Airbnb rules in Mechelen 2026: the holiday-home permit, registration and the city tax

The Airbnb rules in Mechelen come in three layers: Flemish registration with Toerisme Vlaanderen, the city’s building code, and the city’s tax on providing accommodation. Mechelen’s general building regulation requires a permit (omgevingsvergunning) to set up and let a holiday home, unless the letting is temporary or stays a small part of someone’s home.¹ Unlike Ghent, Mechelen has no holiday-home stop: the same code lets an existing house be converted into a holiday home whatever its size, as long as zoning allows it and conditions are met.¹

In this guide

1. Airbnb rules in Mechelen: the three layers
2. Flemish registration and fire safety
3. The holiday-home permit in Mechelen’s building code
4. The Mechelen accommodation tax
5. Enforcement in Mechelen
6. What changes for a manager running units for owners
7. A pre-signing checklist for a Mechelen unit
8. Worked example
9. Questions people ask
10. Sources

The shared Flemish layer is in the Flanders section of the Belgium and Netherlands guide; compare Antwerp and Ghent.

Airbnb rules in Mechelen: the three layers

Flemish registration and fire safety

The Logiesdecreet covers every accommodation in Flanders offered to tourists for payment, professionally or occasionally. Only letting to family, friends and acquaintances without promoting it is exempt.³ Every unit must meet nine basic conditions, from registration and fire safety to insurance, truthful descriptions and compliance with planning rules and permits.³ The full list is in registration and the nine basic conditions.

You register through Toerisme Vlaanderen’s operator portal with your eID. Online registration gives you the registration number at once by email; with the paper form you wait a few days and may not receive guests until it arrives. The unit then appears in the public register of Flemish accommodation.⁴ Booking platforms must ask for the number.³

Toerisme Vlaanderen does not check planning or tax; for planning it sends operators to their municipality, in this case the city.³

The fire safety certificate

Every unit needs a positive fire safety certificate. Self-declaration has not been possible since 1 April 2018.⁵ Who inspects depends on size:⁵

• Small accommodation. One to three units with up to nine sleeping places, or one unit with 10 to 12 places that is not part of a larger building, is inspected by ACEG vzw, which issues the certificate. Toerisme Vlaanderen lists a base fee of €82.44 excluding VAT for a weekday visit between 7:00 and 18:00, with surcharges outside those hours.
• Larger accommodation. You apply through the municipality’s e-counter or to the mayor, and the local fire prevention service carries out the check.
• A holiday home is one unit. It always gets its own certificate.

A type A certificate is positive, B is temporary with a plan to fix shortcomings, and C means no operation.⁵ Upkeep after registration, such as detector and extinguisher checks, is covered in fire safety for registered accommodation.

Changes in Flanders in 2026

On 1 June 2026 VRT NWS reported that the Flemish tourism minister Hans Bonte wanted only registered accommodation on platforms, and a municipal report (proces-verbaal) on a planning breach to be enough for Toerisme Vlaanderen to close a unit; an annual check had found only 6 in 10 checked accommodations compliant.¹⁰ Where the draft decree stands is tracked in what the 2026 amendment changes, and the EU background in EU regulation 2024/1028.

The holiday-home permit in Mechelen’s building code

Mechelen’s general building regulation, adopted by the city council on 18 December 2023, has its own section on tourist accommodation (verblijfsrecreatie). It says small forms such as holiday homes fit the city’s tourism vision, so it makes room for them while setting quality conditions.¹

When no permit is needed

The code names two cases in which neither a permit nor a notification is required to set up tourist accommodation or a holiday home:¹

1. A temporary change of use of at most four periods of 30 consecutive days a year, under the Flemish exemption decree.
2. A complementary function to housing. The property lies in a residential area, housing stays the main function, and the tourist part is at most 100 m² and smaller than the living part, as defined in the Flemish decision of 14 April 2000 on changes of use that need a permit.

For every other case, the code says a permit is required to set up and let tourist accommodation, B&Bs, holiday homes and similar forms.¹ Toerisme Vlaanderen explains why: once a whole home is let, housing is no longer its main use.²

Converting a house into a holiday home

Mechelen protects single-family houses. A house in a residential area with under 200 m² of floor area may not change, wholly or partly, to any use other than housing, apart from small neighbourhood services.¹ The code then makes an explicit exception for holiday homes:¹

• Any size. An existing, mainly permitted single-family house may be converted entirely into a holiday home whatever its floor area, as long as this fits the zoning rules. The 200 m² limit does not apply to that change.
• Back to housing afterwards. When the holiday-home use ends, the property changes back to a single-family house or a small neighbourhood service, again within the zoning rules.
• Recognition within six months. A newly created holiday home must, within six months of receiving its permit, hold recognition from Toerisme Vlaanderen as a holiday home.
• House rules. A newly created holiday home must have house rules (a huishoudelijk reglement).

Under Flemish law alone recognition is voluntary;³ in Mechelen it is a condition for new holiday homes.¹ The code’s definition of a holiday home also covers related terms such as a holiday apartment or holiday studio.¹

The holiday-home article is written for houses and sets out no separate route for a flat, so ask the city’s planning service how it treats one.¹

Splitting a house into several units

A house under 200 m² may not be split into several homes; from 200 m², a split is possible if one home of at least 135 m² with at least 20 m² of outdoor space remains.¹⁹ We found no text on how this combines with the holiday-home article when the new units are for tourists, so ask the city first.

