Czechia to curb short-term rentals in 2025

The country joins the club of governments that are mobilizing to do something about rampant tourism

Starting from 2025, Czech municipalities may get the powers to determine the number of short-term rental permits on their territories, following the approval of draft law amendments by the country’s government that still need to be passed in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The passing of the new legal changes would affect the operations of platforms, such as Airbnb and Booking, where most of these properties are advertised to tourists. Also, in terms of cities, this will most likely affect Prague more than any of the other municipalities, since it’s the capital that gets the most visitors due to its unrivalled size and popularity.

According to the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR), the short-term rental offer is highly concentrated in the historical centre of Prague, with landlords owning multiple apartments making up 80 per cent of the total listings. As recently as last April, there were roughly 8,000 apartments for short-term accommodation in the Czech capital.

Lack of transparency on tourist data is an issue

The Czech authorities are specifically irked by the opaque nature of platforms like Airbnb, which refuse to share internal data about the tourist numbers. That’s a problem as it can be an obstacle when it comes to proper law enforcement, such as in the cases of noise disturbances.

That’s why an important part of the proposed amendment to the law is the introduction of the e-Turista electronic system, where rental property owners will have to register and obtain a license number to be displayed on the platform listings.

This will allow the Ministry of Regional Development to have a better overview of short-term rentals and collect the necessary fees and taxes. The system will launch in trial mode next year and is expected to be fully operational by July 2025.