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Airbnb announced today it will automatically limit hosts in London and Amsterdam to 60 or 90 days a year, based on local laws. I wonder how this will work. Are they going to kick people off the platform? Block calendars after a certain number of nights? What about hosts with more than one listing? Or hosts who alternately rent a room OR their whole house? It will be interesting to see how this one unfolds — and spreads.
Story here:
Here’s the story from the WSJ.
Tech
The deals may provide a template for Airbnb’s efforts to settle disputes with cities around the world
Airbnb Inc. agreed for the first time to enforce legal limits on the number of nights a year a host can rent out a home, a major concession as the company is assailed by regulators in the U.S. and Europe.
The home-sharing firm said Thursday that starting in January it would automatically block hosts in London and Amsterdam from renting out entire homes for more than those cities’ legal yearly limits, unless the host has a license to do so. The changes provide a template for Airbnb’s efforts to calm its battles with cities around the globe.
“The new measures are an example to the world,” James McClure, Airbnb’s general manager for northern Europe, said in a statement announcing the deal with Amsterdam, which has a 60-day-a-year limit for most short-term rentals.
The change in the U.K. was disclosed Thursday in a message Airbnb sent to hosts in London, where it will apply the city’s 90-day-a-year limit on rentals.
Airbnb is fighting rules in tourist capitals from New York to Berlin that restrict hosts’ ability to rent their properties for short periods to travelers. In addition to facing resistance from hotel groups, the company has been assailed by city governments that say home sharing is squeezing out long-term residents by offering a more lucrative way to use residential housing.
A new law in New York City imposes hefty fines on hosts for most listings of fewer than 30 days in multiunit buildings. The San Francisco startup has said it is working with New York City legislators on a compromise that could spare its business there, where hosts generate about $1 billion in annual revenue.
The company is also facing restrictions in its own backyard where Mayor Ed Lee, a Democrat, is reviewing a bill that would cap hosts from renting out dwellings for more than 60 days each year. That would mirror rules in London and Amsterdam as well as other cities, such as Paris, that allow short-term rentals only up to a certain cap of days a year, unless a property has specialized authorization.
For Airbnb, which recently achieved a $30 billion valuation, proving it can resolve these battles without hurting its business model is an important test to prepare for an eventual initial public offering of stock.
The company says that the vast majority of its hosts comply with laws, and its business injects money into local communities. It has until recently resisted calls from cities to block hosts from renting beyond local limits, arguing it should not be in the business of enforcing laws.
But Airbnb has now started to offer more compromises to make peace with cities. In the last two years, the company began striking deals with cities to pay tourist taxes—including Amsterdam and Paris. Last fall, the company promised that it would also start to work with governments to resolve their concerns over affordable housing.
In Paris, where housing inspectors mount raids on tourist neighborhoods, handing out €25,000 ($26,550) fines to violators, the company began a pilot program in spring to warn hosts who appeared to be renting out homes for more than 120 days a year, its legal limit. But the company has so far stopped short of blocking rentals beyond that limit.
Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com and Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com
Sounds familiar? Nationwide model. I will just say I’m not happy with the way its been presented, we’ll see what kind of crap they come up with today at the vote.
Yes, posted the Amsterdam thing this morning already:
I think it is a very good thing, to stop illegal businesses, and stop people from taking properties of the market and put them on AirBnB.
AirBnB is getting bigger, in the past they could hide in the grey-zone behind and throw the word “Sharing” at every argument. Now they have to play in the league with all the other major companies, and start following some rules.
I hope they will block based on address, and not on listing number.
Else people will just create new listings.
Also a good thing that they will allow people with an official licence.
As a London Airbnber this is such a shame. I rent out my parents flat when they are not here. Airbnb is the perfect option as they come a few times a year so there would be no way of having longer tenants there. Maybe I could try to put my price up on Airbnb so for the 90 days at least I get more money (not as much as before as there is no way I could double the price – I don’t think?) Would love to know what other people are going to do.
Your parents are away for more than 90 days a year ? I assume this means they’re not resident in the UK … my uncle has a flat under similar circumstances and he used to do 6 month contracts and work around the dates; lately it’s just been empty but I suppose that’s a known risk you take when you buy property abroad. He’s still happy as for obvious reasons he’s made a killing just by buying the flat …
Guys this is not a limit! 90 days is almost every weekend in a year!
Think you’ve missed the point @n3rdw0p.
For those listing whole properties it very much is a limit as their house will stand empty for 9 months of the year. This ruling will force people to find work arounds on the Airbnb platform… to be honest I can see throwaway accounts springing up like nobodies business and new listings going through the roof. I can only assume Airbnb have thought of how to stop people trying to get around the system because people will try.
Everyone should note this control does not apply to live in hosts in London, who it appears will be able to continue listing all year round.
It will still have a dampening effect on the unpermited/illegal STR market. People are less likely to book a new listing. New listings will have to lower their prices. Some people will only want to stay in listings with permits.
As @Chris said on another thread they can do it by address, not by listing.
Airbnb hosts who have enjoyed raking it in while it was new and unregulated need to adjust to the new reality
It won’t be empty for 9 months! The most profitable days are the weekends, New Orleans has a problem with whole house rentals being “party houses”. Parties won’t be happening during the slow weekdays so all of the whole house rentals will continue to be a nuisance under a 90 day a year allowance. We need the stricter 30 day allowance like San Francisco.
Maybe we’re talking about different things. Airbnb have just announced they won’t allow whole property listings to take bookings for more than 90 days in London. Attached is the email sent out to whole property hosts (I didn’t receive it as yet…possibly because I’m a live in host)
Yes, in residential neighborhoods. This ordinance is a tax dollar grab, our city has a huge history of lax enforcement. They said they couldn’t use the “homestead exemption” enforcement rule because Airbnb wouldn’t hand over the data for enforcement otherwise. But San Francisco and New York have shown you can be tough with Airbnb and they will buckle. I recommend people to watch our council meeting live streamed at 10am CT time here http://www.nolacitycouncil.com/video/video_legislative.asp
Cool. It’s not a tax dollar grab in London and in fact this post was started by a London host talking about specific changes to the London Airbnb market.
I would think there are other ways to attract renters besides Airbnb.
Yes but not for STRs (unless you have a licence). In effect I think this is meant to force people to go back to long term rentals.
Interesting side point though… were you thinking VRBO and the like ?
Every market is different and definitely needs different rules everywhere, in our particular situation, rents have gone skyhigh along with property values. Who knows how much of that is Airbnb? I would say lot because our city is historically low income and we have lots of property managers who handle boatloads of listings. A house right about the corner from me sold for $350k and in less than a month is on Airbnb for that sole purpose.
