Published 21 November 2022 at 14:34
EU. The EU Commission is moving forward with a bill which means that anyone who wants to sublet their home for short stays will have to apply for permission from the authorities first. In addition, the supervision of those who want to use Airbnb, Blocket and other rental platforms is tightened.
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The background is that in several countries – including Sweden – a more or less unregulated market has arisen around, for example, the American site Airbnb, where apartments are bought up for the purpose of being rented out.
While short-term rental of accommodation offers advantages for both hosts and tourists, they can create problems for local residents, who suffer from a shortage of affordable rental housing, according to the commission.
The new rules will require member states to register who rents out accommodation in this way and shares statistics and data on the number of landlords with the European Commission.
“This will in turn provide a basis for the design of an effective and proportionate local policy to address the problems and opportunities associated with short-term rentals,” writes the European Commission.
The new proposed rules will improve the transparency of who makes money from renting out short-term accommodation and facilitate the identification of these, according to the commission. It will thereby be possible to ensure that the hosts respect the rules that they must follow, once the hosts have been registered.
The EU also intends to draw up uniform rules for how rental platforms such as Airbnb and Blocket must share of data to the EU countries' tax authorities and other authorities, which should prevent illegal rentals. However, the proposed regulation does not propose any regulations regarding the actual taxation of short-term rentals.
“Overall, this will contribute to a more sustainable ecosystem for tourism and support its digital transformation,” the EU Commission writes in its proposal.