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Courtesy agreement of accommodation for your Hungarian residence permit

August 17, 2023 Business Immigration, Residence Permit, Work Permit

When you apply for the Hungarian residence permit, you need to indicate where you are going to live. Most people rent a home for themselves, but staying with a friend is also an option. The courtesy agreement is the document you can present to the immigration office instead of a rental agreement.

Free accommodation with a courtesy agreement

In Hungary, a person’s permanent address is one of the most important pieces of personal data. In line with this, everyone living in Hungary is supposed to have a permanent address, including foreigners moving to Hungary. As a result, your Hungarian residency application should include not only your address to be, but also a document that verifies your right to use the property as your accommodation and your address.

If you are planning to live at property you own, this is the property purchase agreement
If you are renting, this is the rental agreement
If you are moving to a place owned by a friend, this is the courtesy agreement (referred to as “szívességi lakáshasználat”, or more precisely as “szívességi lakhatási szerződés” in Hungarian)

In the third option, the main aspect is that you do not pay for the accommodation itself. This is in fact a variation of renting where the renter does not take a rental fee. They do not actually have to be a friend, but that is the most common setup in our experience.

Contents of a courtesy agreement

In line with the above, the courtesy agreement is quite similar to a rental agreement, with the following expected elements:

Name of the owner
Address of the property
Name of the renter
Starting date
End date or indication of indefinite term
Explicit permission for registering the property as your permanent address

There are some additional elements that make sense to include: the same that would also be listed in a rental agreement. However, these should be modified to reflect the situation, as the courtesy agreement is supposed to reflect a relationship based on mutual trust instead of a business transaction. These include:

Explicit declaration that the owner does not ask for a rental fee
Information on how utilities should be paid for
Conditions for cancellation and termination
Inventory

Courtesy agreement and Hungarian residency

When you submit you application for Hungarian residency, it should contain not only your Hungarian address but a document that legitimates your use of that address. If you are going to use someone’s apartment without paying them a rental fee, this document is the courtesy agreement.

Helpers Hungary offers comprehensive assistance with several kinds of residency application, which may include consultation about verifying your Hungarian accommodation when compiling your application package. Naturally, this may include help with the preparation of the courtesy agreement (as part of our comprehensive packages; we do not offer it as an individual service).