Tourism

The European Parliament voted in favour of the proposal, which obliges digital platforms offering short-term rentals to share data regarding the flats they advertise with public authorities. The vote is in line with the position Barcelona has been defending since 2018, as part of the European Cities Alliance on Short-Term Holiday Rentals.

Barcelona City Council has welcomed European Union (EU) approval of a new community regulation which, for the first time, will oblige digital platforms offering short-term holiday rentals to share the information they have about the properties they advertise with public authorities. This makes it easier for European governments to exercise greater control on the activities of platforms that market tourist flats (HUTs in Catalan) and backs the model that Barcelona has been promoting for years, in order to manage tourism pressure in certain areas of the city, while also ensuring the existence of more affordable housing.

The European Parliament voted in favour of the regulation on Thursday, and it also has the blessing of the European Commission. Its application will depend on each member state, but in any event, it is in line with the position that Barcelona has been defending since 2018, within the European Cities Alliance on Short Term Holiday Rentals. This Alliance is made up of cities that are international tourist destinations, including Amsterdam, Arezzo, Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Brussels, Budapest, Florence, Kraków, Lyon, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Prague, Porto, Utrecht, Valencia, Vienna and Warsaw, in addition to the Eurocities Network. Essentially, it demanded that European regulations should help local governments to reduce the impact of illegal short-term rentals and regulate the activities of digital platforms, in order to make them jointly responsible for the adverts that they publish.

In that regard, Jordi Valls, the Deputy Mayor for Economy, Treasury, Economic Promotion and Tourism, welcomed the approval of the European regulation as an important step, although he indicated that it would be necessary to stay vigilant and ensure that it is introduced in a simple and effective way. The Deputy Mayor also praised the fact that it is the result of coordinated action and pressure exerted by the European Cities Alliance on Short Term Holiday Rentals. “In recent years, cities have had to take the lead and respond to a phenomenon that has grown exponentially, compromising the residential uses of housing that is already in short supply. We have had to act on our own, under the limitations of our jurisdictions, in order to defend the public interest and preserve the community life and residential uses that must be our priority”, he said.

The new EU regulation, approved by the European Parliament on Thursday, focuses exclusively on the compilation and exchange of data relating to short-term rental housing services, and it will come into force once it has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, with a two-year implementation period. Essentially, the regulation focuses on the transmission of data between public authorities and platforms, revolving around a registration system that is standard throughout the EU and governmental points of contact with these platforms to remedy the errors that are detected. It does not cover the validity of the permits or licences for exercising the activity but it does establish mechanisms for controlling and withdrawing illegal adverts. In short, it does not regulate conditions or restrictions for HUTs or shared residences that cities establish but it does support the existence of these limits, so that digital platforms are forced to share their information and withdraw adverts for those properties that fail to meet the required conditions.