As cities around the world try to cope with the vacation-rental boom stirred in large part by Airbnb, there seems to be a move toward finding a middle way between no regulation and outright bans of short-term renting. Copenhagen may be the next with a plan.
Cities are concerned about the conversion of badly-needed affordable housing into high-profit flats for vacationers, but at the same time don’t want to stymie the boom in vacation travelers that short-term rentals seems to bring. At the same time, they face pressure from the hotel industry, which fears a loss in their business more than an overall increase in travel.
Copenhagen’s plan, advanced by Mayor Frank Jensen, calls for a limit on the number of days a property can be rented out on short-term stays. Amsterdam has recently followed that route with a 60-day-per-year limit, and Airbnb has said it is open to working with other cities on similar plans. It hopes to have agreements with 200 or more cities this year on rules and tax collection.
On the other hand, New York still has a ban on rentals under 30 days (except with the owner present, or in private homes), and Berlin has banned use of the service for entire apartments. In Barcelona, the city has levied serious fines on Airbnb and HomeAway for marketing apartments that did not have permits.
