Districts of Budapest vs Hungarian government: the quarrel over Airbnb

Online daily 24.hu reports that the districts of the Hungarian capital city are issuing more and more decrees that make it harder to open new tourist quarters in the given districts. It all started in the 5^th district, where the establishment of Airbnb and other hotels depends on whether the locals agree to it or not. This continued with Józsefváros (district 8) and now with Terézváros (district 6).

Since the 1^st of January 2018, a 4.8 thousand EUR (1.5 mill HUF) parking related bonus has to be paid for each room in the case of new apartment hotels. This decree is not new, although so far it has been only implemented in the case of terrace rooms.

As opposed to this, the new tax law issued by the government makes taxing much easier for hotels from the 1^st of this month. However, only for the wealthier investors, as in 2018 owners can opt for the 32 thousand HUF (~108 EUR) flat-rate per room in the case of three let-out apartments.

According to the lead analyst of OTP Ingatlanpont Dávid Valkó, if all districts adopt the attitude of Terézváros towards apartment hotels, investors can turn to a long-term, “classic” renting.

Either this or they accept that their investments pay-off time will be prolonged by 1-2 years, at least in the case of a renovated property that was bought for the purpose of establishing an apartment hotel.

In Máté Váradi’s opinion (leader of Hostie, that deals with the operation of apartments as Airbnb), the fight that the districts put up with the government and the Airbnb could strengthen the black economy because investing legally in Airbnb will not be worth it money-wise for the investors who have a smaller capital. So far, investors and owners could run their renting business on rational taxing terms, but the mandatory parking bonus will represent a sort of “penalty tax” for them. Váradi adds that he hopes that the views of Terézváros will not spread out to other districts.