The Netherlands: According to reports from the city of Amsterdam, the city’s vacation rentals are only at 25 per cent of their pre-pandemic occupancy.
This not only follows the country’s lockdown period, but new laws introduced in the city mandating permits for vacation rental properties.
The permit requirement came into place on 1 July, and since then, Amsterdam has provided 3,349 permits in total, one third to vacation rental owners and two thirds to traditional bed and breakfasts. This represents a small fragment of the 20,000 properties currently listed on Airbnb, though the law does allow properties to be listed while a permit is processing so long as they have no guests.
A spokesperson for the city told Het Parool: “Our digital investigation shows that nothing is currently happening with the houses that are for rent.”
Three of the most popular neighbourhoods in the city centre, Burgwallen-Oude Zijde, Burgwallen-Nieuwe Zijde and the Grachtengordel-Zuid, have seen an outright ban after a study revealed the negative impact of vacation rentals on city quality of life. Airbnb contested this law’s implementation, claiming that it infringes on the rights of city residents.
A city spokesperson said: “The municipality commissioned a study to see to what extent the livability of neighbourhoods in the opinion of the residents was negatively affected by the tourist rental of apartments. These three neighbourhoods turned out to have the worst scores.”
During the first month after the law’s implementation, three landlords were fined nearly €21,000 for failure to comply with city laws and could be liable for €29,000 of additional fines if they continue renting. Three additional landlords were fined in August for an unknown amount.
Another possible cause of the decline could be the rise in day trips from Dutch tourists, which do not require accommodation. The city and Prime Minister Mark Rutte have both noted the impact caused by these trips, cautioning against possible growing infection rtes.
