EU to help cities tighten screws on Airbnb, holiday rentals
BRUSSELS: European cities will gain more leeway to curb short-term rentals such as Airbnb under plans to bring down housing costs in tourism hotspots that the European Union is to unveil Wednesday.
The European Commission is to lay out conditions under which local authorities can limit short lets, as part of an “affordable housing” package that seeks to address what EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has called a “social crisis”.
“Nurses, teachers, and firemen cannot afford to live where they serve. Students drop out because they cannot pay the rent. Young people delay starting families,” she said in a speech last year highlighting the issue as a priority for Brussels.
Though hugely popular with visitors, short-term lodgings are blamed by residents in many popular travel destinations for depriving locals of apartments for long-term rent and pushing up prices.
From New York to Tokyo and Barcelona, a growing number of cities worldwide have imposed or considered restrictions on tourist flats in recent years.
But curbs have often been followed by court challenges from rental providers and tourism operators, resulting in legal uncertainty.
The commission’s Affordable Housing Act aims to provide cities with legal cover, clarifying when authorities can take action without falling foul of EU single market rules.
Cities and other relevant authorities will be allowed to limit holiday rentals as well as the purchase of property for short-term letting purposes in areas deemed “under housing stress”, according to a draft seen by AFP.
The document laid out a series of parameters that needed to be met for an area to be defined as under stress, such as the ratio between house prices and incomes there.
“Population dynamics” and future housing supply and demand will also need to be taken into account, the draft said, adding any measure should be non-discriminatory, necessary and proportionate.
