Selling or Closing Your Short-Term Rental Business: What to Do With an Active CWTON Entry

Selling or closing your short-term rental business: what to do with an active CWTON entry

Deciding to sell an investment apartment, or simply to stop running a short-term rental, comes with paperwork that's easy to forget in the rush of a transaction or a move. An active CWTON entry doesn't disappear automatically along with the last guest, or a signed notarial deed, it requires a deliberate action from the host.

Key takeaways

• Ending a short-term rental business requires formally deregistering the property from CWTON, not just removing listings from platforms
• When selling an apartment with an active CWTON entry, the obligation to deregister falls on the seller, and the new owner registers the property from scratch if they plan to continue renting
• Skipping formal deregistration can raise questions during future inspections, even though the property isn't actually being rented anymore
• Closing a business tied to the rental (if one was registered) and deregistering from CWTON are two separate formal actions

CWTON deregistration: a separate step from removing listings

Removing a listing from Airbnb or Booking.com isn't the same as deregistering the property from CWTON. These are two independent systems, the booking platform only manages the listing's visibility to guests, while CWTON is a register maintained by a separate state system. A host winding down their business should deliberately go through the CWTON panel's deregistration process, not assume that disappearing from the platforms will automatically update their registration status.

Selling an apartment with an active registration: who does what

When selling a property that had an active CWTON entry for short-term rental, it's worth clearly dividing responsibilities before signing the agreement:

• Seller: responsible for deregistering the property from their own CWTON account, ideally before or right after the transaction closes, so they're no longer formally tied to a property they no longer own
• Buyer: if they plan to continue short-term rental, needs to carry out their own, fresh CWTON registration, they can't simply "take over" the previous owner's number

It's worth including this division of responsibilities and its timeline in the sale agreement, or at least in the arrangements accompanying the transaction, to avoid a situation where neither party feels responsible for updating the data.

Why skipping deregistration can surface later

A property formally registered in CWTON, but not actually rented for months, can raise questions during a future inspection or system audit, a mismatch between an active registration status and the actual lack of activity is easy to spot and can lead to additional explanations being required from the former host, even though they aren't running any business anymore.

Closing a business vs deregistering from CWTON

If short-term rental was run through a registered business, closing that business in the CEIDG register is a separate action from deregistering the property from CWTON. It's worth doing both within a reasonable timeframe of each other, but neither one automatically replaces the other, closing the business doesn't remove the property's entry from the CWTON register.

An STR closure checklist

• Removing or deactivating listings on every booking platform
• Formally deregistering the property in the CWTON panel
• Settling the final tax period tied to rental income
• If applicable, closing or updating the registered business in CEIDG
• Ending contracts tied to running the rental (cleaner, channel manager, dedicated rental insurance)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Do I need to deregister from CWTON if I'm only taking a break for a few months?

For a temporary pause, it's worth checking the CWTON panel for an option to mark the property as temporarily inactive, instead of full deregistration, if you plan to return to renting the same property in the near future, that's simpler than going through full registration again.

What if the buyer doesn't know they need to register the property again?

It's worth informing the buyer of this obligation directly during the transaction or handover, ideally pointing them to official information about the CWTON system, not knowing about it doesn't waive the new owner's obligation to register if they plan to run short-term rental.

Is deregistering from CWTON a paid process?

The deregistration process itself, like the original registration, doesn't involve an official fee, it's a free administrative action within the system panel.

Can I transfer my CWTON number to a new property I buy in the future?

No, a CWTON number is tied to the specific, registered property and can't be transferred to a different property. A new property, even owned by the same person, requires its own, new registration.