Co-hosting vs rental arbitrage vs buying: which short-term rental model fits you
Who owns what, who pays when the calendar is empty, what each model needs in capital, and what Belgian and Dutch law says about subletting a rented home.
Sources listed, last checked
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules differ by country and city and change often, so check the official source and ask a qualified adviser before you act.
There are three ways to earn from short-term rentals without running a hotel. Co-hosting means running someone else’s property for a share of what it earns. Rental arbitrage means renting a home on a lease and letting it to guests for short stays. Buying means owning the home you let. In Belgium and the Netherlands arbitrage carries the most legal risk, because a tenant generally needs the landlord’s agreement to let anyone else use the home, and cities add their own permits and caps on top.3456
Key takeaways
- Co-hosting uses the owner’s home and money, arbitrage uses a landlord’s home and your money, and buying uses your own home and the bank’s money.
- Whoever pays the fixed costs carries the empty nights: the owner in co-hosting, you in arbitrage and in buying.
- Dutch law says a tenant of living space may not let others use the home without the landlord’s agreement, and Belgian regional lease rules require the landlord’s consent to sublet.3456
- In July 2026 VRT NWS reported that at least seven owners, mostly in Antwerp, found their rented-out homes listed on Airbnb by the same two tenants and were left with unpaid rent and, in some homes, damage.7
- Co-hosting needs the least capital, but winning a first owner is hard.
In this guide
The three models side by side
Ask who owns the home and who pays when a month goes badly.
Co-hosting, rental arbitrage and buying compared
| Question | Co-hosting | Rental arbitrage | Buying |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns the home? | The owner | A landlord | You (and your lender) |
| What you earn | A share of the revenue, set in your agreement | Revenue minus rent and all running costs | Revenue minus mortgage and all running costs, plus any change in the home’s value |
| Capital to start | Low: tools, insurance, your time | Medium: rental deposit, furniture, a rent buffer | High: deposit, purchase costs, furniture |
| Who pays when the calendar is empty? | The owner; you lose income, not cash | You pay the rent anyway | You pay the mortgage anyway |
| Legal exposure | The owner’s permits and the building’s rules; your agreement and business registration | The lease, the landlord’s consent and the city’s rules, all at once | The city’s rules on an asset you cannot move |
| What unit two needs | A second owner who trusts you | A second lease, deposit and furniture | A second purchase and a second loan |
Co-hosting and commission management
A co-host runs a listing for the person who owns or legally lets the home; the home, the permits and the running costs stay with the owner. How to start an Airbnb co-hosting business covers the day-to-day in detail.
How you earn
Most co-hosts take a percentage of booking revenue, sometimes plus a fixed fee. What the percentage is calculated on matters as much as the percentage, because Airbnb takes its own fee first. Under Airbnb’s single fee, which comes entirely off the host’s payout, most hosts pay 15.5%, and Airbnb adds 21% VAT on that fee in Belgium and the Netherlands unless you are registered for VAT.12 The details of platform fees are in Airbnb vs Booking.com for hosts, and what managers charge and what is left for each side is in Airbnb co-host fees.
Your income follows the calendar but never goes below zero: in an empty month you earn nothing and pay no rent.
What you risk
The risks are real, even if they are not about rent:
- Your time. An empty unit still needs pricing and an owner who wants to know why.
- Your reputation. A bad cleaner or a broken boiler becomes your review.
- An agreement that can end. The owner can sell or move back in. A written management agreement with a clear term and notice period is your protection; What to put in an Airbnb management agreement lists the clauses to discuss with a lawyer.
- The owner’s compliance. Without the owner’s permit or registration, you run an illegal listing. Check before you start.
What unit two takes
Unit two takes a second owner, not a second loan. That is the model’s strength and its bottleneck, and the first owner is the hardest to win. How to find your first Airbnb management client covers that.
Rental arbitrage
In rental arbitrage you sign a lease, furnish the home and let it to guests. If guests pay more than the rent and running costs, you keep the difference; if not, you pay it.
How the margin works
The number that decides whether arbitrage works is the break-even occupancy rate: the share of nights you must sell just to cover your costs. Divide your fixed monthly costs (rent, energy, internet, insurance, software, furniture wear) by what one booked night leaves after the platform fee, VAT on that fee and cleaning, then divide by the nights in the month.
Worked example: Break-even occupancy for a rented flat
A flat with fixed costs of €1,400 a month, rent included, a nightly price of €120 and €20 per booked night for cleaning and supplies.
- Airbnb’s 15.5% single fee with 21% VAT on the fee, for a host who is not VAT-registered, is 18.755% of the price, so €22.51 on a €120 night.12 One night leaves €97.49 before variable costs and €77.49 after them.
- Break-even: €1,400 divided by €77.49 is 18.07 nights. In a 30-night month that is 60% occupancy, and you only start earning from night 19.
- At 12 booked nights you lose €470. At 21 nights you make €227. At 27 nights you make €692.
- Compare a co-host who runs the same flat for 20% of the €97.49 left per night after the platform fee: €234 at 12 nights, €409 at 21 nights and €526 at 27 nights, and nothing to pay at zero.
Arbitrage only earns more than co-hosting above about 24 booked nights, or 80% occupancy, and it loses the full €1,400 in an empty month. The example leaves out VAT on accommodation, tourist tax, income tax, the deposit and furniture. Illustration with round numbers, not a prediction.
You can run your own numbers in the revenue calculator: this link sets commission to zero and enters the €1,400 of rent and fixed costs as monthly running costs, so replace them with your own. For a realistic nightly price and occupancy, use comparable listings, as described in How to estimate what a property will earn on Airbnb.
Is rental arbitrage legal in Belgium and the Netherlands?
Arbitrage is not banned as such, but it must pass lease law, the lease itself and the city’s rules.
The Netherlands. Article 7:244 of the Dutch Civil Code is short:
In afwijking van artikel 221 is de huurder van woonruimte niet bevoegd het gehuurde geheel of gedeeltelijk aan een ander in gebruik te geven.3
In English: a tenant of living space is not entitled to let anyone else use the whole or part of the home. The same article allows a tenant who has a main residence in a self-contained home to let out part of it.3 Our reading is that a tenant who wants to let a whole flat to guests needs the landlord’s explicit agreement, because the law itself gives no such right.
Belgium. Lease law is regional, and each region has its own text:
- Flanders. A tenant who rents a home as a main residence may not sublet the whole home. A part may be sublet with the landlord’s consent, as long as the rest stays the tenant’s main residence.4
- Brussels. A tenant may sublet with the landlord’s express or tacit consent and must send the plan by registered letter at least 15 days before signing. A tenant who rents as a main residence may not sublet the whole home.5
- Wallonia. Subletting is forbidden unless the landlord gives prior written consent.6
A lease used for arbitrage is often not a main-residence lease, because you do not live there. The rules then depend on the type of lease and its clauses, a question for a lawyer.
The city. Even with written consent, the home must meet the local rules: registration, permits, fire safety and, in some cities, a night cap or a principal residence condition. Amsterdam, for example, requires a registration number, a permit and a notification of the nights for holiday letting.11 The city-by-city picture is in Airbnb rules in Belgium and the Netherlands, and the EU registration rules behind it are in EU short-term rental regulation 2024/1028 explained.
Flanders is also moving on unauthorised subletting. According to VRT NWS on 29 July 2026, the Flemish government approved a bill under which Toerisme Vlaanderen can act when an owner shows the lease does not allow tourist subletting, and platforms must share their listings with it every month. At the time of that report the bill still needed the Flemish Parliament’s approval.7
What goes wrong
VRT NWS spoke to 7 owners, 6 in Antwerp and 1 in Ghent, whose homes the same two tenants had listed on Airbnb. None of the owners said they had given permission, and they were left with thousands of euros in unpaid rent and, in some homes, damage worth tens of thousands of euros.7 That was bad faith, but an honest operator faces the same chain once the landlord objects:
- The landlord finds out. Neighbours complain, or the owner finds the flat online.
- The lease ends. A breach of the lease can lead to termination through the court, and your deposit is at risk.
- The set-up costs are lost. Furniture and reviews belong to a listing you can no longer run.
- The city steps in. In June 2026 the Antwerp court of first instance fined two companies, one as owner and one as tenant, €28,000 each, suspended for three years, for letting 23 flats as Airbnb without the permits they needed; profits of €37,500 and €25,000 were confiscated.8
Watch out: Never sublet without written consent
Get the landlord’s agreement to short-term letting in writing before you list, and check the city’s rules for the address. In one of the Antwerp cases the lease allowed subletting only with the landlord’s written consent, which the owner says was never given.7
Buying to rent short-term
Buying removes the landlord; profit and value growth are yours. You put in the most capital, and the rules can change after you buy a home that cannot move.
Capital and financing
A purchase needs a deposit, purchase taxes and notary costs, furniture, a cash buffer and usually a mortgage. Ask your bank whether it accepts short-term letting as the purpose of the loan before you make an offer, and check that a cautious projection still pays the mortgage in a weak year.
Regulation risk on an asset you can’t move
A purchase is harder to undo than a lease or an agreement, so check the local rules before you buy:
- Night caps can tighten. Amsterdam caps holiday letting at 30 nights a year, and since 1 April 2026 at 15 nights in eight neighbourhoods, including the Jordaan, two canal belt districts and Oude Pijp.1113 A projection built on 30 nights there lost half its letting nights in one decision.
- Permits can be enforced hard. In the Antwerp case of June 2026, the court ordered the Airbnb activity to stop within 2 months and the 23 flats to be offered for sale or for rent as homes again within 6 months, with a penalty of €1,000 per flat per day for missing the deadline.8
- Licences can end. Barcelona has decided not to renew 10,000 tourist apartment licences in November 2028. In March 2025, according to Catalan News, the city’s mayor said a Constitutional Court ruling upholding the Catalan rules gave that decision legal certainty.12
In an apartment building, the co-owners’ rules can also restrict short stays (VME or VvE).
