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Top cities urge EU to help curb Airbnb-type rentals
European cities have demanded the EU helps them clamp down on Airbnb-style holiday rental websites, which they claim are squeezing locals out of their neighbourhoods.
In a joint letter to the EU commissioners, the 10 cities blamed short lets for high rents and a shortage of long-term accommodation.
In April, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice found in a non-binding opinion that under EU law Airbnb is considered a digital information provider, not a lettings agent.
If this is confirmed by the court, Airbnb and other holiday letting platforms will be free from the obligation to ensure that landlords stick to local rules aimed at curbing short lets, including those recently introduced in cities such as Palma and Paris.
In a statement, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Krakow, Munich, Paris, Valencia and Vienna said ‘homes should be used first and foremost for living in’.
They added: "Many suffer from a serious housing shortage. Where homes can be rented out more lucratively to tourists, they vanish from the traditional housing market."
In Paris, there are 60,000 listings on Airbnb, while Berlin has 22,000 and Amsterdam and Barcelona each have 18,000. Some are just spare rooms in shared houses, but, according to a report in the Guardian, more than half are entire homes.
Many cities have introduced measures to curb holiday lets, including Palma, which has banned all Airbnb listings, and Amsterdam, which now only allows short lets for one month in 12, but the cities argue that it will be hard to enforce these rules if internet giants like Airbnb aren’t obliged to share information with local authorities.
"We need strong legal obligations for platforms to cooperate with us in registration schemes and in supplying rental data for the properties on their platforms," they said.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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