Short-term rental rules in Prague and the Czech Republic

Short-term renting in the Czech Republic sits in a grey zone that politicians keep promising to fix. Some of what you will read online describes rules that were proposed and then stalled in Parliament, presented as if they already applied. This guide separates what actually applies in Prague today from what is still only an idea, and names the official sources where you can verify each point.

It is written for owners of rental property in Prague, including those living abroad. Last reviewed: 29 September 2026. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.

The short version

Applies now

• Short-term paid accommodation is a business activity. Hosts commonly operate under the trade licence "accommodation services" and keep records of guests.
• Prague charges an accommodation fee of CZK 50 per person per night. The host collects it from guests and remits it to the city district.
• Stays of guests from outside the EU must be reported to the police within 3 working days.
• The EU's short-term rental data-sharing rules apply from 20 May 2026; see the EU section for what that does and does not mean.

Proposed — not in force

• The national eTurista registration system is not in force as of 29 September 2026. The law that would make it mandatory is still a bill in the Chamber of Deputies, and no registration deadline currently exists.
• No Czech law currently gives municipalities the power to cap the number of rental days or restrict short-term letting in apartments. A bill that would change this has been proposed, but not adopted.

None of this requires acting "before it is too late". The obligations above have been stable for years; the ones that would change your routine are still only bills.

What applies today

A business activity, run like one

If you let your apartment for money to short-term guests, Czech law treats you as a provider of paid accommodation, not as someone doing an occasional favour. Hosts letting apartments on Airbnb, Booking.com or similar platforms commonly operate under the trade licence "accommodation services" (ubytovací služby), which is the standard route for this activity. Whether that route fits your exact situation is something to confirm with your accountant or the trade licensing office rather than with an internet article.

Alongside the licence, providers keep records of their guests (more on this below), and the income is taxable income; the tax side belongs with an adviser, not in this guide. If you run your letting through a management company, some of these duties are handled on your behalf under your contract. If you manage everything yourself, they are yours.

Guest records

Where a municipality charges an accommodation fee (Prague does), hosts keep a record book for each accommodation facility, listing each guest's name, ID details, and the dates of their stay. Records are kept for six years. In Prague, keeping this book properly is part of collecting the accommodation fee correctly.

Foreign guests

Accommodating a guest from outside the EU triggers one extra duty: the host reports the stay to the Foreign Police within 3 working days. Businesses providing accommodation report electronically through the Ubyport system; private persons can use a paper form. This duty has existed for years and is not new.

Prague's accommodation fee

Prague charges a local accommodation fee, and this is the obligation short-term hosts most often underestimate.

• Rate: CZK 50 per person per night, counted as each started day of stay except the day of arrival.
• Scope: paid stays of up to 60 consecutive nights at one provider.
• Who collects it: the host (the provider of the paid stay) collects the fee from the guest and remits it to the administrator of the fee, usually the city district where the property is located, generally by the 15th day of the following month.
• Exemptions: children under 18 are exempt, along with several other groups defined by law and by the city's decree.

The fee is set by the city's own decree, currently Decree of the City of Prague No. 19/2021 Sb. hl. m. Prahy, which also contains the practical details. City politicians have publicly discussed raising the fee, but no increase has been adopted as of the review date.

What eTurista is (and is not)

eTurista is a planned national portal where providers of short-term accommodation would register their properties and, eventually, report guest data. It is the Czech answer to the same pressure the EU regulation addresses: authorities want a clearer picture of who is letting what.

The important part is the status. As of 29 September 2026, eTurista is not in force:

• The law that would make eTurista mandatory (an amendment to Act No. 159/1999 Coll., on business in tourism) is still a bill. It has not passed its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, and the government has stated a negative position on it.
• The portal is not in full operation. The Ministry for Regional Development has been testing it, but earlier launch dates (mid-2025 and later) have repeatedly slipped.
• The current draft of the bill proposes effectiveness from 1 January 2028. Earlier dates you may have read about did not come true, and this one is not final either.
• No registration duty for hosts exists in the meantime.

So if you have seen headlines saying hosts "must register by October 2026", that was a date from an earlier draft of the bill, not a law. When this article is next reviewed, this is the section most likely to have changed.

What may change

Two legislative proposals are worth knowing about, neither of them in force:

Both bills have moved slowly, and both have been covered in the media with more certainty than they deserve. Until a bill is passed, signed and published, it is only a plan.

EU rules

The EU's Regulation 2024/1028 on data sharing for short-term accommodation rentals applies from 20 May 2026. For a Prague owner, three points from the regulation itself:

• It does not itself require every host to register. Where a country or city requires registration, that registration must be online, simple, and must produce a unique registration number for the property.
• Hosts declare to their platform whether the property needs a registration number, and provide it where one exists.
• Platforms must make reasonable checks on what hosts declare, and share data with authorities through a national digital entry point.

What the regulation means for a specific host depends on the national rules where the property is; the regulation is a framework for them, not a substitute for them. For the Czech status, see the eTurista section above.

What should a Prague owner do now?

Based only on duties in force today:

• Check that your trade licence covers accommodation services, if you rent out commercially.
• Charge the Prague accommodation fee correctly: CZK 50 per person per night, exempting under-18s, and remit it to the right city district on time.
• Keep your guest book up to date for each property you let.
• Report stays of non-EU guests through Ubyport within 3 working days of check-in.
• Sort out tax with an adviser rather than improvising.
• Re-check the eTurista status before you rely on any article, including this one. The official sources below are the place to look.

When professional management may help

Notice that most of the duties above are administrative: fee accounting, guest records, guest reporting. They are not difficult in principle, but they are repetitive and easy to neglect when you are abroad or running multiple properties, and the fee remittances have real deadlines. This is one of the quiet arguments for professional management in Prague: not dramatic legal transformation, just someone whose job is to do the paperwork every single time. A manager cannot take over your trade licence or your tax position, and no manager can promise you compliance with laws that do not exist yet. See also how Airbnb management works in the Czech Republic.