Major Airbnb crackdown coming, it sounds like!

61

Another vast assumption of all rentals and all owners and all situations…
I was renting my 5br house for STR long before airbnb was ever a thought in a techie’s mind. Airbnb has been my downfall, not my uptik.
If I could not rent my house for enough money ( ie: Short Term)

  1. I would have no income
  2. I would inevitably sell my house
  3. Locals would not gain from a 5 br luxury house on the market.
    …and
  4. my rental improves my neighborhood and does not detract. I also live in the neighborhood and contribute to my neighbors and my town.
  • please dont generalize
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62

Hi from Amsterdam!
Just to clarify - it’s not that the city of Amsterdam has introduced a new law. The 60 day cap on renting WHOLE apartments has already been in force for decades.
Renting out a room or max. 40% of your apartment (while adhering to certain clauses) though, is not and never has been limited to a certain no. of days., BUT you do have to register with the city and prove that you are adhering to certain things and are paying taxes for the rental income).

This 60 day cap in Amsterdam also only applies to Short Stay Rentals of persons not registered at that address. If you decide to rent out your apartment outside of that, then you can only do it legally to somebody who will also be registered officially at that address (whether or not they are of Dutch nationality or not or staying in the country temporarily or not).
(However, there’s also some legal, tax, and mortgage issues with this kind of rental, so I won’t get started on that.)

According to my knowledge with information given by a London host - the same applies there regarding the 90 day cap on apartment rentals. He said this has been an existing law, and is not a new decision changing anything.

So for all hosts who are suddenly being forced to follow existing city regulations it is tough. I certainly understand that making more income by not adhering to the law is a lot more interesting and attractive. And that is what far too many hosts in my city (knowingly or unknowingly) did when they jumped on the money-making band wagon and disregarding the existing regulations.
Those listings as well as the larger lobby of real state owners (illegally) renting whole houses as ‘illegal hotels’ have been contributing to the problems in some popular neighborhoods now overrun by tourists.

This new limit that Airbnb is rolling out ONLY enforces already existing city laws, and this after they have been strong-armed by Amsterdam and London to get some control over a situation that has been increasingly getting out of hand through booking sites. Airbnb was the largest, and the other rental platforms will be approached and tackled next in the near future (this according to a letter from the city STR department).

Plans to enforce this through the Airbnb website in the coming year for Amsterdam listings:

For APARTMENTS:
60 day counter on the listing. Once 60 days reached, the listing is blocked for further bookings.
A maximum of 4 guests (acc. to the already existing regulation!) is installed for booking.

For ROOM rentals in B&B (with or w/o breakfast):
An upload of the registration with the city will have to be provided prior to activating the listing (or listing continuation?).
A maximum of 4 guests (acc. to the already existing regulation!) is installed for booking.

These are the plans as outlined by the city letter. We’ll see how Airbnb implements them.

63

I wish! The cheapest house in my area is more than $1million USD and thats for a 2 bedroom renovator! So in my eyes you are living in a great place and its affordable for regular people. You can’t assume just because the listing in on ABB that’s the ‘sole purpose’ though. The owners may be travelling, renting for a while to save more money to set up etc, there are millions of possibilities.

64

Sorry, I wasn’t referring to people like you. I meant people with multiple properties that they’ve bought (or from which they’ve evicted long-term tenants) to airbnb. They usually rent out the individual rooms in these houses or appartments like mini-hostels with no hosting involved, just raking in the cash. It’s a very specific group I was referring to.

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65

thank you.
I work hard to support STR

66

Since when did officials begin to care about the cost of living increases in neighborhoods?

67

Totally agree. My situation is very similar. I’ve put a lot of money into this house to get it on Air (A LOT) and I do a tremendous amount of work to keep it running. I’ve only been on since April and although I’m paying the bills, I haven’t made a profit to pay back my initial investment yet. If these kinds of regulations come through, I’m toast. I know every business opportunity presents many risks, but it is unfair to have a city come in and change the rules mid-game. Typical “progressive” bs. I don’t run a party house and I’d never make it renting out only weekends.

