At its meeting on June 25, 2026, the Józsefváros Municipal Council adopted the regulatory framework for short-term rentals in Józsefváros.
Short-term accommodation service, often referred to colloquially as “Airbnb,” means that an owner or operator rents out a flat or room to tourists or people staying temporarily in the city for a few days or weeks.The best-known platform is Airbnb, but this also includes short-term accommodation advertised on other online platforms (such as Booking.com or Szallas.hu).
In recent years, the number of short-term accommodation units in Józsefváros has increased, particularly in the inner quarters, raising an increasing number of issues related to housing, community life, and urban management. In 2025, the Government introduced a moratorium that remains in effect until the end of this year. To prevent such accommodations from being established again without restriction after the moratorium expires, numerous municipalities are enacting regulations. The goal of the Municipality of Józsefváros was to develop regulations that strike a balance between housing considerations, the interests of local communities, and the effects of tourism on the economy. The proposal is not based on a complete ban on short-term rentals, but rather on restricting them and making them more transparent.
What decision did the Municipal Council make?
The Municipal Council has now decided on the regulatory framework for short-term accommodation services, which defines the objectives and guiding principles of the regulations to be enacted in the autumn of 2026—and set to take effect before the moratorium expires—as well as the rationale behind the regulations and the percentage limits to be applied.
Prior to adopting the framework, the Municipal Council submitted the regulation proposal for public consultation between May 7 and May 31, 2026. During the consultation, organised by the Office of Community Participation, stakeholders were able to express their opinions on the proposal in writing and via an online questionnaire, as well as at an apartment building forum held on May 20 for representatives and members of the audit committee, and at a public forum on May 26. During this process, over 1,500 participants shared their opinions, contributing to the creation of the final regulations.
Summary of the public consultation in Hungarian.
What changes does the framework include?
The objectives of the Municipality are:
- to promote the affordability and accessibility of housing,
- to limit the number of short-term accommodations,
- to strike a balance between housing needs, the peace and quiet of district residents, and economic considerations,
- to protect residential communities,
- to reduce the burden on overburdened quarters, and to determine the appropriate proportion of short-term accommodations that align with the specific characteristics of each quarter.
To this end, the Municipality has established a three-tiered regulatory framework in their proposal, which has been amended based on consultations:
The upper limit on the proportion of short-term accommodations at the district level will be set at the current level of 3.5%, rather than the originally proposed 4%. This means that in Józsefváros, we are essentially maintaining the moratorium; the number of short-term accommodations cannot increase. New short-term accommodations may only open if existing short-term accommodations are closed, and if the new accommodation is not located in a quarter or apartment building that is already overburdened, and has the approval of the apartment building’s general assembly.
We are also introducing an upper limit at the quarter level, which takes into account the current proportion of short-term accommodations and other characteristics of the various quarters in Józsefváros. In light of the results of the public consultation, we will maintain the lower quarter-level limit affecting the outer quarters, but we will reduce the difference between the quarters: in the Palotanegyed and Corvin negyed quarters, a 5% cap will be set instead of the originally proposed 6%. This represents a lower level than the current proportion of short-term accommodations in both quarters, so a reduction in the burden on them is expected in the longer term: even if currently operating accommodations cease operations, new accommodations may not be authorised until the proportion falls below 5%. In the outer quarters, a significantly lower limit of 1–2% applies, which—due to the low proportion of short-term accommodations—would still allow for the opening of new accommodations; however, this is only possible if permitted by the district-level and apartment building-level limits, and with the approval of the apartment building’s general assembly.
According to the framework, the maximum ratio at the apartment building-level will be uniformly set at 20%, which will effectively prevent apartment buildings from becoming overcrowded and stop short-term rental operators from gaining a majority; in other words, it ensures that decisions made by the general assembly cannot be made without taking the opinions of apartment owners into account. The 20% limit applies to the proportion of the total floor area of the apartments, which is important because, based on feedback, larger apartments capable of accommodating more guests typically cause more problems, and voting rights at the general assembly are also proportional to the floor area of the apartments.
Furthermore, the autonomy of apartment building communities is strengthened by the fact that, as of January 1, 2027, new accommodation units may only be registered with the consent of the apartment building’s general assembly. Compared to the original proposal, and taking into account the results of public consultation, apartment buildings will have greater influence even with regard to existing accommodations. In the case of accommodations already in operation, the local government will presume the apartment building community’s consent until the general assembly passes a resolution stating otherwise. This means that short-term rental properties operating without issues do not need to take any action and may continue to operate. However, in the case of short-term rental properties that violate community norms during operation, the apartment building general assembly may pass a resolution notifying the Municipality that it will no longer consent to the operation of the short-term accommodation unit. It is possible to obtain the consent of the apartment building at any time in the future; thus, if circumstances change and the general assembly so decides, the short-term rental property may resume operations.
Further regulations:
Operators of short-term accommodation units must also display a sign indicating the accommodation provider’s contact information, clearly stating that the provider must be available at all times during the period when guests are staying (i.e., including at night and on weekends). The sign must include the property owner’s registration number (National Tourism Data Supply Centre number – Nemzeti Turisztikai Adatszolgáltató Központ/NTAK number) as well as information on how to report problems (to the Municipality or the police). The local government will determine the standard design of the sign.
During the public consultation, numerous additional useful suggestions were received that were not included in the original framework. We will take these into account when creating the detailed legal regulations:
- Of the rules listed above, those for which the local government has the appropriate authority must also be extended to shared accommodation. This is important because, following the regulation of short-term rentals, a property may be converted into a shared accommodation unit, which could cause problems similar to those associated with private and other types of accommodations. Therefore, it is necessary to establish regulations that apply the percentage limits, the requirement for apartment building community consent and its revocation, as well as the signage requirement, to community accommodation units as well.
- Requests for establishing new rentals must be reviewed in chronological order. To this end, the local government will develop a solution that ensures transparency in the issuance of permits and the enforcement of limits.
- While the regulations refer to apartment buildings, the same rules must be applied appropriately to other forms of ownership, such as cooperative housing.
- Compliance with the prescribed rules must be ensured to the fullest extent possible through sanctions with sufficient deterrent effect. For example, a host who cannot be reached via the contact information listed on the information sign must be subject to a fine.
- Platforms that enable the advertising of short-term accommodations (e.g., Airbnb, Booking) should be contacted and asked to take substantive measures to filter out non-compliant accommodations, such as prohibiting the listing of accommodations without a valid NTAK number. These platforms must also be required to provide data to assist local authorities in their inspections.
- To increase the effectiveness of inspections, the operational structure of problematic accommodations must be examined. If complaints are received regarding multiple accommodations owned by the same operator, this should be considered a more serious factor when imposing sanctions, given that the same operator is responsible for the issues.
- The contents of the regulation must be updated annually, and changes in data (such as the number of new and discontinued units) must be reflected. It is not necessary to re-adopt the percentage limits annually; in the absence of changes, the previous regulations remain in effect.
Read the full text of the regulatory framework here (in Hungarian).
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Thank you to all residents of Józsefváros who participated in discussing this question, which largely affects the future of our district!
Further information: