EU short-term rental regulation 2024/1028 explained: what changed on 20 May 2026

Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 has applied since 20 May 2026.¹ It creates no EU licence, EU registration number or night cap. It sets rules for the registration schemes that countries, regions and cities choose to run. Where one runs, you need a number per unit, platforms must collect, check and show it, and platforms send activity data to the authorities.¹ Whether you may rent at all still depends on your country, region and city.

In this guide

1. The regulation in one paragraph
2. Timeline
3. What member states may do
4. What platforms must do
5. What hosts and co-hosts must do
6. What the regulation does not do
7. Not the same as DAC7 or the Digital Services Act
8. Where countries stand
9. What to do now
10. Questions people ask
11. Sources

The regulation in one paragraph

Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 is a data regulation. It applies to platforms that serve hosts in the EU, wherever the platform is based, and to hosts themselves.¹ It builds one pipeline: the host registers a unit and gets a registration number, the platform checks and shows that number, and, where authorities have asked for data, the platform reports each unit’s nights and guests to a national single digital entry point.¹ Everything else in Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 serves that pipeline.

Timeline

On 4 May 2026 Airbnb wrote that it was “ready to comply but we’re concerned that not all Member States are”.⁴

What member states may do

The regulation does not oblige a country to introduce registration everywhere. It says that any registration procedure a member state sets up, at national, regional or local level, must follow its rules.¹ There is one link: a country that wants platforms to send it data must run a registration procedure in the areas where that data duty applies.¹

Such a procedure runs online on the host’s own declaration, free where possible or at a reasonable cost, and issues the number immediately. A unit faces no more than one procedure, hosts can update details and appeal, and numbers go into a public register.¹

What a host declares

Article 5 lists what a host submits for each unit.¹

• About the unit: the exact address, including floor and letterbox number where relevant; the type of unit; whether it is part or all of a primary or secondary residence, or neither; the maximum bed places and guests; and whether any required authorisation has been obtained.
• If the host is a person: name, national identification number or other identifying information, address, phone number and email address.
• If the host is a company: name, business registration number, a legal representative, registered address, phone number and email address.

Countries may ask for supporting documents, but that must not hold up the number. The host is responsible for accuracy and must update the details after a material change.¹

What authorities can do with it

Authorities may check a declaration at any time after the number is issued. If the host does not fix incorrect information, they can suspend the number and order platforms to remove the listing, or withdraw it for wilful misconduct or gross negligence. The host must first be told why in writing and heard.¹

What platforms must do

The platform duties are in Articles 7 to 9, and removal orders from authorities come under Article 6. Article 7 is headed “compliance by design”: the listing flow itself enforces the rules.¹ Article 7(1)(b) reads:

Online short-term rental platforms shall … ensure that hosts have provided a registration number prior to allowing the offering of the short-term accommodation rental services in respect of that unit, and that hosts display that registration number clearly as part of their listing.¹

In full, a platform must:¹

1. Ask the host to self-declare whether a registration procedure applies to the unit.
2. Collect and display the number before the unit can be offered, where one applies.
3. Check the self-declaration is complete, with best efforts and using the official list of areas with registration, before the host can use its services.
4. Randomly check numbers on a regular basis after the listing is live, and report invalid or misused numbers to the authority and the host.
5. Remove or disable listings when an authority orders it, for example for a unit without a number or with an invalid one.
6. Send activity data every month where authorities asked for it: nights, guests per night and their country of residence, with the number, address and listing URL.

Small or micro platforms that averaged fewer than 4,250 listings a month in the previous quarter may report quarterly instead. Authorities may keep the data for up to 18 months after receipt.¹

What hosts and co-hosts must do

Where a registration procedure applies, you register each unit, give the number to the platform, display it and keep the details correct.¹ The hard part is the national layer: conditions differ by country, region and city. The rules for Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia and the Dutch cities are in Airbnb rules in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Who holds the registration number

The regulation defines a registration number as an identifier that “identifies a unit” in a member state, issued by a competent authority.¹ Who must register for a particular scheme is decided by national or regional law. In Brussels, for example, the number is linked to a specific operator and address, cannot be transferred, and every property needs its own.¹⁰

Managing units for several owners

For a co-host or manager, three points matter.

• One number per unit, not per manager. Ten units need ten valid numbers, each tied to its own address.¹ Registering your company does not cover the owners’ units.
• Agree who registers and who declares. The scheme decides whether the owner or the operator registers. Put in writing who applies, who declares the number on each platform and who updates it. A management agreement is the place for that.
• Business host details are a separate duty. Under the Digital Services Act, Airbnb verifies the name, address, phone number, email and business registration number (where there is one) of business hosts in the EU and shows them to guests; the listing stays hidden until that check is done.³

A per-unit checklist

Before a unit goes live, check each point for that unit on its own:

• The address of the unit falls under a registration procedure, or not, according to the official list of areas.
• The number is issued, appears in the public register, and its declared unit type, residence status, bed places and guests match the listing.
• Any authorisation or permit the area requires has been obtained, and a copy is on file.
• The number is visible on every platform where the unit is listed.

