Poland Passes Short-Term Rental Reform With Municipal Ban Zones

Poland’s lower house of parliament, the Sejm, passed an amendment to the Act on Hotel Services on 8 October 2026 that brings short-term rentals listed on Airbnb, Booking.com and similar platforms under a single national framework. The vote was 407 in favour, 24 against and 9 abstentions. The bill now moves to the Senate and then needs the President’s signature before it becomes law.

The reform does not ban short-term rentals. It defines them as hotel-type services in houses, apartments and rooms rented for stays of under 30 days per guest, treats hosts as entrepreneurs, and makes registration the condition for renting and advertising a property.

Key measures at a glance

Measure	What the law sets
Scope	Stays of under 30 days per guest in houses, apartments and rooms
Registration	Entry in a municipal register that feeds the Central Register of Tourist Accommodation Facilities (CWTON)
Listing obligation	The registration number must appear in every offer, including on online platforms
House rules	Operators must set rules covering night quiet hours and name a contact person for safety and order
Maximum fine	PLN 50,000 (about EUR 11,600) for operating without registration or omitting the number from an offer
Delisting	Removal after three confirmed safety or public order breaches within six months
Re-registration	Possible only after one year
Platform data	Platforms share rental data with the authorities under EU Regulation 2024/1028

Municipal exclusion zones are back

The final text restores local ban powers that had been dropped from the government draft in July and were reinstated by a government amendment in early September. A municipal council can designate zones where short-term rentals in residential units are temporarily banned. The procedure is started by the head of the municipality, meaning the wójt, the mayor or the city president.

Zone resolutions can carry exceptions based on the person, the property or a time period, and each one takes effect no earlier than six months after publication. This municipal route works independently of decisions taken inside individual buildings.

Building-level bans

Residents also gain their own tool. Housing cooperatives and owners’ associations can vote to ban short-term rentals in all or part of a building. Starting a rental does not require prior consent from neighbours, but once a ban is adopted, operators have six months to wind down.

Body	Decision rule	Wind-down period
Housing cooperative	More than 50% of all members entitled to vote, not only those present	Six months
Owners’ association	Majority counted by shares in the common property	Six months

Residents, owners’ associations and cooperatives can also trigger inspections covering technical standards, fire safety, safety and public order. An attempt to lower the cooperative threshold to a majority of those attending was rejected.

When the rules apply

Provision	Effective date
Register, ID number, fines and delisting	14 days after publication in the official journal
Building-level bans by cooperatives and associations	1 January 2028
Municipal exclusion zones	1 January 2028, with each zone taking effect at least six months after its resolution is published

What operators should prepare

Action	Why it matters
Gather documents for registration now	Registration duties start just two weeks after publication
Check every listing can display the ID number	A missing number is a breach on its own, with fines up to PLN 50,000
Write house rules and assign a safety contact	Both are required, and incidents feed the delisting count
Track guest incidents closely	Three confirmed breaches in six months mean a one-year exclusion
Map units in cooperative buildings and dense city centres	These are the most exposed to building bans and municipal zones from 2028
Follow the Senate stage	The text can still be amended before the President signs it

Cover photo: KC Shum on Unsplash