A 47-year-old man has been sentenced to one year and two months in prison for renting out his apartment in Masthugget as a hotel via Airbnb and Booking.com.
The court of appeal upheld the sentence against the man who for several years rented out his two-room apartment to tourists. The subletting earned him about 735,000 kronor, according to information from Hem & Hyra.
The landlord noticed the frequent stream of visitors. Police found both guests and cash hidden in the apartment during a search. Cleaning was handled by undeclared labor.
The man was also convicted of accounting crimes, gross population registration crime and obstructing tax control. He had 118 bank accounts in 30 banks and declared zero income for several years.
The ruling is the first prison sentence for illegal subletting since the law was tightened in 2019. Previous penalties had been limited to fines.
