Owners of apartments rented to tourists will pay a higher tax - up to PLN 1,776 a year for a 50-meter apartment. Gdansk councilors thus want to increase the number of apartments available for long-term rental and protect the living comfort of residents.
The short-term rental business, which is developing in the heart of Gdansk, is getting harder and harder on Danzig residents. It is turning central neighborhoods into "tourist towns," where residents are less and less likely to find apartments for themselves, and neighbors are struggling with noise and constant turnover of visitors. At the same time, there is growing pressure on housing prices and local infrastructure to cope with the influx of tourists.
Although the Ministry of Sports and Tourism assures that it is working on regulations that will sort out the rules for renting apartments to tourists, the draft has not seen the light of day to date. The plans include the creation of a registry of short-term rental units, without which apartment owners will not be able to rent out units on platforms like Booking.com. Among the proposals was also the introduction of a requirement to obtain community approval for short-term rentals, but it is unclear whether it will ultimately be included in the draft.
Gdansk not to wait
In Gdansk, the city council does not want to wait idly. Civic Coalition councilors have sent a resolution to the mayor on the issue of residential premises not used for residential purposes, but intended for business, in particular short-term rental activities.
The Gdansk City Council points out that it is a priority that in the City of Gdansk the economic activity of short-term rental of premises should be the least burdensome for the residents of Gdansk, especially for those living in premises adjacent to those used for short-term rental, the KO councilors wrote.
The councilors add that the preferential, lowest property tax rate should only apply to properties that are actually used for housing.
The realization of housing needs should not be equated with accommodation that is short-term and not related to the primary function of the buildings. Renting out premises to tourists is akin to the provision of hotel services, and this results in the occupation of residential premises for business, the councilors pointed out.
Higher tax - a real blow to owners
The change will be significant. Today, apartment owners pay PLN 1.19 per sq. m. annually, although councilors intend to raise the rate to PLN 1.25 per sq. m. For premises where business is conducted, the rate is much higher - currently it is PLN 34, and the increase assumes that it will be PLN 35.53. This means that the owner of a 50-square-meter apartment rented to tourists for nights will pay as much as PLN 1,776.5 a year.
We can see that the problem is growing. More and more apartments are allocated to short-term rentals, which generate nuisances. We wondered what tools the local government can use," says Cezary Spiewak-Dowbór, chairman of the Civic Coalition's council club, in an interview with AiB. - While we don't have the authority today to ban such rentals in a given location, we can make someone who wants to allocate apartments for short-term rentals think about whether it's calculated. We are counting on a certain percentage to choose long-term rental, which is desirable and city-building.
According to Gdansk's data, there are more than 36,000 beds in the register of lodging establishments that are not hotels, of which about 70 percent of business premises pay tax. Last year's City estimates showed that as much as 35-40 percent of the city's short-term rental facilities operated in the Downtown area.
