EU urged to help cities in fight against Airbnb expansion

Ten European cities have urged the European Union to intervene in the fight against Airbnb expansion they say are pricing local residents out of the housing market.

In a joint letter, Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Krakow, Munich, Paris, Valencia and Vienna said the “explosive growth” of the short-stay letting platforms are seriously damaging the cities and must be on the agenda of the next set of European commissioners.

In April the advocate general (AG) of the European court of justice found in non-binding opinion that under EU law Airbnb should be considered a digital information provider rather than a traditional real estate agent. This means such platforms are allowed to operate freely and relieve them from responsibilities.

“European cities believe homes should be used first and foremost for living in,” the cities said in a statement released by Amsterdam city council.

“Many cities suffer from a serious housing shortage. Where homes can be rented out more lucratively to tourists, they vanish from the traditional housing market, prices are driven up even further and housing of citizens who live and work in our cities is hampered.”

The statement said local authorities must be able to offset the adverse effects of the boom in short-term holiday lets, such rising rents for full-time residents and the continuing “touristification” of neighbourhoods, by “introducing their own regulations depending on the local situation”.

"For this, we need strong legal obligations for platforms to cooperate with us in registration-schemes and in supplying rental-data per house that is advertised on their platforms."

The letter stated that platforms such as Airbnb have "exact rental data and they provide numerous services to guide the supply, simplify the process and influence the prices".

However, according to the AG’s opinion, they would have no obligation to provide municipalities with information about the rentals to help them prevent violations of local or national regulations, for instance on the maximum number of days allowed.

"Enforcement would be for the authorities concerned alone, which have to identify anonymous addresses (data held by platforms), which places an excessive burden on public funds," the cities wrote.

“We believe cities are best placed to understand their residents’ needs,” they said. “They have always been allowed to regulate local activity through urban planning and housing rules. The advocate general seems to imply this will no longer be possible when it comes to internet giants.”

City authorities fear that the EU’s attempts to promote e-commerce and the “sharing economy” across the bloc are impeding their efforts to ensure that neighbourhoods remain both affordable and liveable for residents.

“The cities are not against this type of holiday rental,” they said. “Tourism provides a city with income and jobs. They do think they should be able to set rules.”

"One thing must be clear: A carte blanche for holiday rental platforms is not the solution."