The proposal adopted by the Cabinet on Tuesday is intended to reduce unregistered rental activity and strengthen protections for tourists and permanent residents.
Short-term rentals lasting no more than 30 days would be legally classified as accommodation services.
The rules would cover apartments offered through platforms such as Airbnb, including properties operated by people who are not formally registered as business owners.
The bill, drawn up by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, would create a National Register of Tourist Accommodation Facilities. Rental properties would also have to be entered in municipal records and receive individual identification numbers.
Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the legislation would introduce oversight in an area that had largely escaped regulation.
"This will not overturn the hotel market or eliminate access to cheaper accommodation, while it will protect tenants’ rights," he told a news conference after the government meeting in Warsaw.
Owners would have to submit house rules and declare that their properties met fire and sanitary standards. The rules would also have to include measures protecting children from sexual abuse.
Operators could face administrative fines of up to PLN 50,000 (around EUR 11,550, USD 13,200) for running unregistered accommodation, operating without the required classification or misleading customers about a property’s category.
Properties could be removed from the register following repeated breaches of public safety or order. A removed property could not be registered again for one year.
Residents of apartment buildings and housing cooperatives would be able to request inspections of properties used for short-term rentals. Failure to meet legal standards, or preventing an inspection, could result in removal from the municipal register.
Municipal councils would also be able to designate zones where short-term rentals could operate only in formally classified hotels, guesthouses and similar facilities.
The government said the changes would preserve access to less expensive accommodation while curbing the unregistered market and addressing complaints from residents about noise and disruptive guests.
The measure also aligns Polish law with European Union rules governing the collection and exchange of short-term rental data.
Funds and Regional Policy Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz filed a formal dissent, the only Cabinet member to do so. She argued that the bill did not give local authorities enough power to establish areas free from Airbnb-style rentals.
She also said residents had been given too little influence over whether apartments next door could be converted into tourist accommodation.
The bill will now be considered by parliament.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP