Share your views with the European Commission while they work on short-term rental laws that could impact how you host

[Nick]

Have your say on short-term rental rules in Europe.

Have you ever been confused about the regulations surrounding short-term rentals where you live? Or wanted a chance to share your opinion with key decision-makers? The European Commission has launched an online survey for Hosts across the EU to share your experiences as the Commission considers EU-wide short-term rental legislation. 

Respond to the survey to share your thoughts and opinions.

For more details please check out our article over on the Resource Center.

[Laurelle3]

@Nick the European Commission is at least giving a survey and hosts can share their experiences. In NSW the government has endorsed rules and regulations for Short Term Rental Accommodation after reveiws by local council,complaints from near by residents and shortage of housing for renting without consulting STRA accommodation owners.  But what it has done is it has improved rental standards, fire and housing safety for guests, protect neighbours for noise from parties, parking in the community. 

There has also been limits of nights in different areas especially in high tourist  areas which has pushed up the rents for the local people who live and work in the area. Sadly, some hosts or buisnesses have changed the community which hasn't been good for STRA reputation.

What it has done for hosts that are operating to the original concept of Airbnb hosting of sharing their home or duel occupancy they have become the winners by providing a personal service to their guests. They are allowed to continue to offer this service without too many rule changes except improve safety of their homes. All states in Australia are considering to changinging the rules for STRA.

[Laurelle3]

@Nick I forgot to add that the hotels and motels were making the complaints to the NSW government to make rules. Because they realised that Airbnb's were offering a better service and were taking their nightly bookings and they didn't have much competion in the past and they wanted easy money for supplying just the basics for more money.

[Helen427]

@Laurelle3  I think you will find it was Councils world wide who along with University academics who they paid to undertake 'research' on STR with questions that tend to be misleading and biased.

Thanks @Nick for bringing this to the fore.

These matters are important for us all, including those living further afield who may wish to venture to Europe, when can finally start to travel again who may seek to stay at STR'S and those who are still stranded in Europe due to no air travel back to New Zealand .

There's a few Judicial Reviews in NZ re that issue at the moment!

Meanwhile to you wonderful ABB folk worldwide, if you have any enquiries from stranded New Zealander's in your lands, Kindness towards them and a roof over their heads would be appreciated as there's around about 1Million still unable to return here.

[Laurelle3]

@Helen427 there are many Australians stranded around the world too with our lockdown rules here. We are hoping to get to visit our daughter who married a kiwi in March after 2 cancelled trips with lockdowns. Take care. 

[Dimitar27]

People, please note, that this is for EU.

EU includes 28 countries . It means 28 completely different regulations. Actually, they are much more, because the differences are not just between countries, but sometimes between the municipalities in the same country. Almost all of them-updated on a regular basis. A hell of procedures, documents, requirements, terms and communication with 28 different administrations, on 28 different languages. That's what the European Commission is trying to fix.

[Helen427]

Ever so true @Laurelle3 , it was also around 10 years ago if we recall that Alan Joyce, Qantas, was also involved in unprecedented strikes and people were also denied basic human rights to see family, get married, go to funerals or travel.

Qantas been one of the very first airlines to shut down any travel in March 2020.

I had an Australian guest whose partner was due to come to New Zealand and do some travel in the year they were intending to get married.

She was fortunate after a 6 hour plus call centre wait to get a return flight to Australia or may have been stranded in NZ longer.

There's definitely a need for a variety of accommodation choices.

One of my Guests compared it to Billeting.

[Patricia2677]

I tried to register to complete the survey but didn't receive the verification email and can't see how to proceed - no 'help' section that I can see

[Elaine701]

Ok, I did it. It was long, the questions were reasonable and relevant, if occasionally repetitive, but I gave them a dissertation 🤨

Our "local" laws here are rather a blunt instrument. One size fits, all, and nowadays, that mostly eliminates the small homeowners who just want to put up their 2nd home on Airbnb and make a little extra legitimate income, while meeting all quality, health & safety regulations.

We were lucky, and acquired licence before they imposed the new laws, so we weren't subjected to the massive bureaucracy and ridiculous fees that new hosts are subjected to. But we're still obliged to meet quality health & safety. But if that were all, I'd be delighted. 

Local councils have taken the opportunity to profit from it, charging up to triple the normal fees for things like water, sewer and rubbish collection, just because you hold a tourism licence. And everywhere you turn, there's some bureaucrat with another invoice in hand. It's become kind of ridiculous, really. 

I appreciate the need to maintain standards, but I would support a more transparent system that distinguishes between sole proprietor STRs and large scale corporate hotels and villa management companies. And a common set of rules, so that guests from all over Europe know what to expect. We have our own oddities, and aside from the unnecessary burdens of them, some guests aren't exactly delighted to discover them. 

[Nils170]

In Denmark, no extra fees or taxes for the guest as the AirBnB host pays through his personal tax. However, any mix with private rentals (shortterm or otherwise outside of an agency like AirBnB) of the same premises greatly complicates the tax calculation, and information - even official - is scarce and mostly obsolete.