12 October 2015

Amsterdam Short stay rentals

The Amsterdam home owner who is about to be traveling for some time you may wish a real estate attorney draw up a lease. The booking services like Airbnb.com will require property owners to fall under their leaseholder agreement, and if your local legal issues are at odds with their agreement, it’s up to the property owner how to deal with that. The property owner may be subject to enforcement of the City Council if local rules on short stay rental are infringed. The Amsterdam City Council has launched a controversial rule that the short stay rental period may not be for less than seven nights. Rentals for less than seven days are presumed to be hotel rentals an infringing public housing laws. Also, and short stay is only allowed in the privatized rental sector. Houses rented under the Housing Regulation (Huisvestingsverordening) may not be used for subletting or short stay rentals.

Enforcement of Amsterdam short stay rules

The City of Amsterdam strictly monitors landlords who provide short stay properties for valid permits, fire prevention and safety measures, the number of overnight stays, nuisances and excesses. Landlords may lose their permits and offenders may face fines of up to €18,500. Short stay provide by local tenants in Amsterdam is only allowed in the privatised housing sector with rents over €710.68. Furthermore, the proportion of short stay properties per district may not exceed 10% of the total number of properties in the private housing sector. Real estate attorneys are hired more frequently to defend home-owners against tough and disproportional enforcement by the City of Amsterdam.

The controversial seven day rule in Amsterdam

Rentals for less than seven days are presumed to be hotel rentals. This is a strange rule. Dutch home owners have a civil right to rent (a part of) their home. Tenants have also a civil right to rent a part of their home as long as they live in the house themselves. The City of Amsterdam therefor recognizes ‘Bed & Breakfast’, where the occupant lives in the accommodation but rents out part of it, is also not classified as short stay. Short stay addresses are independent, furnished properties.

Is the City allowed to be involved in rental affairs of private persons?

The Amsterdam rules on short stay are controversial. The presumption that short stay for less then 7 days makes a house is hotel has no foundation in the law. Of course homes rented under the Housing Allocation Act and the Regional Housing Regulations are subject to strict rules, but the home owners in the private sector are limited unlawfully by the City Council. This civil right is infringed by the seven-day-rue of the City of Amsterdam. This local rule to prevent shorts stay has to be challenged in Court. The rule has led to uncertainty for owners who rented their Amsterdam homes as short stay addresses.