68

@FtWorthGal What are Fort Worth’s laws/regulations around allowing short-term rentals? Are there regulations being proposed there? Not sure what makes this “progressive.”

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69

Some of the housing regulations are in flux right now and I honestly have not been able to find direct regs regarding it, but all these crack downs around the world don’t bode well to me. I do know there are 300+ airbnbs here and I haven’t heard of problems. By “progressive”, I mean the mentality that government can “fix” things by making more and more regulations which always have unintended consequences.

70

That is hardly the definition of progressive.

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71

I’m not referring to the dictionary definition of “progressive”. I don’t want to argue. I told you what I meant by it.

72

TX is a low regulation state generally speaking and because we love to sprawl out and have the room to do so I’d be surprised to see London/Amsterdam/Barcelona style limits here. That said, I could easily see licensing and tourist tax payments in the future. @FtWorthGal since you are dependent on airbnb you might be interested in this thread

73

@FtWorthGal You probably know your local market better than I do but this seems pretty straightforward from Texas Monthly:

In Fort Worth, meanwhile, the regulations require anybody who’s going to host guests in their home to register as an official bed-and-breakfast, a license with limited availability that can only be obtained for properties built before 1993—and anybody who wants to rent out their entire home has to have a house in an area that’s zoned commercially, rather than residentially, effectively making Airbnb and similar services illegal in Fort Worth.

But if you look for a rental in Fort Worth on Airbnb for a random weekend in April, you’ll get over one hundred options. You can enjoy a hosted stay in a new-build condo that’s clearly in violation of city ordinances, or rent an entire house in a residential neighborhood. The law may say one thing, but local property owners who want to make money off of their space aren’t necessarily listening.

74

I bet a lot of hosts took risks: They invested money into something and hoped for the best. This is all experimental and (relatively) new.

Housing, like driving, is already very heavily regulated. What I’m mostly seeing is cities enforcing rules already on the books.

In London, however, the opposite is true: The city actually recently loosened regulations to allow for Airbnb-type situations (up to 90 days a year.)

The news in this thread is that Airbnb is going to proactively hold hosts to the law in London and Amsterdam.

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75

I host(ed) in Montreal, and my opinion is that this automatic limit makes so much sense and so easy to control, that absolutely every city will eventually have it. Much easier than the fines, “one host one home”, certification proof bullshit before even putting a listing up etc etc.

Simple and efficient move to put all semi-pros either in the pro category or get out of the business.

Anybody on this forum who would be greatly affected by this announcement?

76

So you are really regretting the ease of the Airbnb app…if you were renting out short term before you must have been (like me perhaps) using Craigslist? Which means screening/interviewing getting rental contract signed the old-fashioned hard way.

77

I wish we had limits! Currently it’s just ‘no permits being issued’…and by currently, I mean for the last 3 years!!

78

I still screen and have a hard copy signed agreement for each group.
I am not in a financial 'risk" position like FtWorthGal…she is over her head…just like the housing bubble, she has invested with a highly leveraged position. The air investors jumping onto this bandwagon are repeating the housing bubble of the last boom and bust.
to answer: in 2008 + I used a PM. Then I learned and took over. I never had good luck with CL. I did well with HA and VRBO. I use FlipKey/ TA. I use air.
Air has caused a lot of problems for the long timers of STR.

79

You should know, and be aware of, your local laws, licensing and regulations inside and out. And you should be involved in local advocacy groups to understand the future of your rentals and your investment.
Ignorance of what is allowed, or not allowed, has hurt the legit rental owners who always followed the laws.

80

Well I’m not in over my head. I have a regular job too. I just would like to at least make my investment back and hopefully some profit. When I first began to think of doing this about 3.5 years ago, I hadn’t even heard of air only vrbo. When I started researching, I found air and there were only like 3 listings anywhere near me. I really wanted to get in but wasn’t in the position at the time. By the time I could finally start the competition had grown tremendously, but still I feel there was a large untapped market. Even the official figures they project for visitors to city, there aren’t enough hotel rooms to hold them all.