EU Host Checklist for 2026 Compliance

Use this checklist per unit, not per host. Print or copy it into each unit file, work through it in order, and date each line when completed. A checklist completed for one unit does not cover another unit, even in the same building, because registration numbers, planning positions and caps are unit-specific. For a portfolio, complete one checklist per unit and review them together quarterly.

The checklist assumes the EU framework as applying from 20 May 2026, with national implementation still settling in late 2026. Where a national portal is not yet open, mark the line as pending with the date checked, rather than as done. A pending line with a date is honest and useful; a done line based on a plan is not.

First, planning or zoning permission for short-let use at the address, with the authority and date noted. Second, building or condo permission and lease permission where they apply. Third, registration in the member state scheme where required, with the number, validity dates and confirmation filed. Fourth, display: the number visible on every listing and advertisement for the unit, checked as a guest would see it. Fifth, operator details aligned across registration and listings, including name and address format.

If any of those five lines cannot be completed, pause and resolve it before taking bookings that depend on it. A booking taken while permission or registration is unresolved creates a stay that may need to be cancelled or explained later. Pausing is frustrating, but it is cheaper than an enforcement file opened during a busy season.

Sixth, listing accuracy: bedrooms, capacity, unit type and address match the property and the registration. Seventh, platform settings aligned with permission and caps: minimum stay, capacity and house rules. Eighth, guest information localised for the unit: emergency numbers, exits, waste, quiet hours and a local contact, kept in the unit and in messages. Ninth, pricing that reflects fees, cleaning, management and taxes the host must collect, with the platform collection split recorded.

Tenth, a cap tracker where a cap applies: nights used, nights remaining, counting year start, and hosted versus unhosted treatment. A tracker updated monthly prevents the common peak-season surprise of reaching a cap mid-booking. If no cap applies in that place, note that fact with its date, so a later cap introduction is noticed as a change rather than assumed away.

Eleventh, a stay log started before the first booking, with unit, dates, channel, booking reference and payout reference per stay. Twelfth, a monthly filing routine: statements filed, log reconciled, cancellations and alterations noted. Thirteenth, a tax file per unit per year, with income, costs and platform tax statements. Fourteenth, an advert audit: every channel checked for the correct number and current details, old adverts removed or updated.

Fifteenth, a renewal and recheck calendar: registration renewal, planning recheck, cap year reset, tax year end and annual portal recheck, each with a reminder date. A checklist without dates is a wish list; a checklist with dates is a system. Set reminders when completing the checklist, not later.

Sixteenth, a season-opening recheck: registration validity, planning, cap, tax notes and display, even if nothing changed last season. Seventeenth, a change routine: when a platform prompts for a new field, an authority publishes new guidance, or a law changes, pause affected bookings until the change is understood, update registration and listings together, and note the change date. Eighteenth, an incident file: any platform message, authority query or complaint, with the fix and dates.

Nineteenth, a handover note for managers or successors: who registers, who updates listings, who keeps logs and who answers queries, per unit. Twentieth, a final review line: the whole checklist re-read quarterly, with any line that no longer applies marked as such with a reason and date. A checklist that is never re-read decays into a historical document.

For Ireland in late 2026, the checklist has two pending lines that must not be marked done early: the Failte Ireland register, planned to open 1 December 2026 with mandatory registration by 31 December 2026, which cannot open until the Bill published 6 October 2026 passes, and the final National Planning Statement, expected in autumn 2026, presuming against new permission in towns over 20,000. For France, the checklist lines are more settled: Declaloc registration, 90-night principal-residence caps in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nice, and display from 20 May 2026, with fines of 10,000 to 50,000 EUR under loi Le Meur for breaches. Those contrasts show why one checklist needs country-specific dates.

Keep this checklist with the unit file and verify each line on the official portal for the country and city before acting. This guide is general information only and was last verified on 26 October 2026.