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Berlin Is Banning Most Vacation Apartment Rentals
- jseliger 11y agoIt's almost like cities (or more specifically, voters in municipal elections) don't realize that the only sustainable way to reduce prices is by increasing supply: http://www.amazon.com/TheRent-Too-Damn-High-Matters-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO http://www.amazon.com/TheRent-Too-Damn-High-Matters-ebook/dp.... We know what to do, we have the technology, and we only lack the political will to make it happen.
- DasIch 11y agoBerlin is a poor city. In fact it's former mayor famously described it as "Poor but sexy". It doesn't have the liberty of increasing supply on it's own to a large extent. You also can't increase supply, no matter how much you want to, in the districts everyone wants to live in. Getting a place outside of it can be accomplished fairly easily.
- mafribe 11y agoIt would be rather easy to increase supply of housing. Berlin is full of brown-field sites that could be stacked with housing. 1. Remove density and height restrictions (e.g. "Berliner Traufhoehe"). 2. Remove unnecessarily strict building requirements (e.g. "Daemmungswahn"). 3. Remove legislation that is too tenant-friendly (e.g. "Mietbremse"). All three serve as breaks to increasing housing supply, the first is a legal impediment, the other two reduce investments.
- thesimon 11y agoI guess when you remove 3, you would increase the supply, but only with what you see for example in London: Mostly luxury flats Doesn't really help getting more affordable flats on the market.
- mafribe 11y agoBerlin has an extremely affordable rental market, unless you want to live in Mitte or nearby. Even Mitte would be more affordable, if 50-100 floor skyscrapers could get building permission. I'm not sure how familiar with the London property market. London is currently seeing a large amount of real estate being built, mostly studio, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom. Hardly luxurious. Prices are commensurate with London income levels. Otherwise people wouldn't live in London.
- DasIch 11y agoBefore you talk about how affordable Berlin is you need to take the income of people living in Berlin into consideration. You can reasonably live in Berlin but it's by no means extremely affordable. You also can't arbitrarily increase density of a city as you need infrastructure to go along with all those people. Not to mention that Berlin has many old buildings that are under protection, so you can't just demolish buildings and replace them with skyscrapers.
- thesimon 11y ago>Prices are commensurate with London income levels. Otherwise people wouldn't live in London. I feel like most people are moving to the outer zones. Buying flats in zone 1-3 is obviously out of reach for most people, even for most developers not working in The City. From what I've seen, even 1-bedroom flats cost at least £310k near Seven Sisters (Zone 3). I have to admit though that I was mostly looking for flats to rent, not for sale in the last few months so I'm not an expert.
- mafribe 10y ago£310k near Seven Sisters That's not expensive relative to London income levels, given that property is typically financed over 25 years or so, basically over the most productive phase of one's working life, so it's paid off roughly when one retires. Most young people don't think long-term: they just look at the price and their current annual salary, and see a mismatch. Maybe it's good this way, because unless you realise that a property is a serious long-term investment, and that the target is to save for retirement, they probably don't have the financial maturity to make such a large purchase and should stick to renting. Note that property always reflects income-levels of the working population. That's because they are the ones that buy / rent property. Rent and property prices are strongly correlated, because it's fundamentally a risk/reward trade-off: when you buy you take on a fair amount of risk: heating may break down, the roof may leak, you might not find tenants in time, tenants may ruin the property, not pay rent etc etc (From bitter experience I can tell you that "may" really means "will"). Tenants don't carry this risk, hence need to compensate for this risk transfer. That's why renting appears to be more expensive. Focussing on foreign billionaires who buy-to-leave-empty distorts how the property market works. The real question is: what percentage of their income is the average person willing to invest in property / rent. This is remarkably constant.
- DasIch 11y agoThe problem isn't supply, it's supply in Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln. If you want a place outside of these districts, you can get a place quite easily. Increasing supply outside of them, which would be easy because Berlin is surrounded by land you could build on won't change that. At least not without billions of investments in public transport infrastructure, maybe. Any regulation like building requirements is probably federal, I doubt Berlin has any extra regulation. So there is nothing Berlin can do here. Removing regulation that is too tenant-friendly isn't popular with voters, it's not going to increase the supply of apartments for students and poor people. This kind of regulation including but not limited to the Mietpreisbremse is also federal law and not something Berlin can do all that much about.
