Help with paying rent in Zagreb: what exists in 2026

Is there a rent subsidy in Zagreb?

Zagreb has no general rent subsidy that any tenant on a lower income could get: we found no such programme from the City of Zagreb or the state. The City's decision on social welfare provides only the housing-cost benefits below, and the Affordable Housing Act (NN 45/2026) gives no cash support for renting on the market. Part of the rent is paid only for particular groups: students, protected tenantsProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary and displaced people from Ukraine, as described below.

The City turned down a proposal for an extra rent subsidy for students in private flats, as Novi list reported in October 2025, arguing that subsidies would push rents up (Novi list). There's no tax relief for rent paid either: it was abolished in 2010.

Some smaller towns co-finance young people's rent. Zagreb doesn't, and we don't keep a list of other towns because we couldn't keep it accurate.

The housing-cost benefit: who, how much and where

Under the Social Welfare Act, rent counts as a housing cost, alongside the communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, heating and water (Art. 41(2)). The City grants a benefit towards those costs to people on the guaranteed minimum benefit (zajamčena minimalna naknada, ZMN), which the Croatian Institute for Social Work (Hrvatski zavod za socijalni rad) grants after an income and asset test. A low income alone isn't enough.

• Who: a ZMN recipient, single or a household. Croatian citizens, people granted asylum and people under subsidiary protection need a registered permanent addressPermanent address (prebivalište)simplifiedThe address where you've settled for good, the centre of your life. You register it with the police within 15 days of moving in.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2.–4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (prebivalište) in Zagreb; foreigners with permanent or long-term residence in Zagreb and people under temporary protection living there lawfully also qualify (City decision, Art. 3).
• How much: 30% of the recognised ZMN for a household and up to 40% for a single person. If the actual housing costs are lower, the actual costs are paid (Social Welfare Act, Art. 42; City decision, Art. 21).
• The 2026 ZMN base is €170 (NN 5/2026). A single person of working age with no income gets a ZMN of €170, so the housing benefit is up to €68 a month; an older single person €221 and up to €88.40; two adults of working age €238 and €71.40 (our calculation). With household income the ZMN is lower, and so is the benefit.
• How it's paid: the City pays bills directly, and pays rent into the landlord's account on the basis of a lease certified by a notary (City decision, Art. 22). Without a certified lease, nothing is paid towards rent. How certification works and what it costs is in our lease notarisation guide.
• The City also grants a separate housing-cost benefit, which includes rent up to an amount the mayor sets, to people receiving the cash benefit for unemployed Croatian Homeland War veterans and their family members, again on a lease certified by a notary (City decision, Arts. 25–27).

1. 1Apply for the guaranteed minimum benefit at the Croatian Institute for Social Work office for your place of residence.
2. 2Once you have it, file the City's application for the housing-cost benefit with the City Office for Social Protection, Health, Veterans and Persons with Disabilities, at the social welfare department for your place of residence, with the documents the form lists (City decision, Art. 49). An application filed by the 15th of the month counts for that month; a later one from the 1st of the next (Art. 23).
3. 3Report any change, such as a new lease or income, within 15 days (Art. 52).

Students: support for private housing

Students without a dorm place can compete in a call for the state's €60 a month towards housing with a private landlord; Zagreb's quota is 800 students, and the call must run by 15 December 2026 at the latest. On 21 October 2026 Studentski centar hadn't published it yet. Students who won a place in the part of SC Zagreb's dorms now being renovated (a quota of 906) get €152 a month for private housing while the works last (Ministry decision for 2026/27).

Eligibility, dorm or flat, and prices are in our student housing guide.

Affordable rent: APN and the City

The state's affordable-rent programme (APN) and the City's affordable list aren't money towards your current rent but a flat with a lower rent, allocated through a public call. Who can apply, what it costs and what's open now is in our affordable rent guide.

City-owned flats

The City of Zagreb lets its flats from a social list, with a protected rentProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, and from an affordable list, with rent set by household income. Lists, points and calls are in our city-owned flats guide.

Displaced people from Ukraine

In the individual accommodation programme, the Ministry of the Interior (Civil Protection Directorate) rents the flat from the owner, and the state pays the owner at most €477.80 a month for rent and utilitiesUtilities (režije)Housing costs on top of rent: electricity, gas or heating, water, waste, the reserve fund, the HRT licence fee and internet. The lease decides which the tenant pays.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 5., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (NN 35/2025), until 4 March 2028 at the latest (NN 105/2026). It isn't a benefit a displaced person claims for a flat they rent themselves: people under temporary protection can apply for the ZMN and the housing-cost benefit like anyone else. How the programme works for owners is in our letting to foreigners guide.

Protected tenants

The state also pays part of the rent on a private flat for protected tenantsProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (zaštićeni najmoprimci) in flats on the Register: since 1 January 2025 the tenant pays the owner half of the average rent set by law and the state pays the other half (NN 36/2024, Art. 18). If the tenant's half is more than 25% of household income and the household has no larger assets, the state pays the difference too (Art. 20). Everything else is in our protected tenants guide.

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