VAT on accommodation
Where letting falls under VAT, the rate has gone up in both countries in 2026. In Belgium the VAT rate for furnished accommodation rose from 6% to 12% on 1 March 2026, with a transition period for earlier bookings until 30 June 2026.9 In the Netherlands accommodation has been taxed at 21% since 1 January 2026.10 Whether your letting is VAT-liable depends on how you let it, so ask an accountant. See VAT on accommodation and the country detail in Airbnb rules in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Which model fits you
Answer these questions in order:
- How much money can you afford to lose? If the answer is a few hundred euros, co-hosting is your model.
- Who carries the empty nights? If you cannot pay rent through two or three bad months, do not sign a lease for a short-term rental.
- What does the local law allow? If the city requires a main residence, a permit you cannot get or a cap that breaks the numbers, the model is decided for you.
- How much time do you have? All three need the same hosting work; co-hosting adds finding owners, buying adds finding and financing a property.
- What do you want in five years? Growing unit by unit points to co-hosting; one asset that grows in value points to buying.
Tip: Start with the cheapest mistake
If you are not sure, co-host a single home for someone you know. You learn pricing, guests and the local rules without a lease or a loan, and your reviews become proof for the next owner.
Mixing models, and why it confuses owners
Some operators co-host for owners and also rent a flat or two themselves. Owners are right to ask questions: in a quiet week, whose flat do you push first, and do you undercut the owner’s price to fill your own?
If you mix models, tell owners, put your pricing and priority rules in the management agreement, and keep your own units in separate accounts.
Questions people ask
What is rental arbitrage?
Rental arbitrage means renting a home on an ordinary lease and letting it to guests for short stays, keeping the difference between what guests pay and what the home costs you. You pay the rent whether or not guests book, and you need the landlord’s consent and the city’s permission.
Is Airbnb arbitrage legal in the Netherlands?
Only with the landlord’s agreement and within the local rules. Under article 7:244 of the Dutch Civil Code a tenant of living space may not let anyone else use the home, apart from letting out part of a self-contained home they live in.3 Cities such as Amsterdam also require a registration number and a permit for holiday letting and cap the nights per year.11
Do I need my landlord’s permission to sublet on Airbnb in Belgium?
Yes, in practice. In Wallonia subletting is forbidden without the landlord’s prior written consent, and in Brussels a tenant needs the landlord’s express or tacit consent and must send the plan by registered letter at least 15 days before signing.65 In Flanders and Brussels, a tenant who rents a home as a main residence may not sublet the whole home.45 Ask a lawyer before you list anything.
Is co-hosting safer than arbitrage?
Financially, yes: a co-host does not pay rent, so an empty month costs time and income rather than cash. The owner carries the property, the rules and most of the costs. Its own risks, such as an owner ending the agreement, are why the terms belong in a written management agreement.
Which model needs the least money to start?
Co-hosting, because the owner already has a furnished home and pays the running costs. Arbitrage needs a rental deposit, furniture and several months of rent as a buffer. Buying needs the most: a deposit, purchase costs and a mortgage.
Sources
All sources checked .
- Airbnb Help Centre, “Airbnb service fees”
- Airbnb Help Centre, “Value Added Tax (VAT) and how it applies to you”, See the Belgium and Netherlands sections
- Wetten.overheid.nl, “Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, artikel 7:244”, Version in force from 1 January 2026, in Dutch
- Belgian Official Journal (Justel), “Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet of 9 November 2018, article 32”, Flemish Region, in Dutch
- Belgian Official Journal (Justel), “Brussels Housing Code, article 230/1”, Brussels-Capital Region, in French
- Belgian Official Journal (Justel), “Walloon decree of 15 March 2018 on residential leases, article 47”, Walloon Region, in French
- VRT NWS, “Woningen huren en via Airbnb onderverhuren: duo huurders met creatief businessmodel is schrik van huiseigenaars in Antwerpen”, 29 July 2026, in Dutch
- VRT NWS, “Eigenaars 23 illegale Airbnb-appartementen in Antwerpen veroordeeld”, 1 June 2026, in Dutch
- Vlaanderen Vakantieland, “Info btw hervorming logies”, In Dutch
- Belastingdienst, “Vanaf 1 januari 2026: btw-tarief logies omhoog naar 21%”, 30 October 2025, in Dutch
- Gemeente Amsterdam, “Huisvestingsverordening Amsterdam 2024”, Articles 3.7.2 to 3.7.4, in Dutch
- Catalan News, “Barcelona mayor welcomes Constitutional Court ruling on tourist apartment restrictions”, 14 March 2025
- Gemeente Amsterdam, “Eerste aanwijzingsbesluit 15-nachtencriterium vakantieverhuur Amsterdam (Gemeenteblad 2026, 151001)”, Adopted 24 March 2026, in force 1 April 2026, in Dutch
We check every figure against the sources above. Spotted something out of date? Email systemen@hostproacademy.com with the guide title.
About HostPro Academy
The team behind this guide
These guides are written by the team behind HostPro Academy, a training programme for building a short-term rental management business. The model and getting started part of that programme is covered in levels 1 and 2.