Amsterdam and London to Put a Cap on Airbnb Vacation Rentals
In what is viewed by many as shocking news for the young apartment sharing startup, Amsterdam and London will now be putting more restrictions on how Airbnb operates within their borders. Amsterdam for instance will be limiting the total number of days guests can stay in an Airbnb rental to 60 days.
Following in Berlin’s Footstep
Berlin also put a set of new regulations in place to help the local long term rental business. They also want to regulate the company which has been operating as rogue for a while. They also felt that short term apartment rentals affected rent prices in the city. The rationale is that many apartments that would otherwise be low rent would be reserved for short term rentals, which would have a negative effect on the market as a whole.
While many people called it a ban, it is not exactly so. Homeowners can still rent up to 50% of a home they actually own and short term rentals are still available under certain conditions. However, the number of special permits for short term rentals will be limited. In addition, any landlord breaking the law will be charged with fines up to 100,000 euros for a single offense.
Airbnb Favorable to new Measures
However, if there is one major difference between Berlin and Amsterdam’s situation it’s that Airbnb is actually on board with this one. As a matter of fact, the measures have been seen as a concerted effort between the city and the company. They too said that they shared concerns about the rising cost of housing and the inflationary bubble Airbnb has created and said that they will work in consort with the city to help them implement this new set of rules.
London’s Situation
Meanwhile, in London, new regulations will be implemented as well. Not only will this set of rules counter the housing bubble the city is currently in, but it will help control prices on regular London vacation rentals as well.
London is one of the largest markets in the world for Airbnb. As a matter of fact, it is the third largest destination for people who use the service, right behind New York and Paris. However, Londoners have been able to use the service with no restrictions due to compliance with international standards.
Airbnb stated that about a third of all its listings in the London area are being rented for more than 3 months. Before the new set of regulations, homeowners could rent apartments for as long as they pleased, but required a change of use permission to do so after 3 months. While the rules were rarely implemented, Airbnb announced that by this year, any rental that doesn’t have a change of use permission past 3 months will automatically be delisted.
What will this mean for the Future of Airbnb?
If the Berlin experiment was of any indication, this new set of rules shouldn’t cause that much of an issue in Amsterdam and London. These two locations, being two of the most popular on Airbnb’s network should continue to thrive for the next coming years. The company will simply have to get with the times and make the proper adjustments.