- mafribe 11y agoThere is no human right to rent a 100m2 flat in Mitte for €200 per month. Even central Berlin is full of brown-field sites that could be developed -- Flughafen Tempelhof most prominently. If you go for Hong Kong style density there, a lot of housing problems would be solved ... Laws can easily be changed if there is political will at the local, regional or federal levels. However, all this requires a bit of long-term thinking and planning, of which there is little evidence. Instead we get populist measures like "Mietpreisbremse" which hinder new developments.
- doener 11y agoTempelhof cannot be developed because of a plebiscite. What else is there to develop?
- mafribe 10y agoBerlin is jam-packed with undeveloped brown-field sites. Get rid of the restrictions on height, and build 50 - 100 floors Hong Kong style, at least in the center. Tempelhof shows the stupidity of the Berlin voter. The refusal to develop even a small part of the airfield was almost exclusively justified with fears of "gentrification". Congratulation voters, you have just voted yourself into higher rents. (Also, one could have a new "Volksbefragung", in the light of the dire need for more housing in Berlin.)
- bogomipz 11y agoBut in the article it says towards the end that Berlin in building 50K new units in the next 10-15 years. So in addition to banning AirBnB they are also increasing supply. I am unsure how or why "technology" plays into it unless you mean construction technology?
- losteric 11y agoHow many units were torn down to build those new units, and how desirable are they compared to the old units? What is the price range? How does the quality compare? Where are they located? One number doesn't capture the whole story. Seattle has a similar problem where we do have a large number of new units going up, but some places are still seeing upwards 50% vacancy after 3 years... because the new units aren't aligned with market demand. I'm talking luxury apartments downtown when the growing demographic is frugal-minded mid-20s/30s interested in neighborhoods 10-20 minute away from downtown. Even constructions in the right neighborhood end up being a net loss of desirable units when the rent is sky high.
- mahyarm 11y agoSounds like they have to start reducing the price to fill the oversupply...
- dzhiurgis 11y agoApparently London is suffering from similar issue. A lot of new appartments are luxurious and sold to foreign investors. In the end they are just sitting there unoccupied.
- makomk 11y agoThis is why loosening building restrictive is not a solution - builders always want to charge a premium over the existing market price, which means building expensive luxury flats and leaving new homes empty if necessary rather than reducing their prices.
- arximboldi 10y ago
- paulmd 11y agoRemoving residential units from the long-term lease market and turning them into overnight units does not increase supply, it actually reduces the number of units available for lease. This raises the equilibrium for lease units: less units available, higher prices. Not to mention the fact that leasers are now competing against people paying higher nightly rates.
- ptaipale 11y agoYes, but removal of units from the long-term lease market is not a reason for the problem; it is the consequence of imbalance caused by regulation (of zoning and now also rent control in Berlin). Berlin overall is an anomaly in Germany; during the Cold War division of Germany to BRD and DDR, living in Berlin was heavily subsidized, and that still shows up in the planning, the structures and the market. But the impact of a 40-year "siege" is going away now 25 years after it ended, and at the same time the capital has moved to Berlin, along with lots of administration and related jobs and businesses.
- drpgq 11y agoWhat about Ferienwohnungen that existed before AirBnB was even a thing? I travel to Dresden every couple of months and stay in a Ferienwohnung in the Neustadt that's been around for at least eight years. I guess under Berlin's new rules that would be gone.
- bogomipz 11y agoWhat is a "Ferienwohnung"? A cursory search only turned up articles in German.
- adamnemecek 11y agoAirBnB minus a website plus a lamp post flier.
- bogomipz 11y agoHa ha, that's an great description, thanks.
- frakkingcylons 11y agoFWIW, the literal translation is holiday/vacation apartment.
