What Renters Need to Know

Jelsa’s Tourist Board has prepared this information as a guide for anyone who rents out accommodation to tourists, or plans to do so. It will help you to understand your legal obligations as a renter, which have to be fulfilled if you don’t want to risk a fine if the Tourism Inspectors call on you. So we advise you to read with care the legal requirements which are summarized here:

Necessities for anyone offering accommodation services in a privately owned property:

A permit allowing rental services from the County Commercial Office. The application for Categorization is made at the National Administration Office of the Split-Dalmatia County in Hvar Town, tel. 021/741-146; 021/741-166. (See also the 2021 update: Re-categorization of Private Accommodation)
A standardized plaque must be displayed at the entrance to your rental property. Companies which supply the plaques are listed on the Tourism Ministry website (body of article in Croatian only).
Ensure that your rental property fulfils the minimum conditions for its type and category, according to your permit. These conditions are laid out in the Regulations issued by the Tourism Ministry (in Croatian).
Declare your visitors to the Jelsa Tourist Board via the eVisitor system within the prescribed time. Instructions for using the eVisitor system are available in English with a little searching: on the eVisitor website, click on the option ‘Upute‘ (‘Instructions’) on the top line, then click on the box which says ‘Višejezično‘ (‘Multilingual’). A zip-file will be downloaded, and the English instructions are the fourth down from the top of the list (all the languages in the list are titled – unhelpfully – ‘eVisitor obavijest, prikupljanje‘). You can obtain your user name and password as needed for accessing the eVisitor system from the Jelsa Tourist Board.
Display the price list in a prominent place in each accommodation unit. Your notice(s) should show: the name of your premises, category (i.e. its number of stars), name of the owner, OIB (ID number) of the owner, address. For an example of the price list notice, click here.
Keep a record of your business transactions, written by hand in a book, or electronically using the eVisitor system. Click here for the form for a manual record: your details are entered into the first part of the form, and then every transaction, including invoice number, is entered line by line below.
Record your list of guests – this is created automatically on the eVisitor system, otherwise you have to do it manually. If you have a permit to offer meals, you should confirm the number of meals provided.
Pay the annual flat-rate tourism levy at the required time.
Pay the flat-rate income tax (porez) and surcharge (prirez) See: Financial Obligations for Private Renters – 2021.
Pay the Tourist Board Membership fee. See also: Financial Obligations for Private Renters – 2021.
Pay the Value Added Tax (PDV, currently set at 25%) ) on any fees paid to an intermediary agency within the EU, such as Booking.com, for advertising services. See: Financial Obligations for Private Renters – 2021.
Provide a first-aid box, accessible to guests in each accommodation unit.
Provide a plan showing the evacuation route in case of an emergency. For an example of an evacuation plan, click here.
Provide the means for guests to express any complaints about the accommodation and service, whether by post, fax, or electronically. The complaints procedure should be explained in a prominently displayed announcement. Any complaint received should be acknowledged immediately, and answered in writing within 15 days of receipt. All complaints should be kept on file for a year from the date of receipt. For an example of a notice of the complaints procedure in Croatian and English click here. The record of complaints is kept on a separate form. This notes your serial number of the complaint; the name and surname of the complainant, and country of origin; a brief description of the complaint; the date of the written reply, and the means by which it was sent.
It is forbidden for the Renter to serve alcoholic drinks to guests under the age of 18. The notice in Croatian to this effect can be reproduced in English as follows: ‘Alcoholic drinks are not allowed to be served to, or consumed by guests under the age of 18 on these premises’.
Proof of compliance with Data Protection laws. As you are obliged to collect identity details of your guests for your legal records, you do not need special permission from your guests to do so, once you have explained to them why you need those details. We recommend that you do not photocopy or keep hold of your guests’ identity documents after you have used them for the required legal purposes.
Make sure you stay within the law in every aspect of your rental business. (Details of the law as laid down by the Tourism Ministry are available here (in Croatian.)