Short-term rental investor checklist: 7 stages from purchase to your first guest

An apartment bought for short-term rental has to pass two tests. The first comes at purchase, when you decide whether the price and the building make sense. The second starts after signing, when you find out whether the projected income actually materialises. We have gathered the 7 stages in one place, in the order you go through them, with the question you need to answer, the evidence to ask for and the detailed guide for each.

The 7 stages on one page

Each stage has a question you should be able to answer with a document or a number, not an impression. If the answer to any of them is “no”, stop or renegotiate before moving on.

Stage 1. Strategy and budget

First decide what you are after: monthly income, long-term appreciation or a home you also use for a few weeks a year. The goal changes the choices. An apartment bought for income has to earn from the first months, while one bought for appreciation can go through a period of long-term rental without derailing the plan.

• The total budget, not just the price. In the Constanța example we use in our analyses, we added €10,000 for furniture, equipment, the notary and land registration on top of the €105,000 price, for a total investment of €115,000.
• Financing. For a mortgage in lei, the minimum down payment set by the National Bank of Romania (BNR) is 15% for a first home and 25% from the second home onwards. Banks generally work with a debt-to-income ratio of up to 40% of net income, and the IRCC reference index for variable rates rose to 5.57% on 1 October 2026, its first increase after four consecutive declines.
• The reserve. For property investment loans, Raiffeisen recommends a reserve fund covering at least 6 months of instalments. In our example, a 75% loan at a hypothetical rate of 7.5% would mean an instalment of about €551 a month, more than the apartment's monthly net profit, so the difference would come out of your pocket.
• Plan B. Work out from the start what the apartment would earn on a long-term lease. If short-term rental cannot be authorised or does not work out, this is the option you fall back on.
• The exit cost. On a sale, the seller pays a tax of 3% of the transaction value if they owned the property for up to 3 years, and 1% after that. The 450,000 lei tax-free threshold was abolished in 2023. On a €105,000 apartment, the difference between the two rates is €2,100.

The stress test, the choice between fixed and variable rates and the documents banks ask for are covered in our guide to financing and due diligence.

Stage 2. Market and location

The question is not whether the apartment looks good in photos, but whether there is demand in all 12 months. According to Crosspoint Research, average annual revenue per listing varies widely from city to city:

Then zoom in to neighbourhood level:

• Seasonality. A peak month cannot be multiplied by 12. In Constanța, August brings in around €1,500 per property, roughly one sixth of annual revenue.
• The local tourist tax. In 2026 it is 10 lei per night for each guest in Bucharest, 12 lei in Brașov, 1% of the accommodation price in Constanța and 0.5% in Cluj-Napoca. In Mamaia and Sat Vacanță there is also a fixed tax of 500 lei a year for each rental apartment.
• Local competition. How many listings there are on the same street, at what price and with what reviews. KeyBid Puls divides cities into hexagonal zones with a 750 m radius and shows prices, events and the effect of the weather over the next 7 days.

The tourism statistics of INS, Romania's statistics institute, only cover units with more than 10 bed places, so a typical apartment does not appear in them. For demand on the platforms you need data such as AirDNA or Crosspoint; we explain how to read it without falling into the usual traps in our guide to AirDNA and KeyBid Puls data. For concrete comparisons, see yields in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Brașov and our valuation of an apartment in Constanța.

Stage 3. Building and paperwork: can the apartment be classified in your name?

This is the stage that rules out the most apartments, and it has to be completed before the deposit. An apartment that cannot be classified cannot legally operate as a short-term rental, however good the numbers look. The seller's classification certificate does not pass to you: a private individual applies for classification as the owner of the property, so you will need your own file.

