Airbnb in Valencia: the matter is gone to the European Commission to review the regulations of tourist apartment rentals.
A number of cities including Paris, Barcelona and Valencia have asked the European Commission to review the regulation of tourist apartment rental platforms such as Airbnb. Representatives of these cities consider that these internet companies have a “disastrous” impact on the housing market.
That is why they demand that Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the EC, takes action, according to newspaper La Información. Three proposals stand out amongst others: being able to obtain reliable data from platforms and owners, that the platforms take responsibility for the content they show and that they are forced to comply with the obligations imposed by the local laws.
In this sense, the large cities of Europe assert that it is very difficult to fight against illegal rentals. Tourist rental platforms do not share their information with local administrations, so there is a complete lack of transparency.
In addition, the 20 cities accuse the legislative framework of being obsolete, because it was carried out before the ‘boom’ of the digital economy. They also find strange that the legislature is developing so slowly.”Our cities recognize that tourism is an important source of income and employment for many and are not opposed to this new type of rental. However, tourist rentals of private apartments can only take place responsibly and according to the necessary legislation “, states a note signed by representatives of cities such as Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Florence, London, Milan, Vienna, Paris, Barcelona and Valencia.
The signatories considered that the future Digital Services Law, planned by the end of the year, “represents an unprecedented opportunity”. EC will use it to face this “growing problem”, which in their opinion has affected both the supply and the prices of the rest of the accommodations.
Meanwhile, in Spain, the Ministry of Finance intends to take up the battle in order to force rental platforms to provide the aforementioned tax information. At the moment, the General Directorate of Taxes has not adopted a final decision on how and when to do it, according to the report published by Spanish newspaper El Independiente.
