Amsterdam to ban Airbnb in city centre, bring in
permits for holiday rentals Housing
April 16,
2020
Amsterdam
city council is to ban tourist rentals in the heart of the old city and part of
the canal area, and will bring in special permits for the rest of the city from
July 1. The ban will roughly cover the 1012 and 1017 postcode areas and is
being introduced after research showed the number of tourist rentals is having
a major impact on locals. ‘Local residents should be able to enjoy living in
their own neighbourhood,’ said housing alderman Laurens Ivens. ‘They are
already having to deal with the consequences of tourism on the street, so it is
important that they do not experience problems in their own areas as well.’
Some 80% of people living in the city centre have to deal with problems caused
by tourism, Ivens said. B&Bs The ban on holiday rentals will not apply to
bed & breakfast operations with a licence but will stop all other forms of
renting to tourists via platforms such as Airbnb. The city is also bringing in
permits for holiday rentals in the rest of the city. Permits will only be
awarded if the property is lived in most of the time, if the property is not
rented out for more than 30 days, and is rented to no more than four people.
Landlords will also have to register each rental period with the city. Fines
will run up to almost €21,000. Officials say the new system of permits will
make it easier to check up that landlords are not breaking the rules. Court
ruling The introduction of permits follows a Council of State ruling earlier
this year, which said that holiday rentals in the Netherlands are technically
only possible with a licence. City research shows one in 15 properties in
Amsterdam has been rented out via Airbnb at some point and there are some
25,000 adverts a month for holiday rentals in the capital across various
platforms. The Hague city council is effectively banning all locals from
renting out their property or a room via agencies such as Airbnb following the
court ruling. It has decided not to set up a licencing system. National rules
The Hague ban will probably last until the end of this year, by which time the
government will have finalised national legislation to cover holiday rentals.
Those national rules will allow local authorities to require holiday lets to be
included on a register in areas where housing is in short supply. The
registration number must then be included in adverts on platforms such as
Airbnb. But the platforms have made it clear already they will not force
landlords to include the registration number immediately, leading campaigners
to say the legislation does not go far enough. Airbnb has said it will enforce
use of the number after six months. EU rules Acting housing minister Stientje
van Veldhoven said at the end of last year websites like Airbnb cannot be
forced to hand over information to councils for checking because it would go
against EU guidelines which view holiday rental sites as information platforms.
Airbnb told DutchNews.nl in a statement that 95% of listings on Airbnb are
outside these areas and help disperse tourism and spread financial benefits
across the city. ‘We are also deeply concerned these proposals are illegal and
violate the basic rights of local residents,’ Airbnb said. ‘While City Hall has
been working on measures to take income away from Amsterdammers and businesses,
Airbnb has introduced new and effective tools to tackle noise and nuisance that
have already been welcomed by alderman Ivens.’ The agency points out that
one-third of Airbnb landlords say they need their earnings to help make ends
meet.
Read more
at DutchNews.nl:
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