1. The land register extract. You can get it online from ANCPI, the national cadastre agency, for 20 lei. Check who the owner is, whether any mortgages, restrictions or disputes are recorded and whether the seismic risk class is noted.
2. Seismic risk. Law 212/2022 bans renting out units in buildings rated seismic risk class I. According to the professional association ATIP, Airbnb has started checks, and owners who are notified have 14 days to prove that the building is not in this class. We explain how to check an address in our guide to seismic risk.
3. The owners' association. The classification file requires the owners' association approval. Ask the building administrator whether other apartments already operate as short-term rentals and how they obtained the approval.
4. Directly affected neighbours. The rules require, where applicable, the consent of directly affected neighbours, both next door and above and below. Talk to them before you make an offer, not after signing. The steps are in our guide to Order 948/2026.
5. The 7-room limit. As a private individual you can classify at most 7 rooms and 14 places in total, including those you already have. Above this threshold you need a different legal structure, and the tax regime changes.
6. Listed historic buildings. If the property is a historic monument, proof that the pre-emption right under Law 422/2001 was exercised or waived must be presented at the sale. Ask the notary early, because the procedure lengthens the transaction.

Stage 4. Yield: calculate it net, in three scenarios

Gross yield is useful for quickly comparing listings, not for the buying decision. On the Constanța example (revenue of €8,980 a year, the city average, and €115,000 invested), the path from gross to net looks like this:

A few rules keep the calculation honest:

• Start from the area's annual average, not the peak month, and build three scenarios: cautious, base and optimistic. In Constanța, with revenue of €7,000, €8,980 and €11,000, the yield after tax and CASS is 1.9%, 2.7% and 3.9%.
• Use the platform's actual fee. Airbnb is moving to a single 15.5% fee paid by the host; if you are not VAT-registered, 21% VAT is added to the fee, so about 18.8% of revenue.
• Include income tax and CASS. For 1–7 rooms, income tax is 10% of net income, which is 70% of revenue after the platform fee. CASS is due if your net non-salary income reaches 24,300 lei.
• Compare with long-term rental. In our example, once compliance costs are included, short-term rental only beats a standard lease above roughly €11,100 of revenue a year, 23% above the city average.

Compliance costs, line by line, are in our analysis of the real cost of compliance, and the full tax calculation is in our guide to income tax and CASS. For a first pass through listings, the KeyBid ROI Calculator extension shows the estimated yield and the colour-coded label directly on Storia, Imobiliare and OLX.

Stage 5. The purchase: documents and who pays what

Once the building and the numbers have passed the test, the pre-sale agreement and the sale contract follow. In the pre-sale agreement, make the deposit conditional on what matters to you, such as final loan approval, and set out clearly the deadline and what happens to the deposit if the sale falls through. For the sale of an apartment, the National Union of Notaries Public lists the following core documents:

Costs are usually split as follows: the buyer pays the notary fee and land registration, and the seller pays the transfer tax and the land register extract. Notary fees are calculated under Ministry of Justice Order No. 177/C/2024 and include 21% VAT. The tax is calculated on the contract price or on the value in the notaries' market study, if that is higher, and it is paid at the notary on the day of signing. If you take out a loan, the bank uses its own ANEVAR-authorised valuer, independently of the notaries' price grid. On new homes bought from a developer, the VAT rate is 21%; the reduced 9% rate applied for the last time, as a transitional measure, until 30 September 2026 and only under strict conditions.

Three clauses specific to short-term rentals are worth discussing before you sign:

• Furniture and equipment. If they stay in the apartment, list them in the contract or in an annex, so you know exactly what you are buying.
• Bookings already paid for. When the certificate is cancelled, the seller declares that there are no paid, unfulfilled bookings or that these have been taken over by another operator with the guests' consent. Agree in the contract what happens to them.
• Revenue history. Ask for the platform payout reports, month by month, and whether the income was declared. The classification certificate is in the seller's name, so you are not buying the right to operate.

Stage 6. Setup and classification

Between signing and the first guest you work on three fronts: the apartment, the classification file and the tax records. Insurance comes on top of these.