The code applies to applications filed on or after its entry into force, so a unit permitted earlier is judged on its own permit.¹

The Mechelen accommodation tax

Mechelen levies a tax on providing accommodation (belasting op het verstrekken van logies). The city’s tax page links the current regulation, dated 16 December 2025.⁶ We could not open that document on 6 November 2026, because the city’s publication server returned a certificate error, so we cannot confirm the 2026 rate, who exactly is liable or the declaration deadlines.

What we could verify:

• The previous rate. In its decision of 16 December 2019, the council recorded that the tax on providing accommodation was raised from €3.20 to €5 per night per paid room, for the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2025.⁸ How “per paid room” is counted for a whole holiday home is set in the regulation, so ask the city.
• The declaration. You declare through the city’s online portal, using codes printed on the declaration form the city sends you.⁷
• Questions. Contact the city’s tax department at stadsbelastingen@mechelen.be.⁶
• Second residences. Mechelen also has a separate tax on second residences under a regulation of 16 December 2025.⁷ We could not open it either, so ask whether it applies to a home used only for guests.

How tourist tax works on Airbnb in Belgium, and how it compares across cities, is in tourist tax for Airbnb hosts in Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgian VAT on furnished accommodation, 12% since 1 March 2026 when it applies, is covered in VAT in Belgium.

Enforcement in Mechelen

We found no official city page on checks of short-term rentals. The clearest local statement comes from Voor Mechelen, a local political party, in an article dated 21 March without a year; its wording about EU rules “from 2026” suggests it was written before 2026.¹¹ It reports that:¹¹

• About 100 accommodations would be checked for planning compliance, at the request of the sector itself, with the alderman for tourism, Greet Geypen, expecting most to be in order.
• The approach would be phased: first informing operators, then giving those not in order time to regularise.
• The city asked Toerisme Vlaanderen for a more active role in registration and enforcement.

We found no report of the outcome, so treat the article as a statement of intent.

What changes for a manager running units for owners

The rules were written for the owner, but the co-host usually notices first when something is missing. Settle four points in writing.

• Who is the operator. Registration, the fire safety certificate and the tax declaration all sit with an operator. Decide whether that is the owner or your company, and register and declare under that name.⁴⁷
• Which planning route the unit uses. A room in the owner’s home under the 100 m² exemption, a temporary use of up to four periods of 30 days, or a full holiday home with a permit. Each has different limits, and only the last allows a whole home to be let all year.¹
• Recognition. For a newly permitted holiday home, put the six-month recognition deadline in your onboarding list.¹
• The tax. Agree who keeps the night count, who receives the city’s declaration form and who pays.⁷

Put permits, registration, tax and who pays a fine in the compliance clause of the management agreement. If the person who signs with you rents the home, a lease that allows the letting is one of the nine Flemish conditions; see is rental arbitrage legal.³ In an apartment building, read the owners’ association statutes for a platform ban, as explained in Antwerp’s VME section.

A pre-signing checklist for a Mechelen unit

1. Use of the home. Does the owner live there, and is the guest part at most 100 m² and smaller than the living part? If not, a permit is needed.¹
2. Permit. For a whole home, ask for the omgevingsvergunning or its file number, and check that it covers tourist use.¹
3. Zoning. Ask the city whether the zoning rules at that address allow a holiday home; the code’s exception for houses only works within them.¹
4. Flat or house. For a flat in an apartment building, ask the city how the code applies before the owner applies.¹
5. Recognition. For a new holiday home, note the date of the permit and the six-month deadline for recognition, and see the house rules.¹
6. Registration. Check the unit in the Flemish register and note in whose name it is registered.⁴
7. Fire safety and insurance. See the fire safety certificate and its type, and the fire and liability policies; see insurance in Flanders.³⁵
8. Tax. Ask the city for the 2026 rate and for whether the second residences tax applies, and agree who declares.⁶⁷

Worked example

Questions people ask

Sources

All sources checked 6 November 2026.

1. Stad Mechelen, “Algemene stedenbouwkundige verordening”, General building regulation, adopted by the city council on 18 December 2023; section 6 and articles 64, 65 and 72; in Dutch
2. Vlaanderen Vakantieland (Toerisme Vlaanderen), “Ruimtelijke ordening”, Last updated 19 August 2026, in Dutch
3. Vlaanderen Vakantieland (Toerisme Vlaanderen), “Het Vlaamse Logiesdecreet”, Last updated 19 August 2026, in Dutch
4. Toerisme Vlaanderen, “Je logies aanmelden”, In Dutch
5. Toerisme Vlaanderen, “Brandveiligheid in logies”, In Dutch
6. Stad Mechelen, “Belastingen voor bedrijven”, Links the regulation on the tax on providing accommodation of 16 December 2025; the regulation itself would not open for us; in Dutch
7. Stad Mechelen, “Belastingen voor burgers”, Declaration portal and the second residences tax; in Dutch
8. Stad Mechelen, “Gemeenteraad, uittreksel uit de notulen, vergadering van 16 december 2019, punt 52”, States the 2020–2025 rate of the accommodation tax; in Dutch
9. Stad Mechelen, “Regelgeving over alternatieve woonvormen”, In Dutch
10. VRT NWS, “Vlaanderen scherpt regels voor Airbnb's aan”, 1 June 2026, in Dutch
11. Voor Mechelen, “Mechelen zet in op een eerlijk speelveld voor toeristische logies”, Website of a local political party, dated 21 March with no year shown; in Dutch

We check every figure against the sources above. Spotted something out of date? Email systemen@hostproacademy.com with the guide title.