Ten cities ask for legal aid to Europe against Airbnb

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Vienna, Munich, Paris, Brussels, Bordeaux, Berlin, Amsterdam and Krakow have asked for help from the European Union in their fight against Airbnb and other similar portals, in their fight against holiday rentals. The reason is that this form of rent is seriously damaging the face and life of the affected cities. The cities, in a joint letter, ask the next EU commissioners to act quickly against this phenomenon.

The cities' protest because the Union's lawyer before the community courts considered in April that Airbnb was, for Europe, a provider of digital services and not, as the cities intended, a real estate agency that rents homes. This rating would allow Airbnb to move freely in the real estate world, even beyond legal regulations because it would simply be a technological intermediary not responsible for what homeowners do there.

The cities consider that these platforms are changing the appearance of the cities, which must be to live in the first place. "Many cities lack housing because the houses are rented for higher prices to tourists and then disappear from the usual rental market," they say. Cities say they have to have mechanisms to fight against these effects and be able to introduce their own rules that are now of doubtful efficacy.

The cities indicate to the European Union that they are the best placed to understand the phenomena that occur in cities. "We have always been able to regulate local activity through urban planning and housing regulations. The general lawyer of the Union, however, seems to understand that this can not be done if we talk about Internet intermediaries, "they say. Airbnb today offers 18 thousand flats in Amsterdam and Barcelona, ​​22 thousand in Berlin and 60 thousand in Paris (Airbnb challenges Booking by removing the commission from customers).

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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