- solidsnack9000 11y agoFerienwohnungen -> vacation home Ferien -> vacation Wohnungen -> dwelling
- bogomipz 11y agoOn a somewhat related note, could anyone recommend a legitimate way to find mid-term rentals(3-6 months)in Berlin? Or possibly a month or two on the shorter end?
- johannkaupen 11y agoBerliner here, working in Kreuzberg. Text me "Germany + 171 as net provider + 19 48 58 0" either Whatsapp or iMessage or johannkaupen at Google Mail more details and I'll help you! Additionally: you'll find help on WG-Gesucht.de // most of the stuff is in German, but some are texting in English too and Most will ne Sperling German.
- bogomipz 11y agoThank you.
- adriancooney 11y agoThat's extremely kind and helpful! Would you mind me saving your details for future use? I'd love to setup in Berlin at some point.
- thesimon 11y agoWG-Gesucht.de (mostly German) maybe. Competition is hard though
- mindjiver 11y agoI'll be working in Berlin for 3 months this summer and the company I'll be working for recommended the following sites: https://www.city-wohnen.de/ https://www.city-wohnen.de/ https://www.thehomelike.com/?lang=en https://www.thehomelike.com/?lang=en http://en.coming-home.org/index.php?l=en http://en.coming-home.org/index.php?l=en https://www.crocodilian.de/ https://www.crocodilian.de/ Good luck with the search!
- bogomipz 11y agoThanks. That sounds like a nice summer plan.
- nailer 11y agoAs an AirBnB customer (which I was) you have no idea what it's like to be an Airbnb neighbor. There are parties with hundreds of kids on the roof, weed smoked in the hall outside our apartment, a broken front door that can only be closed by smashing as hard as possible or not at all, stains all over the carpet outside the Airbnb, people breaking into our house because they're drunk, people buzzing every apartment because they've locked themselves out and it's 4AM. The place is a 365 day Airbnb, which is illegal, and Airbnb know that too and don't care. AirBnB refuse to take any responsibility, even just to raise issues with the person running the BnB. They have even repeatedly said they can't find a listing by address - seriously, not that the address is wrong, but they they simply do not have the capability. We can't speak to the neighbor because they don't live there, they just rent out their apartment on Airbnb. They got journalists to write stories about how they'd soon have an app for neighbours last year - it still isn't rolled out in Europe despite all the press. Love airBnB as a customer. 95% of guests are fine. 4% do stupid shit because they're drunk, which is understandable, but having continuously drunk 'neighbors' sucks. 1% are deliberately anti social. But the company absolutely does not give a damn about their impact on the people around them. Tip for anyone else: call your police non-emergency number or your council. Avoid Airbnb support. They can't help and they won't take responsibility for the source of their income.
- dang 11y ago> But the company absolutely does not give a damn about their impact on the people around them. You can't know that and it by no means follows from what you've said. It's fine to describe your specific experiences, but not fine to cross into overgeneralized denunciation. Especially not to gin up indignation, which is pretty much the sole purpose of overgeneralized denunciation.
- nailer 11y agoDan it's really unusual you're coming into the conversation like this. I'm recounting a year of very direct, repeated personal experience: if they do care, they've had every opportunity to show it. Other Airbnb neighbors may have a great time, but that doesn't mean I'm 'generalising' about them in a 'not fine' way when recounting my honest feelings after repeatedly dealing with them. It's an odd coincidence my comment went from the top comment on this article to far down the thread in a single reload.
- thesimon 11y agoThis might be relevant: http://airbnbvsberlin.com http://airbnbvsberlin.com (Data analysis of AirBnB rentals in Berlin) Key facts: * 10% of the users are offering more than one unit (so not just a spare bed) * Average user rents out 1.3 units * Top user is renting out 44 flats
- frakkingcylons 11y agoThey're not banning ALL AirBnB rentals. From the article: "The new laws still don’t mean all Berlin homestays will disappear overnight. People will still be able to rent out rooms in their homes, as long as the rooms don’t cover more than 50 percent of the property’s floor space." Title should be changed IMO.
