No room at the inn: Castle District slams door on short-term lets

District Mayor László Böröcz announced this via social media. 21% of eligible voters took part in the vote. According to Böröcz, 58.5% were in favour of a complete ban, while the remaining respondents did not consider this necessary. Taking into account the views of district residents and an impact assessment, a regulatory framework is now to be developed.

The aim, he said, is to preserve the Castle District as a liveable and peaceful place of residence for its inhabitants in the long term, and to make local regulations transparent and enforceable. According to figures published on budavar.hu, 4,500 of the district’s 21,450 eligible residents took part in the online vote. The district administration had consulted residents because the moratorium on registering new accommodation is set to expire at the end of this year under the currently applicable legal provisions. It wants to establish its position on possible local regulations, as the number of registrations for new short-term rentals could increase sharply once the moratorium expires.

A similar process is underway in the 13th district, where the official public consultation on the draft regulation ended on 2 October. No outcome has been announced so far. According to the city administration, 1,100–1,200 apartments in this district are used as private short-term rentals. Measured against the district’s total housing stock, this is of little significance either in absolute numbers or as a share. In the 8th district, a decision on the regulation of short-term rentals is expected before the end of this month.

Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original German text.