It should be a model for how to handle these things. Some light oversight and some tax, but not caving in to extant rent seekers like taxi plate owners and hotel chain owners.
It's really isn't going to change much in the long run. It's just a de-facto commercial zoning grant to all residential areas. It's going to decrease the pool of available properties for long-term residents and raise the rents for those residents because every property manager is going to have to decide whether they think they could make more money by renting to an individual long-term or by just perpetually listing on Airbnb.
This really isn't a victory for anybody but Airbnb and existing property managers.
Literally millions of people.
Saying that the only benefit of AirBnB goes to owners is like saying the only benefit of Ebay goes to sellers.
You hit the bigger problem that has made housing incredibly expensive in the Bay Area, London, Sydney and other places.
Overly restrictive Zoning.
A few people get rich, the rest of us get screwed because the rent-seekers are eating up supply.
This would allow those who currently rent to be able to buy land, put a manufactured or temporary lodging on that land, and live there legally and cheaply, compared to a traditional home in a densely populated area.
It seems in my opinion that supply is artificially constrained, and that is why Airbnb is so popular.
Sure, thats kinda what it is. I'd argue that this isn't a bad thing though.
The solution that cities should take is to try and lower the cost of commercial zones and commercial property.
Airbnb and similar companies exist because these things are expensive and there is an arbitrage opportunity.
The best solution is to make these things LESS expensive so that consumers can benefit.
These silly laws on zoning, ect are extremely detrimental to consumers and should be removed. Airbnb and friends are just helping us push the needle so that these terrible laws are either eliminated or rendered de-facto unenforceable.
If you think rent prices are too high, then let's make the government allow us to build more houses, so as to solve the root of the problem.
And the millions of people who use the service.
http://insideairbnb.com/montreal/?neighbourhood=C%C3%B4te-de...
And this is not even central. Hopefully they all get their fingers badly burned when rates rise, this tax comes in and equity drops.
I'm very disappointed to hear this. Quebec is one of the last places in the Western world where rentiers have a hard time.
Also for people saying these are "for a few weekends".
Many AirBnb are not "a few weekends" they are a second home bought / mortgaged for the express purpose of permanently letting in out on airbnb and not paying tax.
Here you go: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-airbnb-law-not...
I say this as someone who hates AirBnB and high rent prices in cities.
If only primary residences can be let within a city... I fail to see how entire apartments are short term lets.
As for only primary residences being let, Im not sure what you mean - in my city at least entire flats are regularly rented out, for short periods of time over the entire year.
If you consider following the law "government harassment", then your comment makes sense. But I'm pretty sure not declaring a commercial activity is illegal and not declaring revenue from that activity is called tax evasion, Airbnb or not.
There is a provision where everything under 30kCAD/y isn't fully taxable. After 30k, you have to pay the taxes fully (including on the first 30k). So while there is some income taxes, the full VAT taxation isn't enforced (you can pay if you want, "of course"). So smaller hosts still have better margins than the bigger ones.
So the is no extra power to Revenu Québec to find out you don't report all your earnings.
The fact they sent (french) :
Partagerez-vous mes informations personnelles lors du versement de la taxe ? Non. Nous remplirons une déclaration fiscale par région, qui indiquera le montant total des revenus issus de l'ensemble des réservations Airbnb effectuées dans la zone en question. Autrement dit, tous les hôtes seront représentés par un même montant, et nous ne fournirons pas vos informations personnelles sur la déclaration.
These still continue - I used cottages.com to rent a cottage in Wales last week. That tourism is what drives the local economy.
Sites like that (others are available) have city locations too, I've used similar sites to book in Rome and Berlin
Air bnb's key feature, like uber, is its global reach. I've used uber on 6 continents because it's always the same. I don't use it in some locations due to safety considerations, but in most cities it's far easier and nicer (compare an uber with a manhattan cab where you are force fed adverts and have to "tip" a driver who probably won't even take a credit card.
I've never risked airbnb stay though - came close when I spent a month in singapore, but too many horror stories, and I had my family with me. Didn't want to have the police evicting us in the middle of the night 2 weeks in, found a proper managed appartment. Singapore really doesn't like airbnb as most housing is government owned (to keep prices affordable), and you have to be a citizen to live there. Prevents the country turning into something horrible like Dubai.
- Airbnb and Uber hostility
- Dairy cartel
- Language police
- World Nomads (travel insurance) exclusion
- Contests exclusion
- Worst ER wait times
- ...
I believe that Spain (Barcelona, Ibiza) already have rules in place that limit the possibility of renting out accommodations and require a local license.
The first step for any locale is to establish policy and rules in this "new normal" situation where renting out property (and leveraging tourism) has become very easy and painless. Rules that are enforceable, with sanctions strong enough to limit abuse.
Next, the local governments should be in their right to ask for verifiable users of the platform, but equally of people who advertise in paper media. At the end of the day, a public db with some form of API should be set up by the local government. This db is freely (as in beer) accessible to all housing platforms to check that OAuth(SSN+property id+number of beds) indeed has a permit. Even a calendar could be added (in Amsterdam, the limit is 60 nights per year per house or host / not sure).
?
It means Air BnB can scale even more, take savvy incorporated entrepreneurs in the field for example. They can even pretend to be a private home holders.. Now it is all in the books, reported and regulated.