What the regulation does not do

The regulation is narrower than its nickname “the new EU Airbnb rules” suggests. It is without prejudice to national, regional and local rules on access to short-term rentals, on land use and planning, on building standards, housing and tenancies, and on taxes.¹ So it does not:

• Set a night cap. Limits on nights come from national or local law. In the Netherlands, for example, the national law lets each municipality decide whether to require a registration number, set a maximum number of nights a year or require notification of each overnight stay, and some municipalities also require a permit.⁷
• Create an EU licence. Where a permit or authorisation is needed, it comes from the country, region or city. The regulation only asks the host to declare whether one applies and whether they have it.¹
• Harmonise conditions. Rules on access to short-term rentals, such as principal residence conditions, and rules on planning and building standards stay national, regional or local.¹
• Change tax. Tourist tax, VAT and income tax follow their own rules, and platform reporting for tax runs through DAC7.¹²

What it changes is enforcement: a city that runs a registration procedure and requests data gets nights and guests per unit from the platforms, monthly from all but small or micro platforms.¹¹⁴ A separate EU initiative to give cities more room to limit rentals was announced in the Commission’s European Affordable Housing Plan of 16 December 2025; it is a future proposal, not law.¹⁴

Not the same as DAC7 or the Digital Services Act

DAC7 has applied since 1 January 2023; a platform reports each year by 31 January and sends the host the information by the same date.² A DAC7 report is not a registration, and a registration number does not replace your tax return.

Where countries stand

Implementation is uneven: some countries adapted existing registration, others were still building systems after 20 May 2026.⁶⁹¹² Belgian and Dutch cities are covered in Airbnb rules in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Countries we could not confirm at an official source are left out; start with your national government’s page.

What to do now

1. Check every unit against the official list. For each address, find out whether a registration procedure applies, then get or check its number with the checklist above.¹
2. Show the number everywhere the unit is listed, including your own site where local rules ask for it, as in Italy.¹³
3. Put responsibilities in writing. Agree with each owner who registers, who updates and who answers the authority. The clauses to discuss with your lawyer are in what to put in an Airbnb management agreement.
4. Plan for the data. Where a city caps nights and requests data, it can see the nights each unit was rented, so plan within the cap. Test fewer nights in the revenue calculator, and see how to estimate what a property will earn.
5. Put a review date in your calendar. France, the Netherlands and Flanders were all still changing their systems in 2026.⁶⁹¹²

Starting out? Check registration before you promise an owner anything: a unit that cannot get a number cannot be listed. The other first steps are in how to start an Airbnb co-hosting business.

Questions people ask

Sources

All sources checked 15 September 2026.

1. EUR-Lex, “Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services”, Official Journal L, 29 April 2024; articles quoted from the published text
2. EUR-Lex, “Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 (DAC7)”, Official Journal L 104, 25 March 2021
3. Airbnb Help Centre, “Verifying and displaying business information as an EU host”
4. Airbnb Newsroom, “Europe's short-term rental rules are changing: we need to get them right”, 4 May 2026
5. Volkshuisvesting Nederland, “Europese verordening datadeelplicht kortetermijnverhuur”, In Dutch
6. Volkshuisvesting Nederland, “Tweede Kamer stemt in met wijziging Wet toeristische verhuur”, 23 June 2026, in Dutch
7. Rijksoverheid, “Woning verhuren aan toeristen”, In Dutch
8. Vlaanderen Vakantieland, “Het Vlaamse Logiesdecreet”, In Dutch
9. Vlaamse Overheid, “Beslissingen van de ministerraad van 29 mei 2026”, Flemish Government decisions, items on the Logiesdecreet and Logiesbesluit, in Dutch
10. Brussels Economy and Employment, “Have your tourist accommodation registered”
11. Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana, “Ventanilla Única Digital: alquiler de alojamientos de corta duración”, In Spanish
12. Direction générale des Entreprises, “L'API meublés, guichet unique de centralisation des données d'activité des intermédiaires de meublés de tourisme”, Updated 23 July 2026, in French
13. Comune di Milano, “(CIN) Codice Identificativo Nazionale: informazioni”, In Italian
14. Europa decentraal, “EU-verordening kortetermijnverhuur: gemeenten aan zet vanaf mei 2026”, 28 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.