- dang 11y agoOk, we added "some". Thanks. Edit: actually, we've changed the title to that of the article itself, in accordance with the HN guidelines. Submitters: it's against the rules here to rewrite a title except when it is misleading or linkbait, so please only do so in those cases. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- drpgq 11y agoOne has to think though that especially for somewhere like Berlin most people are going to want to rent an entire apartment> I know when I go to Berlin, I would prefer not to have to stumble drunk through someone's apartment while they are there to get to a bedroom.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- JohnTHaller 11y agoIt appears that AirBnB makes most of their revenue from whole apartment rentals including in markets where whole apartment short term rentals are illegal like NYC.
- jvm 11y agoThe dynamic is a little different than in most other cities. What's really happening here is that cheap rent is a kind of entitlement in Berlin: rent controls extend across tenants so getting an apartment is really about persuading a landlord to take you rather than bidding at an appropriate price point. AirBnB gets around this by allowing rentals at arbitrary price points. This is true whether it's an owner or a renter doing the leasing, which is very different from other markets in which it's mostly a concern of renters abusing their leases. > "The Berlin Senate’s ruling nonetheless reflects a general feeling across a city in which homes are getting harder to find: Berliners have had enough and they want their city back." Translation: There is no pricing mechanism on rents in the city and it is becoming increasingly impossible to find an apartment. While it's certainly true that AirBnB essentially allows landlords to flout the law, it's worth noting that the adverse effects of price ceilings on supply are the root cause of Berlin's problems and this will not solve the underlying problem of rents being far from equilibrium.
- jvm 11y agoMore on the slow-moving train wreck here [1]: http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/07/berlins-brand-new-rent-control-laws-are-already-working/398087/ http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/07/berlins-brand-new-ren... TL;DR they're also placing tight ceilings on new development. [1] This article is supportive but seems oblivious to the supply-side effects.
- teh 11y agoI'm not sure it's that simple. In London we have no limit and it's now one of the most expensive places on this planet and despite that it's increasingly impossible to find an apartment. Maybe there is some other cause (e.g. everyone wants to live in a city now)?
- Dramatize 11y agoAirbnb is the only reason we visited Berlin. Without it, I doubt we would return.
- miloshadzic 11y agoThis is among the dumbest things I've ever read on HN.
- aianus 11y agoHow? If Berlin wants to make it difficult to find affordable short-term housing then obviously some people (like me and OP) would rather go somewhere else.
- ptaipale 11y agoBy the way, Berlin's hotel market is quite affordable. A room in a decent Best Western is in the order of 50 €, which is way lower than in other European capitals.
- takno 11y agoBerlin had an extremely lively tourism sector before Air BnB existed and will doubtless continue to have one afterwards. Tourism is a double-edged sword anyway - it provides jobs, although often not particularly good ones, but it can easily grow to a point where it damages the cultural life or general quality of life for a host city. In this case I think the judgement has been made that AirBnB tourism does more harm to Berlin than good.
- nommm-nommm 11y agoWhy?
- drpgq 11y agoSo before Airbnb existed, people should not have traveled?
- return0 11y ago
- aminok 11y agoCentral economic planning is disastrous.
- jqm 11y agoNo, central economic planning has traditionally been viewed as disastrous. Doesn't mean it "is" or "always will always be". In fact, you undoubtedly live to some extent under the auspices of some form of central economic planning right now. Why? Because at some point it was realized complete lack of central economic planning is disastrous. But you are really arguing against government controlled rent prices no? I tend to probably agree in most cases.
- Frondo 11y agoAnd, heh, I've seen it argued persuasively that the U.S. now operates with the same degree of inefficiency (i.e. resources allocated less than optimally, not responsive to market conditions, etc.) of a centrally planned economy, just due to the concentration of money now. Sort of a de-facto central planning, even though it certainly isn't one in name. I tried to find the links where I saw this, couldn't. I'll keep looking.
- jqm 11y agoIt stands to reason. Centralized bureaucracy is centralized bureaucracy. What was it said about the Soviet Union? That they pretended to pay people and the people pretended to work? Well.....
