requirements

In addition to technical standards, the draft law grants municipalities the right to independently determine areas where short-term renting will be prohibited. Such decisions will be made considering:

• public order and safety of residents;

• compliance with sanitary and fire requirements;

• characteristics of specific buildings after inspections.

According to Deputy Minister of Development and Technology Tomasz Lewandowski, about 99% of short-term rental properties currently do not meet fire standards. Bringing them up to hotel-type standards requires significant investments, which may lead to a sharp reduction in market supply.

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Daily rental of apartments: when will the restrictions come into effect

To control the market, an official register of short-term rentals is planned to be created, which will provide communities with reliable data about the activities of landlords. The new rules are set to come into force on January 1, 2031, and a five-year transition period is provided for adaptation. Additionally, from May 2026, a mandatory short-term rental accounting system will be introduced in the EU.

It should be noted that in order to maintain the standard of living in Warsaw, equivalent to the average salary in Kyiv, income must be significantly higher. So, a person earning a conditional 30,000 UAH in the Ukrainian capital needs to earn 52,700 UAH in the Polish capital to maintain similar purchasing power.