The National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV) started to conduct mystery shopping on the real estate rental market, including the apartments advertised on the more and more popular Airbnb. Those who do not provide a receipt or a bill can expect a penalty up to 1 million HUF, and those who are renting their apartment without a license can also count on further investigation.
The popularity of Airbnb is unmatched on the market: in December there were only one and a half thousand apartments advertised on the site – now there are more than 7 thousand. The Airbnb-flats mostly entice customers from cheap hostels, low-rated hotels and pensions.
The tax authority also noticed the trend, so they launched an investigation campaign focused on partly the online flats.
Those who rent their apartments via Airbnb are obliged to pay taxes and shall get a permit from the town notary. From the notary they get a certificate that specifies the type of accommodation.
According to experts who know the market well, the flats that are advertised on Airbnb are mostly rented illegally – around 80 percent of them. This also increases rental fees as other legally operated accommodations pay all the applicable taxes and fees, comply with the hygiene and environmental standards and so on. This means that those who rent their accommodation illegally have much less expenses so they can keep their prices low. This could lead to rising real estate prices and rising popularity of the rental black market.
(Source: http://index.hu/gazdasag/2015/08/03/ezert_mennek_az_egekbe_az_alberletarak/)
