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- Rental rules: how the new law on guest houses will change the working order for businesses and the lives of neighbors
Rental rules: how the new law on guest houses will change the working order for businesses and the lives of neighbors
An experiment on the legalization of guest houses is beginning in Russia — individual residential buildings hosting tourists receive official status for the first time. The law adopted by the Federal Assembly is designed to bring the market out of the shadows, improve the quality of services and ensure a balance of interests of owners, neighbors and the state. In the Izvestia article, the deputies and representatives of the PCT talk about the unique aspects of the reform: tax and legal transparency, traditions and mass demand, security and protection of rights.
Experiment: the beginning, goals and mechanics
Starting from September 1, 2025, an experiment on the legalization of guest houses will start in 18 regions, including the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea, Altai and the Leningrad Region. The law provides for the inclusion of such houses in a special register, which will become a prerequisite for advertising and conducting business. As Nikolay Valuev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development, told Izvestia, the adopted law will lead to a "whitewashing" of the market. Guest houses will now be included in the unified register of accommodation facilities. Without a number from this registry, it will be prohibited to advertise housing, and you will have to pay a fine for violating the law.
Valuev emphasizes that an important part of the reform will be the tightening of tax control.
— As for the increase in tax revenues, owners will be required to pay property tax, personal income tax (the smartest will apply for self-employment) and a tourist fee. And it is also very important that now the tax service sees that such property was used for business purposes, and, therefore, when selling such a house, the owner will have to pay tax on the full value specified in the purchase agreement," the deputy notes.
Valuev emphasizes that one of the key issues in this experiment is to find a compromise between the owners of guest houses and their neighbors. It is necessary to understand here that we are talking primarily about existing guest houses that can operate without state control.
He adds that the classification rules will take into account the interests of both parties: "If a house is jointly owned or jointly owned, and there is no documented consent from all co-owners to register it as a guest house, the guest house will not be entered in the register." Valuev also believes that the introduction of mandatory written consent from neighbors to rent housing should allow them to influence the situation in their home and protect their interests.
Legalization and the fight against the "gray" sector
Tatiana Lobach, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development, draws attention to the steady demand and historical tradition of guest houses. Guest houses are not a new phenomenon, this type of accommodation de jure does not exist today due to the changes introduced in 2019 to the Urban Planning Code and the repeal of a number of regulatory legal acts. However, de facto, according to preliminary estimates and estimates by experts, there are about 15 thousand such accommodation facilities today, the legislator notes.
— If you open the statistics of the Yandex search engine, you will see that our citizens and tourists are aware of this type of accommodation and actively use it, — says Tatiana Lobach. — In just one month from May 5 to June 5, 2025, users made more than a million searches for the keywords: "guest house", and these are impressive figures.
Lobach is confident that the new system will force the owners to make the right choice.
"After the entry into force of the law on guest houses and the adoption of all necessary by—laws, all owners of guest houses will have the right to choose whether to legalize their activities or violate current legislation, as a complete ban will be imposed on the provision of guest house services, information about which is not included in the relevant register of accommodation facilities," she said.
In fact, such persons will carry out illegal business activities, she says, and appropriate checks will be carried out against such unscrupulous persons by authorized state bodies in the field of control and supervision.
Deputy Lobach separately emphasizes the experimental nature of the law.
— As for the risks and legal conflicts, that is why it is proposed to adopt the law as an experiment in order to work out in practice all the algorithms and mechanisms necessary to legalize the guest house, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the results obtained and prepare amendments to the current legislation, which will allow the law to be extended to the whole country, — says the interlocutor. — Regulations on the size and number of rooms will be regulated by subordinate regulations.
Security and public order
Natalia Kostenko, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development, focuses on law and order and security.
— The law on guest houses does not create a new entity: all individual housing construction facilities that can now receive the status of a guest house already exist today. And all the problems that arise in the neighbors, after the adoption of the law, will be solved in the same way as before — within the framework of civil, criminal and administrative legislation, if circumstances arise for this," the deputy points out.
Kostenko believes that the law protects not only the market, but also the rights of citizens. The law on guest houses, she is sure, will lead not only to the legalization of the market, but also to the protection of citizens from unjustified judicial and administrative prosecution, illegal imposition of commercial housing and communal tariffs on individuals, and will also allow law enforcement agencies to more effectively control who lives in the private sector today. This, in turn, will increase the safety of tourists, owners and, of course, neighbors.
The parliamentarian also notes that all regulations governing the provision of services and the parameters of rooms in which tourists will be accommodated are clearly defined and will be approved in the near future by the relevant decree of the Government of the Russian Federation.
Georgy Mokhov, Vice President and Head of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, draws attention to the specifics of conflict resolution.
— In case of complaints about noise or violation of law and order, control measures are applied: local authorities can impose a fine or suspend activities by court order in case of repeated appeals from residents, — the expert reminds.
Mokhov emphasizes that legalization will be beneficial to the owners, because a significant part of the guest houses will be legalized and will be included in the register in order to preserve the opportunity to provide services and advertise through online services.
— The effect of the law primarily depends on the actions of the regional authorities exercising control in this area. In any case, the "gray" layer will remain, but it will decrease as control measures are carried out," he said.
The expert also explains how the technical parameters will be adjusted. According to him, the regulations on the classification of guest houses will establish requirements for the size of rooms, the number of residents and other standards. The project specifies the maximum number of rooms for the provision of services — 15, with a size of at least 9 meters for single occupancy, 12 meters for double occupancy and at least 6 meters for multi—bed accommodation.
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