Catalonia’s holiday rental ban may not be allowed under EU law as Airbnb pushes back
Catalonia has stated they wish to rid Barcelona of its 10,000 vacation lets within the subsequent 5 years.
Catalonia’s current ban on Airbnb-style vacation leases breaches EU legislation, based on a grievance filed with the European Fee by an business group.
The European Vacation Dwelling Affiliation claims that the ban, launched by Catalonia in June this 12 months, breaches the supply of companies directive.
The Spanish area introduced that they wished to rid Barcelona of its 10,000 vacationer flat licences over the subsequent 5 years. The town has not granted new licences since 2014 however this has not helped to stem a housing disaster, with locals saying they cannot discover locations to dwell at inexpensive costs.
Why has Barcelona’s Airbnb ban been challenged?
“We’re satisfied that EU legislation has not been revered,” Viktorija Molnar, Secretary Normal of the European Vacation Dwelling Affiliation (EHHA), stated in an announcement launched on Wednesday.
“By submitting the EU grievance, we hope that the European Fee will take a step additional and open a proper infringement process in opposition to Spain,” added Molnar, whose group represents short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and Expedia’s Vrbo.
The transfer follows authorized issues raised by the European Fee itself that restrictions introduced in by the Spanish area had been disproportionate to the goal of tackling housing shortages.
EHHA argues that “unjustified, disproportionate and unsuitable” restrictions breach the EU’s Companies Directive, which regulates a swathe of actions from lodges to authorized recommendation. Additionally they stated that claims in regards to the influence of Airbnb on housing affordability are “politically infected”.
The foyer group might have assist from the European Fee itself, whose officers wrote to Spanish authorities to protest the legislation in February based on a doc seen by Euronews Journey.
“The Fee companies contemplate that the restrictions laid down in [Catalonia’s] Decree-law 3/2023 aren’t appropriate to realize the target of preventing housing scarcity and are disproportionate to that goal,” the doc stated.
Spanish authorities might have additionally thought-about much less swingeing restrictions and hadn’t provided proof that short-term leases had been accountable for housing market tensions, it added – noting that there have been 3 times as many empty dwellings as vacationer rental properties in Catalonia.
Barcelona is only one European vacation locations looking for methods to sort out overtourism.
Cities like Venice have banned cruise ships from stopping on their shores, Athens usually restricts customer numbers on the well-known Acropolis and Amsterdam is transferring its crimson mild district out of the town centre to try to clear up its picture.
How the European Fee is taking over vacation leases
Brussels has already taken motion to carry the sharing financial system throughout the regulatory fold, providing new rights to platform employees and mountaineering value-added tax on short-term lets and ridesharing apps resembling Uber.
However the difficulty might show totemic for Fee President Ursula von der Leyen – who has created the first-ever European Commissioner for Housing as a part of her second mandate, set to take workplace inside weeks.
She has advised Denmark’s Dan Jørgensen to “sort out systemic points with short-term lodging leases”, in a mission letter that handed him the housing transient alongside duty for vitality coverage.
A spokesperson for the Catalan authorities didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
CORRECTION(20 November, 10:02): corrects spelling of Molnar’s title