- aminok 10y agoIt's disastrous due to game theory dynamics that apply to all large societies. It will always be disastrous. The spontaneous order of an unregulated, freely configured economy, is the only way to utilize the vast volume of knowledge that is diffused throughout the population. Protection of private property and market rights is the absolute best way to both allocate capital for maximum economic returns, and maximize incentives for productive activity. > Why? Because at some point it was realized complete lack of central economic planning is disastrous. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that was the reason. You're making a reckless leap of logic to rationalize and justify authoritarianism (central economic planning).
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- forrestthewoods 11y agoThe solution to bad regulation is rarely MORE regulation.
- zspitzer 11y agoIt's worth mentioning that the influx of refugees into Berlin has dramatically increased the demand for housing, there are stories of landlords putting up an affordable property online for one hour and getting 250 applications to rent it
- jlg23 11y agoDo you have anything to back up that it's the refugees who put pressure on the market? Refugees usually don't have enough money to compete on the open rental market in Berlin's central districts. They can apply for "WBS" which can get them an apartment that is subsidized by the state (for which the landlord has to apply upfront) and which tend not to be in the center anymore but in low-income areas where landlords have an incentive to enter that contract with the state - they are sure that they get the rent every month on time in contrast to fighting for months to get rid of tenants who default on their rent. 250 applications coming in over night were already common 5 years ago. I remember that in 2001 I was seeing an apartment together with about 50 other interested people - the ad had been up since the day before 3pm...
- kogepathic 11y ago> there are stories of landlords putting up an affordable property online for one hour and getting 250 applications to rent it This doesn't just happen in Berlin. I've lived in several German cities, Berlin included, and it's really difficult to find an apartment in _any_ reasonably large/popular German city (e.g. Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Köln). It's a Germany-wide problem, that just happens to be most acute in Berlin. Unless you're really fast, super aggressive, or can leverage your network to talk to the people moving out, you'll have a difficult time in finding an apartment.
- chx 11y agoMy favorite phrase applies: dura lex, sed lex. If you don't like the legislation, the regulation then go in and vote to change it. Rally fellow minded people to convince others to vote in favor of what you like. Do not, however, go around the law just because you do not like it.
- ovi256 10y agoHow does civil disobedience fit in ?
- geebee 10y agoIsn't that a tough question? There's no way we'll ever answer it, especially on a web discussion board. It's an important question though, mainly because it comes up every time people have a passionate, and perhaps legitimate, disagreement about what the law ought to be. High school debates aside, I think almost everyone agrees that civil disobedience is sometimes completely justified. People also almost universally agree that breaking every law you don't like, simply because you don't think it should be the law, would not be justified. So, where do regulations on short term rentals fit in? My initial reaction is that this is an easy one. I don't think that regulations on converting a house to a hotel get anywhere close to the standard I'd expect for what wikipedia defines as a "active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is a symbolic or ritualistic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of the system as a whole"… That said, I would give the nod to people who would seek to violate some types of zoning regulations. It is certainly possible for zoning regulations (school districts, voting districts, and so forth) to reach vile levels of class and race discrimination. A lot of people, for instance, might want to keep a boarding house for migratory workers out of their district - a ban on short term rentals could accomplish this. In the case of airbnb, I would see that as a bit of manipulation, though - in general, what I'm seeing is housing that used to be occupied by long term residents, especially children who cost a lot of money and don't pay rent, getting evicted and turned into a fun crash pad for tourists who would like to spend a while in the wine country or the left bank of Paris. I personally think that short term rentals are a real threat to neighborhoods like the french quarter in New Orleans, large sections of San Francisco, and, sure, Berlin. In short, while I leave the door slightly open for meaningful civil disobedience to excessively restrictive zoning laws that curtail short term rentals, I don't see many of the current measures as coming anywhere close to the standard for civil disobedience. You'll never get an airtight argument as solid as a mathematical proof on this, though. It just isn't like that.
