Can You Legally Airbnb an Apartment in Buenos Aires?

TL;DR: Yes, short-term and Airbnb-style rentals are legal in Buenos Aires. The city operates a registry for temporary tourist rentals, and the defining legal line is the three-month rule: a let under roughly three months is treated as a temporary (tourist) rental, while longer stays fall under regular tenancy rules. Owners should register, comply, and declare the income.

The short answer

Renting your Buenos Aires apartment by the night or week is legal and common. It is one of the higher-yielding strategies in the right barrio. The city regulates it through a registry for temporary rentals, and compliance is straightforward for an owner who follows the rules rather than ignoring them.

The three-month rule

The key legal concept is the boundary between a temporary rental and a standard lease.

Let length	Treated as
Under ~3 months	Temporary / tourist rental
~3 months and over	Regular tenancy

A nightly or weekly Airbnb let sits firmly in the temporary category, which is the regime built for it. Crossing into longer stays moves you into ordinary tenancy law, with different obligations.

What a compliant host does

• Registers the unit in the city's temporary-rental registry where required.
• Declares the income for tax (rental income is taxable; see our note on landlord tax IDs).
• Checks the building rules. Some buildings' bylaws (reglamento) restrict or prohibit short-term letting, so the reglamento must be read before you list.
• Manages turnovers professionally, since the nightly market is operations-heavy.

The yield trade-off

Short-stay lets produce the highest gross yields in Buenos Aires, often above 7% in a strong barrio like Palermo, Recoleta, or San Telmo, but they demand the most management: cleaning, listings, reviews, and turnover. The economics are detailed in our short-term rentals investor guide.

Quick answers

Is Airbnb legal in Buenos Aires?

Yes. Short-term and Airbnb-style rentals are legal in Buenos Aires. The city runs a registry for temporary tourist rentals and hosts are expected to register and declare income.

What is the 3-month rule for rentals in Buenos Aires?

A let under roughly three months is treated as a temporary tourist rental; a let of about three months or more falls under regular tenancy law. Nightly Airbnb stays are temporary rentals.

Do I need to register an Airbnb in Buenos Aires?

Yes, the city operates a registry for temporary tourist rentals, and compliant hosts register their unit where required and declare the income for tax.

Can a building stop me from running an Airbnb?

Possibly. Some buildings' bylaws (reglamento) restrict or prohibit short-term letting, so you must read the reglamento before buying to short-stay let.

The nightly market pays well and asks a lot. To check whether a specific apartment and building can legally short-stay let, and what it would earn, book a call.

Max.-