• Amenities required by the rules. White bed linen and towels, changed at every guest departure; guest information in Romanian and in at least one widely spoken international language, which can also be digital, with a QR code; a copy of the certificate and its annex, together with the ministry's inspection phone number, displayed in the hall. Airbnb also asks for the certificate to be displayed in the main hall and in the kitchen. At 3–5 stars, the rules also require an email address and a dedicated web page.
• The classification file. The owners' association approval, the consent of directly affected neighbours where required, a sworn statement and the land register extract, submitted online or at the ministry. Incomplete files are closed 3 months after notification, and you have at most 15 working days to fix minor deficiencies. The classification note gives you the right to operate until the certificate is issued. Operating without classification carries a fine of 40,000–50,000 lei; the other penalties are covered in our guide to fines.
• Tax records. The income section of the tax register, the occupancy sheet for each room (ANAF Order No. 381/2026) and the monthly tourist tax return to the local tax office. We explain how to keep them up to date with little effort in our guide to digital check-in and the occupancy sheet.
• Insurance. The mandatory PAD home insurance policy covers earthquakes, floods and landslides, but not fire, explosions, flooding from burst pipes or theft; for these you need an optional policy. Ask your insurer explicitly whether it also covers short-term rental. AirCover for Hosts, with damage protection of up to $3 million and liability insurance of up to $1 million, has exclusions and does not replace home insurance.

Stage 7. Operations: who does the work and how you measure results

The last decision is an operational one: do you manage the apartment yourself or work with a property manager? A manager's commission is usually 15–25% of revenue. In the Constanța example, that means €1,347–2,245 a year, between half and four fifths of the €2,804 net profit. A manager therefore has to bring in higher revenue or save you time worth at least as much.

• Split the tasks clearly. Check-in, cleaning, maintenance, pricing, messages, occupancy sheets, tourist tax: write in the contract who is responsible for each.
• Put the deadlines in your calendar. The tourist tax by the 10th of the following month, the single tax return by 25 May and, in Mamaia and Sat Vacanță, the fixed tax by 1 July.
• Check your prices after Airbnb's fee change. Hosts in the European Economic Area and Switzerland who do not use a channel manager have until 13 October 2026 to adjust their prices to the single 15.5% fee. In Airbnb's own example, a host with a $100 price who received $97 would get $84.50 for the same booking without adjusting.
• Track a few indicators every month. Occupancy, average daily rate, revenue per available night, cleaning cost per stay, review score and net income. Compare them with the scenarios from stage 4 and adjust after the first 3 months.

If you grow to several apartments, the 7-room threshold and your operating systems become the main topic; we cover them in our guide to scaling a portfolio.

Common mistakes

• Paying the deposit before talking to the association and the neighbours. If they refuse, you are left with an apartment that can only be let on a standard lease.
• Multiplying the peak month by 12. In Constanța, €1,500 × 12 = €18,000, twice the actual average of €8,980.
• Comparing gross yield with the net yield of another investment. In our example, 7.8% gross means 2.4% net.
• Treating an analysis report as a valuation. The KeyBid PDF report is an investment analysis, not an ANEVAR valuation report; for a loan, the bank requires a valuation by an authorised valuer.
• Forgetting the exit cost. If you sell within the first 3 years, the tax is 3% of the transaction value, not 1%.
• Starting without a reserve. The first months bring unexpected expenses, and the off-season can delay income.

Frequently asked questions

Can I start renting immediately after buying?

You can operate legally from the moment you have the classification note in your name, which allows you to operate until the certificate is issued. The seller's certificate does not transfer with the apartment. In the meantime, prepare the amenities, tax records and insurance, so you can welcome guests as soon as you have the note.

How much of a down payment do I need for an investment apartment?

For a mortgage in lei, the minimum down payment is 25% from the second home onwards, compared with 15% for a first home. For property investment loans, Raiffeisen generally indicates a down payment of 25–30% and a reserve covering at least 6 months of instalments. In our example, at €105,000, a 25% down payment means €26,250, and with equipment and transaction costs you need about €36,250 of your own money.

What happens if the association or the neighbours do not give their consent?

Without the owners' association approval and, where required, the consent of directly affected neighbours, the classification file is incomplete, so the apartment cannot legally operate as a short-term rental. That leaves long-term rental. This is why it pays to calculate that scenario from the start and not to pay extra for short-term rental potential.

Is it worth working with a property manager from the start?

It depends on your time and how far away you live. A manager usually costs 15–25% of revenue, which, at a low net yield, can take a large share of the profit. If you live in another city or own several apartments, differences in occupancy, pricing and reviews can justify the cost. Compare offers on the same numbers, not on promises.