- phantom_oracle 11y agoDoesn't SV and other areas that had chronic apartment shortages before AirBnB existed now have an even greater shortage due to short-term rentals? I know that some might argue that "build baby, build" is the solution. However, in an earthquake-zone (which I recall California is), isn't it risky to build skyscrapers and other large structures? Governments are sometimes oblivious to general needs, but there must be a good reason why more housing-construction has not been approved in some areas. (I'm thinking in densely-populated cities like Berlin, London and Paris, congestion and pollution might be issues they have to worry about also)
- dimino 11y agoIt's risky, but the same order of magnitude (so to speak) that driving your car into work is "risky".
- kelnos 11y agoGovernments are sometimes oblivious to general needs, but there must be a good reason why more housing-construction has not been approved in some areas. Earthquakes certainly aren't the reason for SF. It's the city's byzantine planning process, and NIMBYs and entrenched interests who get in the way of new development in the name of "not changing the character of the city".
- simoncion 11y ago> Doesn't SV and other areas that had chronic apartment shortages before AirBnB existed now have an even greater shortage due to short-term rentals? Not in SF. If you don't occupy the place you short-term rent, during the time you rent it, you may only legally rent it for 90 days per year. What's more, if the place you rent is covered by rent stabilization, it is illegal to make more in rent per month than you pay to your landlord each month. That is to say that you can only legally cover rent through short-term rentals; you may not turn a profit. > However, in an earthquake-zone (which I recall California is), isn't it risky to build skyscrapers and other large structures? The Transamerica Pyramid [0] (and every other skyscraper in FiDi) survived the 1989 earthquake. So, I'mma say "No, not significantly more risky." :) For a more recent example, the Salesforce Tower [1] is (reportedly) well under way to completion. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica_Pyramid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica_Pyramid [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesforce_Tower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesforce_Tower
- solidsnack9000 11y agoA city is more than a rental market -- it's also a community. This is where all the-market-fixes-everything kind of arguments fall short. Unfettered development would eventually stack Berlin with enough housing but the disruption to people's lives would be immense; and Berlin would lose much of the charm and character that has drawn so many people there to begin with. A city is one part market and one part enchanted forest.
- wrongc0ntinent 11y agoI absolutely agree. It's ironic that we move to the places we fall in love with, only to modify them to our own needs. But this is the history of cities. It should always be up to local communities to accept or reject us. In a way, you can measure the strength of local culture by how it assimilates outsiders. Conversely, you can probably gauge the strength of an outside culture by how resistant it is to local assimilation. Of course, purchasing power speaks many languages.
- zorked 11y agoIt's a bit like tourism. You travel to see the places which get destroyed by you being there...
- personlurking 10y agoAnd if we take the tourism bit a bit further, the tourist's search for the authentic ends up with companies ready and willing to offer a back door into local culture, creating an impression of authenticity for a tourist audience (often called "staged authenticity" in tourism studies). This could be compared a bit to gentrification, in which I am reminded of Gertrude Stein's phrase "there is no there there" as well as, albiet more distantly, Marc Auge's concept of nonplaces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Stein#.22There_is_no_there_there.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Stein#.22There_is_no_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_place
- solidsnack9000 10y ago
- jlg23 11y agoSome background tidbits the article does not explain very well or at all: * For short-term rentals (vacation homes) one needs to have a permit and pay taxes. * Subletting your apartment without permission from the landlord is illegal, making a profit and not declaring it is tax fraud (and most don't declare them because then they'd also have to have a permit and pay tourist tax). * The landlord has to grant permission for sublets (also whole apartments) if the tenant is temporarily moving out of town but wants to keep the apartment, but also here: no profit allowed. EDIT: The landlord has a right to review every single intermediate tenant - so he can refuse them (this basically rules out the AirBnB model in this scenario). What really annoys people is that in the best locations there are lots of people who ignore the existing laws and the rest of society has to pay for that: by not finding an affordable space to live, by having to endure a new set of drunk neighbors every weekend who either party in the apartment or come home drunk and very noisy at 4am and who, understandably, don't participate in the house community (and yes, people tend to know their neighbors and even talk to them!). But before adopting new laws it would have been much simpler to simply enforce the existing laws. Get all these folks who offer apartments on AirBnB 365 days a year and check whether they have all permits and taxes. Let them pay fines. Put them on a list of people whose tax-statements and books are checked annually (they do that with everybody else who commits tax fraud or just annoys the tax clerks). Calling German laws too rigid is everyone's right, but it is also the right of German people to value diversity in their cities enough to protect it by those rigid laws.
