{"id":26757,"date":"2026-10-10T22:24:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T21:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/?p=26757"},"modified":"2026-10-10T22:24:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T21:24:55","slug":"budapests-castle-district-voters-back-a-short-term-rental-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/2026\/10\/10\/budapests-castle-district-voters-back-a-short-term-rental-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Budapest\u2019s Castle District voters back a short-term rental ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A majority of the residents who voted in a consultation in Budapest\u2019s District 1 want short-term rentals such as Airbnb banned outright, according to figures from Mayor L\u00e1szl\u00f3 B\u00f6r\u00f6cz reported on 8 October 2026.<\/p>\n<section aria-labelledby=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-inrtzyj-hlesdml-zofjqh\" class=\"auk-zvimcvi-inrtzyj\" lang=\"en\">\n<h2 id=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-inrtzyj-hlesdml-zofjqh\">In brief<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>According to Daily News Hungary , an online consultation about how the district should handle short-term accommodation drew 4,503 participating residents.<\/li>\n<li>That concept will be published for public consultation, and only then will a formal regulation be drafted.<\/li>\n<li>It wants to avoid a surge in rentals caused by restrictions elsewhere in central Budapest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<h2>What the consultation showed<\/h2>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/dailynewshungary.com\/budapest-district-vote-airbnb-ban\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Daily News Hungary<\/a>, an online consultation about how the district should handle short-term accommodation drew 4,503 participating residents. Some 21,450 permanent residents were entitled to take part, so participation stood at 21%, according to budavar.hu. The <a href=\"https:\/\/bbj.hu\/business\/real-estate\/residential\/budapest-castle-district-voters-back-short-term-rental-ban\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Budapest Business Journal<\/a> also covers the result and the district\u2019s next steps.<\/p>\n<div class=\"auk-kmrcibp\">\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh\">58.6%<\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">of participants backed a complete ban<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh\">21%<\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">of eligible permanent residents took part<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh\">66%<\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">support for a ban in the Buda Castle area<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Position of those who rejected a full ban<\/th>\n<th>Share of all participants<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Rentals allowed under local conditions<\/td>\n<td>18%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rentals allowed without restrictions<\/td>\n<td>23.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The opposing camp was itself split. Among the 41.4% who turned down a full ban, 18% preferred that rentals stay legal if they meet conditions set locally, whereas 23.4% wished them to continue with no restrictions at all. A ban drew its strongest backing in the Buda Castle zone, with 66% of participants voting for it. Only about one in five eligible residents took part in this online consultation.<\/p>\n<p>The two outlets round the figures a little differently. The Budapest Business Journal speaks of just over 4,500 participants, with about 18% favouring some restrictions and 23% saying none were needed, which lines up with the more precise percentages given by Daily News Hungary.<\/p>\n<h2>A vote is not yet a ban<\/h2>\n<p>The municipality stresses that the outcome does not mean short-term rentals will be prohibited immediately. The local government will weigh residents\u2019 views against an impact assessment before preparing a regulatory proposal. That concept will be published for public consultation, and only then will a formal regulation be drafted.<\/p>\n<p>According to the municipality\u2019s plans, committees and the district council could see the draft in November. B\u00f6r\u00f6cz said the goal is to keep Buda Castle a peaceful, liveable home for its residents over the long run, through local rules that are transparent and enforceable.<\/p>\n<p>The sequence is worth keeping in mind for anyone following the file. After the consultation result come the impact assessment, then a published concept open to public comment, then a drafted regulation, and finally the committees and the district council, which could see the text in November.<\/p>\n<h2>Why the timing matters<\/h2>\n<p>The consultation takes place with a deadline looming. Under current law, a national freeze on registering new accommodation establishments is set to lapse at the end of the year. District 1 wants to set its position before that date, and the municipality said new applications for short-term lodging could increase sharply once the moratorium ends.<\/p>\n<p>The municipality also presented the question as one that touches everyday life. It stressed that short-term rentals affect residents\u2019 daily routines and the peace of apartment buildings, particularly in and around Buda Castle, a residential area and a major tourist destination.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the district is trying to settle its position before the national freeze ends, rather than after a possible wave of new applications for short-term lodging.<\/p>\n<h2>Other districts, different stages<\/h2>\n<p>District 1 is not alone. Several central Budapest districts are at different points in the process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>District 6 (Ter\u00e9zv\u00e1ros)<\/strong> held a local referendum and became the first Budapest district to ban Airbnb-style short-term rentals outright.<\/li>\n<li><strong>District 8 (J\u00f3zsefv\u00e1ros)<\/strong> had its council approve a regulatory concept in June, with a decision on detailed rules expected in October.<\/li>\n<li><strong>District 13<\/strong> ended its public consultation on a draft regulation on 2 October; results have not yet been announced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>District 13 estimates that about 1,100 to 1,200 flats operate as short-term private accommodation. It wants to avoid a surge in rentals caused by restrictions elsewhere in central Budapest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"media-credit auk-gogcn-ertkm\" data-provider=\"wikimedia\"><small>Featured image. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:A_building_in_Buda_Castle_District,_Budapest.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a>. Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:A_building_in_Buda_Castle_District,_Budapest.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Slyronit<\/a>. License: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>District 1 has yet to turn a 58.6% vote for prohibition into rules, and an impact assessment and public consultation still come first.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1166,1167,1155,1168,1169,1156,1165],"class_list":["post-26757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-airbnb","tag-buda-castle","tag-budapest","tag-district-1","tag-housing","tag-hungary","tag-short-term-rentals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26758,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26757\/revisions\/26758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}