Rent is not necessary: how the shadow housing rental market works
In some segments of the rental housing market, the share of tax evaders can reach 70-80%, experts told Izvestia. The State Duma also announced the volume of the shadow market of more than 50%. Due to this, the budget does not receive deductions, tenants remain without guarantees, and the regional authorities do not have a clear understanding of how many people live in their territory. At the same time, the market for both long—term and daily rentals is growing rapidly - in 2025, the volume of supply increased by 30-50%. However, it has not yet been possible to reduce the number of people renting apartments. The Federal Tax Service has already announced that it will monitor ads on rental platforms. You can read about how the shadow market works in the Izvestia article.
Who rents apartments in gray
The shadow rental market may account for more than 50%, the State Duma and major real estate agencies told Izvestia. In some segments, this figure can reach 70-80%. However, with the advent of the opportunity to conduct taxes through self-employment, there have been significantly more white transactions.
In Russia, quite a large part of the rental market still operates informally, says Alexander Yakubovsky, a member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services.
"When a lease is held without a contract and without income, it creates several problems at once," he stressed. — The budget does not receive taxes, the tenant remains without any guarantees, and municipalities and regions do not have an accurate understanding of how many people actually live in the territory and what infrastructure needs to be developed.
The problem is not that Russians do not want to pay taxes, but in the administration of this process, experts noted.
— The simpler and clearer it is, the higher the share of official transactions in the rental market, — said a representative of one of the major real estate agencies. — In the last few years, Russians have become more responsible in paying taxes, but many are confused by the fairness of their accrual when it comes to an apartment purchased on credit.
Earlier, the head of the Federal Tax Service, Daniil Egorov, said in an interview that data from digital platforms could become one tool to combat tax evasion when renting out housing. The emergence of self-employment has already partially helped whitewash the apartment rental market: homeowners pay a "convenient" tax of 4%, Egorov said. However, he noted that so far no final solution has been found in any country in the world.
Cyane explained that the platform checks the ads for authenticity. In particular, it compares the information provided by users with data from Rosreestr statements.
— At the same time, we cannot interfere in the civil relations between the landlord and the tenant, - Pavel Remnev, the GR director of the service, emphasized.
Most often, management companies, law enforcement agencies and neighbors inform the tax authorities about renting apartments.
Currently, there are several options for paying rent tax. The rate of 13 to 22% is paid by those who rent as an individual, from 6 to 15% if the landlord is registered as an individual entrepreneur, from 4 to 6% if the person who rents the house is registered as self—employed.
At the same time, the supply in the long-term rental housing market is growing: on average in the country by the end of September 2025, the volume increased by 30-50% compared to the same period last year, analysts said. The short-term rental market, which is most often preferred by tourists, is also actively developing. During the year, the supply of such housing in Russia increased by 40%. The most active increase was in the number of lots in the segment of studios and one-room apartments.
What are the risks for landlords and tenants?
About half of the apartments in Russia are rented in order to repay the mortgage loan issued for their purchase. As a rule, these are homes that were bought for growing up children, recalled Alexander Ivanov, a leading analyst at the federal company Floors.
"Only a small part of the total supply consists of options where apartments were purposefully purchased for the rental business," he said. — The proportion of those who rent out more than one apartment is insignificant. Moreover, some owners rent out their apartments and at the same time live in cheaper rented housing in order to use the difference received for partial early repayment of mortgage loans.
This situation creates a number of systemic problems: the state lacks reliable statistics on market volume, budgets receive less taxes, and participants in relations often find themselves without legal protection, said Sofya Lukinova, head of the legal department at VMT Consult.
"In the absence of a contract, the tenant is effectively deprived of a mechanism to challenge unlawful eviction, and the landlord risks damage from unscrupulous tenants, unable to recover damages in a full—fledged legal regime," she recalled.
The main reason why the owners are retreating into the shadows remains economic, the lawyer noted. Currently, most people prefer to rent apartments without paying taxes, since in the current market conditions, any taxation of income leads to a significant increase in the final cost of rent.
— For many tenants, even a small increase in the rate becomes critical, so owners often choose informal schemes to keep the price down and not lose demand, — said Sofya Lukinova.
Responsibility for the illegal rental of housing is provided both in the form of tax surcharges and in the form of fines. For example, a landlord who has not declared income faces unpaid tax for the previous three years, a fine for each day of delay and a fine of up to 40% of the amount of arrears if intentional evasion is proven.
In some cases, it is possible to bring to administrative responsibility for violating migration rules if unregistered foreign citizens lived in the apartment.
"There are no direct tax risks for the tenant, but he may face problems with migration registration, temporary registration or proof of actual residence in case of disputes," the expert added. — In addition, the absence of a formal contract makes it almost impossible to defend the rights of the employer in court.
How to bring the market out of the shadows
In recent years, the government has been trying to make the market more transparent and understandable, said Alexander Yakubovsky. Legal lease registration mechanisms are being developed, including through convenient tax regimes.
"Additional tools are also being discussed that could motivate people to formalize contracts so that both sides are protected and the relationship is transparent," the parliamentarian said. — The main goal here is simple: to move from the practice of "trust" to a normal, civilized rental system, where all participants have responsibility and clear rules of operation.
In 2021, Izvestia wrote that the Ministry of Construction was preparing a bill that was supposed to create conditions for the formation of a private rental housing market. In particular, it was planned to launch an information system for recording rental contracts.
—Digitalization of the rental market will ensure not only increased transparency and the ability to take into account concluded contracts to achieve the national goal of improving housing conditions, but will also contribute to the digital transformation of the Russian economy," Nikita Stasishin told the editorial board at the time.
However, in 2022, this issue was temporarily removed from the agenda.
In April 2025, a bill was submitted to the State Duma on renting housing only with the consent of neighbors. One of the authors, Vladimir Koshelev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, explained to Izvestia that the initiative was aimed at "bringing order to the rental housing market and removing it from the gray zone." But the government gave it a negative review.
According to Alexander Ivanov, the success of measures to whitewash the rental market directly depends on which strategy is chosen.
— It is simply unrealistic to control every apartment for rent, the cost of maintaining such a control system will be higher than the economic effect of it, — Alexander Ivanov emphasized. — And in the absence of control, only bona fide citizens will suffer, who, due to the tax burden, will lose the competition to those who will turn in the gray.
The simplest reform option is to apply a minimum differentiated tax on the second and subsequent apartments belonging to the same owner, the expert concluded.
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