- briandear 10y agoWhy must everything be taxed? Tourist taxes seem to me to be among the most ridiculous. Tourists bring in economic activity which provides far more value than the tourist taxes collected. Taxing something results in less of it; why a city would want to reduce tourism is beyond me. It isn't like tourists are not paying VAT, transport taxes, etc. The business owners that sell to tourists are making more money, which is also taxed and leads to them hiring more people and buying more products. However leftists love feeding the government even if it is a net loss for economic prosperity. They want to tax everything without understanding that taxes reduce economic activity.You certainly need a minimum level of taxation, but it's a religion with many people. Next time you rent a car, have a look at the various taxes. Then calculate how many taxes the car company is paying for that euro of revenue. The same transaction is ultimately taxed each time to money touches someone. As far as subletting, that should be handled between the landlord and the tenant: that's a private contract and the government ought not have any say. If there's a problem with 'drunken neighbors,' then that also should be handled contractually between the co-proprietors of a particular building. Government intervention isn't necessary for any of this.
- youngButEager 11y agoCities can make all the rent control laws they want. (See for example NYC and San Francisco here in the USA). Property investors can decide to never build apartments in such cities. Then you wind up with a shortage of willing landlords. (See NYC and SF). Some folks don't think they need willing landlords. Okay, strike that: some folks don't think they need MORE, not FEWER, willing landlords. Rent control laws cut the supply to nothing. Willing landlords will NOT build and operate in these areas. You may not like it that willing landlords are the other party here -- the tuple of (renter | landlord) -- but they are. An analogy: cities use very high fines for parking in Disabled People's parking. By removing the benefit to park in those spots (ie. fining people hundreds of $$) -- the supply of non-handicapped drivers parking in handicapped spots is cut, drastically. Another example: The supply of willing bar owners selling drinks to young-looking people without checking their ID is small. The reason? BINGO, the city made it unprofitable for bar owners who fail to check IDs. When a city tells Landlords "you're a pain, here -- making next to nothing" -- the supply of willing landlords drops. The result of rent control laws is A SHORTAGE OF WILLING LANDLORDS. A SHORTAGE OF NEW APARTMENT CONSTRUCTION. CONVERSION OF APARTMENTS TO CONDOS. Rent control REDUCES THE SUPPLY of apartments. When that supply drops -- like it has in NYC and SF -- what happened to rents? FREAKING HIGHEST IN THE COUNTRY! Because the DEMAND is still there, and growing. But the supply is dropping. The cities with the STRONGEST RENT CONTROL -- have the HIGHEST RENTS IN THE COUNTRY! Like hearing that? No? Then you cannot handle the truth. Here's from the article: The long term effect of these laws (rent controls, restrictions on AirBnB etc) is already clear. Sweden already has these policies. Just look at Sweden to see what the future holds. Sweden has rent control. This causes the existing housing to be converted to AirBnB and rentals to be converted into condominiums. It also makes it more worthwhile to put investment money into owner-occupied housing than build new rental apartments, as owner occupied housing isn't subject to price controls. Almost 90% of Sweden's local government areas now report a shortage of rental apartments. This includes countryside areas and small towns. Students cannot get into university because they cannot find housing, or have to queue for years. In Stockholm, you have to wait for 10 years on average in a government queue system to get just the chance to apply for a rental apartment. It is a similar story almost everywhere else in Sweden. In 2013, one woman waited for 28 years to get her Stockholm rental apartment. Berlin is already starting to see some of these problems with large crowds of competition for apartments at viewings etc
- erikb 10y agoHow I moved from "impossible" over "how did that happen without me noticing" to "yeah, that sounds great". All the reasons are exactly what I want: less parties, more cheap living space. Hope it works as intended.
- code5fun 10y agoThey are doing right what London is doing wrong with the so called golfies that rent an apartment and are there only in summer with their supercars.