This type of housing will be written off. They will be entered into the central register

Gold-plating in European law is a phenomenon involving the implementation of EU directives into national law, but with an additional amount. Member States, including Poland, add their own, often more restrictive, requirements. This practice is criticized because it imposes additional barriers on entrepreneurs, makes it difficult to compete on the market and increases bureaucracy.

The Ministry of Sport and Tourism is proud of the prepared act on hotel services, regulating short-term rentals, because its provisions are much stricter than the EU provisions, which entered into force on May 20, 2026. What does the Ministry of Sports propose?

The act is intended to curb illegal activities. Night market under control

The main assumptions of the draft act are to introduce the definition of short-term rental as a hotel service provided for a period of less than 30 days. In addition – the creation of a central register of apartments rented to tourists, the possibility for municipalities to designate zones prohibiting short-term rentals, as well as high penalties for violating the new regulations.

“Illegal short-term rentals constitute unfair competition against classic service providers of this type of services, such as hotels and guesthouses,” justify the authors of the project, who want new legal solutions in Poland to counteract illegal activities on the accommodation market.

CWTON civilizes daily rental. High penalties for dishonest apartment owners

The Central List of Tourist Accommodation Facilities (CWTON) will be a nationwide register of apartments, flats and houses rented to tourists. Each facility will receive an individual identification number, which will have to be provided, among others: in online rental offers. Breaking the rules will result in a fine of up to PLN 50,000. zloty.

Municipal councils will be able to designate zones where renting apartments to tourists will be prohibited. According to the authors of the project, this solution is intended to limit short-term rental in places where it is considered burdensome for residents. Municipalities where the problem is already very urgent (e.g. Sopot, Kraków, Warsaw, Wrocław) are lobbying hard for these changes. The Ombudsman also commented on the matter and believes that the currently existing regulations do not allow for effective counteracting of this problem.

Communities and developers fight against tourists. Entries in notarial deeds

Renting apartments to tourists is so burdensome for permanent residents that some housing communities introduce their own restrictions and regulations prohibiting “quiet hotel operations” in multi-family buildings. Developers, wanting to take care of the prestige of the location, began to include provisions in notarial deeds or regulations of housing estates specifying the minimum rental period or outright prohibiting the operation of a hotel-like activity.

Under the new regulations, residents and housing communities will be able to apply for inspection of apartments rented to tourists. If the inspection reveals violations of the regulations, the premises may be removed from the register. Refusal to carry out an inspection will result in suspension of the entry.

The Council of Ministers adopted the Act on hotel services.