Latest / STR Unpacked / Serbia's 50% Jump
Transcript
- Ben: Good morning and welcome to your short-term rental bulletin on the 15th of October. And today we're going to a country in Europe that we don't often talk about on this channel, and that is Serbia. And the reason that we're going there is because Belgrade's overnight guest tax went up 50% today. So what's going on in Serbia? The government regulation in National Gazette 90 of 18 September. Sets out new bans for residence tax by tourist place categories. So category one is now 190 to 240 dinars against 100 to 160 before. Now, Article 7 says it begins to apply from the 15th of October, which is today. Now, Belgrade's City Assembly met on the 6th of October and replaced the figure on its own decision. So 160 dinars with 240 in force today. That is the ceiling of the band, not the 190 floor. Now, the part that decides whether you care or not really is Article 70 of the hospitality app, which makes this a per night charge the guest pays. You collect it alongside the room rate and you have to show it separately on the invoice, then remit it by the 5th of the following month. If you do not collect it, Article 72 makes you pay for it out of your own pocket within 15 days. But Article 71 is a big exception. neutral person letting through a registered private household does not collect per night at all. They pay a flat annual amount per bed set by a separate 2019 regulation made under Article 75 brackets two of the Act. Today's instrument is made under 75 brackets 1. So for the whole segment, nothing moved this morning. Two more things from the Act. Article 74 accepts anyone staying continuously longer than 30 days. Accepts children under seven and halves the rate from seven to fifteen. On a long stay book, that is not a rounding error. And the commencement is odd. Article 6 repeals the 2013 regulation on the day the new one starts applying, not when it came into force. So the old band stays operative until this morning, weeks after the new regulation was already in lock. So before you reprice in Serbia, work out which limb you're in because only one of them moved. and then check your City's Gazette as well. thank you for watching, and I'll see you next week now.