Short term home rental may soon be illegal under new law in Singapore

[Mark150]

Anyone can advice on this? We do not intend to take this risk so we are going to remove our listing in Airbnb

http://www.straitstimes.com/politics/parliament-short-term-home-rental-illegal-under-new-law

[Akanksha0]

Does Airbnb have anything to say on this?

[Mark150]

yes airbnb can advice on when this law take effect.

if you do not have better thing to say here, please don't disturb this thread !!!

[Ivan-and-Ivana0]

I am also interested to know what should be our actions now?
Does this mean we have to cancel all the bookings?
How can we reach any kind of Airbnb Support to give us accurate info?!

[Marit-Anne0]

@Mark150 @Ivan-and-Ivana0 @Akanksha0

I do not believe airbnb will be able to assist you in the matter - only the local authorities can help you with the details.  Some authrities allow host to honour existing bookings, but not accept new ones. This may or may not be the case in Singapore.  

If you have current bookings and intend to take your listing down, you should inform your guests of what is happening in Singapore.

Do contact airbnb - they may be able to help your guests cancel without any economical loss.  

[Mark150]

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/condos-pass-laws-curb-short-023705919.html

https://e27.co/singapore-govt-enforce-ban-airbnb-rentals-alternatives-way-20170207/

[Senthil2]

I've been trying to get in touch with AirBnB, but no response. I do feel like cancelling my booking, I've been visited by URA once. But thankfully no guests at that time.

[Mark150]

I have stop accepting new booking. better don't play play with ura

[Akanksha0]

What was the URA experience @Senthil2? Im wondering if they found details from Airbnb's listings? @Mark150 ill probably do the same. Got this from Airbnb today, standard message i guess as they dont mention anything concrete

On Monday this week, the Singapore Parliament passed a new Planning (Amendment) Bill which will require hosts to obtain permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority to rent out their home (whether an entire home or private room) for any period less than six months. Until the Bill takes effect, pending an order from the Minister, the regulatory situation in Singapore remains status quo.

This Bill passed without consulting short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, or hosts such as yourself, and despite our ongoing efforts to collaborate and engage with the government to craft a fair and progressive framework that promotes responsible home sharing. We are concerned about the amendments included in the Bill and the effect they will have on thousands of Singaporean residents who occasionally share their homes.

We want to reassure you that we remain deeply committed to working with the government to ensure that the law reflects the value home sharing brings to both Singapore and our host community. We are also strongly committed to supporting our host community. Hosts like you are the backbone of Airbnb and important stakeholders in this dialogue.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority will also be announcing rules for a new category of planning permission for short-term rentals. Over the next few weeks, we will be working on a response to the Bill and to these new rules.

To stay up-to-date on this discussion and learn how you can get involved, join Airbnb Citizen, a community of hosts and travellers working together to shape local home sharing laws.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Akanksha0

If you plan to honour existing bookings, the best approach is to snooze the listing.  This way it will not show up in searches, but still be visible for those who have already booked.

I think it is optimistic to expect anything definite from airbnb, they give those wooly replies and ditto statements to the press so that they can cover their own behind and avoid bad press.  In the other end they demand hosts to comply with local laws and regulations, again to avoid any responsibility.

[Akanksha0]

thanks @Marit-Anne0 for the great advice! Ill do so. We will wait and see what comes of this

[Deepa2]

hi Senthil

can you write to me on [personal information removed]

want to have an offline discussion.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Deepa2

For security reasaons you should not put your e-mail address into a post on a public forum.  Send the person in question a private message instead.

[Jommy0]

Any view on the feasibility of applying planing permission from URA to legalize the short term rental?

[Ivan-and-Ivana0]

Has anyone managed to cancel the bookings without any penalty fee?
I want to cancel the bookings, but don't know how to handle it taking in consideration the fee... We've got months in advance booked, I don't want to be paying hundreds of $ in penalty 😞
Let me know if someone managed to do it and how, or if someone got a hold of Airbnb, pls share their direct contact

Thanks everyone for sharing info!