Short-Term Rental (Airbnb) in Bucharest and Romania: Licensing, Classification, Taxation and Building Rules

1Is it permitted to rent out an apartment on Airbnb in Romania?

Yes, but not without a license. In Romania, hosting tourists in an apartment is a tourist accommodation activity, and it is regulated. A private individual or a company that rents out an apartment by the night needs a classification certificate from the tourism ministry. From 2026 this has been joined by a European registration number, electronic invoicing and a local tourist tax in Bucharest. An investor examining an apartment for short-term rental needs to check all of these components before the purchase, not after it.

Below we go through the components in the order in which they affect the decision: what may be rented out and on what scale, what the neighbors and the building require, what the registration requires, how much tax is paid, and what this means for the structure worth choosing, privately or through a company.

2What license is needed to rent to tourists?

A classification certificate (certificat de clasificare) is needed from the ministry responsible for tourism. It is granted under the norms for classifying tourist accommodation facilities: Order 65/2013, as most recently amended by Order 948/2026, published in the Official Gazette no. 559 on 8 July 2026. The certificate classifies the unit by standard, and determines whether the apartment meets the minimum conditions for hosting.

As regards private owners, the new order provides that a private individual may apply for classification for at most 7 rooms and 14 beds. The classification applies to apartments or rooms for rent in houses in their private ownership, and the limit is counted across all the apartments together. Before the order, the ceiling was only 7 rooms, with no limit on the number of beds. Anyone who wants broader activity needs a registered business, such as a sole proprietor (PFA) or a company (SRL).

3Is the consent of the neighbors or of the owners' association required?

In most cases, yes. The amendment to the classification norms, which allowed private individuals to receive a classification certificate, provided that when the unit is located in a condominium building, the application must include the neighbors' consent, specifying the activity that will take place in the apartment. Without this consent it is very hard to complete the classification.

Beyond the formal requirement, it is worth checking three more things before buying:

• The owners' association's by-laws and resolutions adopted: whether there are rules on the entry of guests, use of the elevator, waste and quiet hours. In some buildings the association is active and hostile to short-term hosting.
• Management fees: in some buildings expenses are divided according to the number of residents, and then guests increase the bill.
• Relations with the neighbors: consent given at the outset does not prevent complaints later. In an apartment that the neighbors are fighting, the expected income is not worth much.

4What is the European registration number and when is it mandatory?

EU Regulation 2024/1028 on short-term rental applies in Romania from 20 May 2026. It requires the state to operate a registration system, with a unique registration number for every unit or host, and a single digital registration point. In Romania, the code is expected to be obtained through the tourism ministry's SITUR system, with digital identification. According to estimates, once the connection between the system and the platforms is completed, listings without a valid code will be removed automatically.

In May 2026 the system was still in the implementation stages. Therefore, before you publish, you need to check the actual status of registration, and make sure that the registration number appears in the listing as soon as the system allows it.

5How is income from Airbnb taxed in Romania in 2026?

A private individual who rents out up to 7 rooms pays on 2026 income tax of 10% on net income. Net income is gross income less a fixed deduction of 30%. The previous method, in which the tax was determined by a fixed amount per room (normă de venit), was abolished. Platform commissions are not included in gross income. For example, someone who collected 10,100 lei, of which 100 lei was commission, deducts 3,000 lei (30% of 10,000), and pays 10% on 7,000 lei, that is, 700 lei.

• Reporting: 2026 income is reported in the annual single return (Declarația unică) by 25 May 2027.
• Health insurance (CASS): for up to 7 rooms, the contributions are determined in tiers of 6, 12 or 24 gross minimum wages, according to income.
• Electronic invoice: from 1 June 2026, a private individual who rents out on their own must also issue invoices through the RO e-Factura system and send them within 5 working days. You must register in advance on Form 082, and keep the XML files and the receipt confirmations. For late submission there is a fine of up to 15% of the invoice value.
• Digital lodging form: under Article 85(8) of the Tax Code, a record is kept of the hosting periods for each room and of the guests' identity. The tax authority checks it in audits.
• VAT on the platform commission: when renting through a foreign platform, the invoice for the commission arrives without VAT, and the landlord must report and pay 21% VAT on the commission themselves, on Form 301 and Form 390. Many private landlords are not aware of this obligation.

6Private individual or company: what is the difference?

7How much is the tourist tax in Bucharest?

From 2026, the Bucharest municipality collects a tourist tax of 10 lei (about 2 euros) per night per guest. The city council approved it on 23 December 2025. The tax is fixed and does not depend on the price of the stay. The tax is collected from accommodation operators, booking platforms or travel agencies. The fine for non-compliance reaches up to 1,500 lei for a private individual and up to 4,000 lei for a business. Someone who rents out in Bucharest needs to check exactly who collects the tax on their bookings, themselves or the platform, and factor the tax into the price.

8And what about tax in Israel?

An Israeli resident is taxed in Israel on their worldwide income, and therefore rental income in Romania must also be reported in Israel. Under the tax treaty between Israel and Romania, the primary right to tax income from real estate is reserved to the country in which the property is located, and Israel gives a credit for tax paid in Romania, subject to the credit rules. Israeli law has several tax routes for rental income from abroad, and it is worth choosing among them together with your accountant, after comparing the tax in Romania with the tax in each route. A landlord who is not a Romanian resident should also make sure they have a tax identification number in Romania and a local representative for receiving mail from government offices.

9What should you check before buying an apartment for short-term rental?

1. The owners' association's by-laws and the neighbors' position, and whether consent to the classification can be obtained.
2. Whether the apartment meets the classification conditions, and what is needed to meet them.
3. How many apartments and rooms you already own, because of the ceiling of 7 rooms and 14 beds for a private individual.
4. The holding structure: private or through a company, including the consequences in Israel.
5. The current status of the SITUR registration and the European registration number.
6. Operating costs: management, cleaning, bookkeeping, e-Factura, VAT on commissions, tourist tax.
7. A fallback scenario: what the yield is if you have to switch to long-term rental.

10Before you sign: how we accompany a purchase for short-term rental

Before the purchase, we check the building's documents and the owners' association's position, and the possibility of obtaining classification. We help choose between private and company ownership, together with your advisers in Israel, and accompany the registration and classification before the authorities in Romania. We connect the ongoing reports with local professionals. Our goal is for you to invest in an apartment that may be rented out and whose economics are realistic, not in an apartment that looks good in a listing.

Read next · 7 min readA Will for an Israeli With Property in Romania: Choice of Law, Form of the Will and Coordination With the Will in IsraelHow to write a will that works for property in Romania: Regulation 650/2012 and choice of law, notarial or handwritten wills, reserved shares, the Israeli will.Read the guide

The information in this guide is general in nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice on any specific transaction. Every transaction is assessed on its own facts.