Czech housing and short-term rental regulation

The Czech government has initiated legislative efforts to address housing stability and the impact of short-term rentals. A draft amendment to the civil code proposed by the Pirate Party’s Young Government seeks to restrict ‘lease chaining’ by limiting how many times a landlord can sign successive contracts shorter than three years with the same tenant. Additionally, the Ministry of Regional Development is developing a package to regulate platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com, which includes mandatory registration in the eTourist database and allowing municipalities to set limits on rental days and square footage.

In Prague, these issues have become central to the local housing crisis and mayoral debates. Data from the Institute of Planning and Development indicates that as of June, Airbnb listings account for approximately 1.1 percent of the city’s total housing stock, with nearly 80 percent of those units managed by multihostellers. In the Prague 1 district, a referendum showed 72.26 percent support for restricting short-term rentals in residential buildings. Mayor Terezie Radoměřská has called for more robust verification systems to prevent tourism properties from ‘masquerading as standard residential housing.’

Mayoral candidates are proposing diverse strategies to mitigate rising costs. Tereza Nislerová of the Pirates Party suggested taxing empty apartments to incentivize rentals, noting that an estimated 10 percent of the city’s housing stock—roughly 60,000 to 70,000 units—may be vacant. Other candidates, including Jan Hušbauer (ANO) and Adam Scheinherr (Praha sobě), have advocated for increased municipal housing construction on city-owned land and stricter licensing for short-term rentals.