Brussels mayor Philippe Close and Town Planning councilor Ans Persoonshave approved an action plan to stop the development of illegal Airbnb in the city center.

Airbnb has become a business. In some cases, it is no longer an individual who rents his room – which was the basis of Airbnb spirit – but professionals who buy whole houses or several apartments and then rent them on tourist rental platforms. “Airbnbs […] are often run by professionals who buy a large number of properties and rent them through the site. Some neighborhoods are left with fewer and fewer apartments available to rent and the balance between residents and tourists is threatened”, Persoons continues.

The Brussels Region has around 7400 properties advertised on the Airbnb website. The City of Brussels is the most concerned commune with 2,200 properties. Moreover, the authorities say 1,600 of these properties are available exclusively through the site. In certain downtown neighborhoods, particularly those in the Grand Place, Bourse, Saint-Jacques, Saint-Géry and Dansaert, this proportion is creating competition for residential housing.

“We want to avoid becoming like Paris or Amsterdam, where the website is even more popular. We don’t want just tourists living in the city center. Brussels residents should still be able to find housing in any neighborhood at an affordable price”, says Ans Persoonss, adding that most Airbnb rentals are illegal and not in line with the Brussels ordinance on tourist accommodation.

Another problem is that Airbnb harms the urban network. Tourists are rarely aware of the days of trash pickup and leave their garbage in the streets anytime. In addition, Airbnb leads to a degradation of the social bond between neighbors but also between inhabitants and traders, as the College of the City of Brussels considers.

The City of Brussels has therefore approved an action plan to stem the uncontrolled development of tourist rentals. This plan aims to punish illegal tourist accommodation via a Control Cell and to tax accommodation as unoccupied property.

“We want to put pressure on homeowners to put their property on the conventional rental market. By increasing the controls, we want to put back 1,000 dwellings on the rental market by the end of the legislature”, concludes the Town Planning councilor.

“We had a great victory a few weeks ago. The owner of a large building in the UNESCO area decided, because the pressure of the new tax for well vacant, to hand over 15 apartments that were rented on the Airbnb platform on the traditional rental market”, announced Philippe Close.

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The reason behind it was to fight against the unfair competition created in the industry. Even though it is a common practice in many countries, it has been reported that many Airbnb homes in Brussels do not respect it still.

The Region of Brussels has tried to enforce this city tax with the Airbnb but the case now is being taken care of by the Constitutional Court.

The General Secretary of the Brussels Hotels Associations, Rodolphe Van Weyenbergh stated: « They do not register with the authorities and escape a series of rules, including this tax ».

The post Airbnb fails to follow rules of Brussels city tax authorities appeared first on Brussels Express.

Even the multi home owners may use Airbnb. A night in Brussels on Airbnb costs about EUR 100, while renting a two-bedroom flat in Brussels costs more than EUR 700 per month. It’s clear that one can earn a very significant amount of money on a monthly basis if you sublet your flat or home on Airbnb. And it will also be fine with your temporary tenants, as they can have fun in Brussels for a reasonable price.

But it’s worth having a look at the other side of the coin. What could be the negative effects in the long run?

First of all, although you definitely should deal with the thousands of tourists who come to Brussels every year, as it will never change; some residents complain about the disturbances that can occur in some traditional non-touristic hoods. It’s however not a big deal, and surely not the most problematic issue.

It is then an issue for the hotels and hostels, as the expected turnover will surely keep on decreasing over the next years.

But this is not the end of the story. While all the 19 communes are affected by the Airbnb effect (more than 7,900 ads at the end of July), the impact on the accommodations might be a big issue over the upcoming years. If owners get more money with Airbnb plans, they might be tempted to sublet their homes to short-term travellers, which means the potential permanent tenants might be forced to look for other places outside Brussels. And due to supply and demand forces, rent prices would go up.

It seems that the impact on prices is not a huge problem (yet) in Brussels, in comparison with other capitals or very touristic cities in Europe. The local authorities also need concrete statistics with regard to the impact on the permanent population and a potential “outflow”.

It is therefore not about banning “alternative” ways of travelling. It is about having different perspectives when it comes to expressing views about Airbnb.

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