More than a squeeze, perhaps it would be more correct to speak of a vice that risks suffocating definitively the short-term rental market in New York, pace of AirBnb and Booking. In fact, a law has come into force in the Big Apple which establishes stringent limits on short-term rentals with the dual purpose of preserving the availability of residential rentals and calming the now skyrocketing prices of the New York real estate market.
New York thus joins the growing list of cities that impose restrictions on tourist rentals. In the past, similar decisions had also been made Amsterdam, San Francisco, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and Madrid, just to name a few examples. In Italy, the government had promised to legislate on the matter, but for the moment only a draft is circulating which leaves the big cities at the mercy of short-term rentals. Only Florence and Venice, on a municipal initiative, have imposed a squeeze.
Goodbye Airbnb: the new rules in New York
Law 18, which came into force on 5 September, requires owners or tenants of houses offered for short-term rent to reside personally in the properties and to be present in the house during the rental days. Not only that: the apartments must be registered and have an identification code, in every house there can be al maximum two guestsregardless of size. Room doors cannot be locked when unoccupied. Anyone who violates the rules is subject to fines of up to $5.
The purpose of the law is to put a stop to tourist rentals in a city where there would be over 36 houses for rent on the various platforms, but also to eliminate illegal rentals and increase the number of houses granted in residential rental in order to bring down the price of license fees, which have reached new records after the pandemic: $4.400 a month in Manhattan, $4 in Brooklyn, $3.600 in Queens. According to calculations, due to the law, 40 to 70% of the properties granted for tourist rental could disappear from the platforms.
Airbnb: what are the rules in Italy?
The short answer is: almost none. In Italy there are 600 houses for rent on the platforms, of which 25 a Rome and nearly 20 thousand BC Milan. Only Venice and Florence they imposed a small squeeze. In the first, thanks to an amendment to the Aid decree, the Municipality has the power to create a regulation that limits the number of houses that can be rented for short periods via digital platforms. Every real estate. it can only be rented to tourists for 120 days a year. In the Tuscan capital, from 1 June 2023, Palazzo Vecchio has decided to adopt a provision which prohibits the use of residential properties for short-term tourist rentals throughout the UNESCO area of the historic centre. Not only that, those who currently rent houses through AirBnb or similar and decide to retrace their steps by opting for long-term rentals will not have to pay the IMU on their second home for three years.
