Summer time is right here, and lots of vacationers are planning their holidays. Nonetheless, beginning July 1, 2024, those that host friends in Vienna by way of short-term leases will probably be topic to new laws.
Attributable to a rise within the conversion of residing areas into vacationer lodging, the town has imposed these laws to manage the business.
Though it is a new improvement, Vienna solely follows within the footsteps of different European cities like Paris, Barcelona, and Amsterdam, which have already carried out related guidelines. However what does this imply for Airbnb’s enterprise mannequin? Does it imply the tip of it?
The reply isn’t any. Brief-term leases in Vienna of two to thirty days, often known as residence sharing, will proceed to be accessible all through the town, however with sure limitations.
Brief-term leases in Vienna Go Again to the Origin
It’s allowed for an individual to hire out a dwelling as their important, secondary, or secondary residence for a brief interval—not more than 90 days a 12 months. This implies you possibly can hire your own home throughout holidays, for instance. Property house owners who resolve to hire out their properties are normally required to pay a neighborhood tax, although they do not want the co-owners’ permission.
Nonetheless, you possibly can not provide an condominium completely for short-term rental. This alteration brings the regulation nearer to Airbnb’s authentic thought, the place the founders, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, positioned an air mattress of their lounge to create a sleeping possibility for friends. This alteration takes the regulation again to its authentic enterprise thought.
Authorization Required
If you wish to provide a short-term rental in Vienna that does not meet the situations talked about above, you may want an exemption sooner or later. Whether or not your condominium is inside or outdoors a residential zone makes a distinction. Residential zones are areas designated to protect the housing inventory in a selected zone. Getting a allow for a short-term rental inside a residential zone is more durable.
To get an exemption for an condominium outdoors a residential zone, it’s essential to meet the next necessities: The condominium should not be in a residential zone or an allotment, and no housing subsidies should have been used to construct it. Additionally, greater than 50 p.c of the items within the affected constructing should nonetheless be used for normal residential functions.
To be granted the exemption, you may want the consent of all (co-) constructing house owners. The exemption is legitimate for a most of 5 years, after which you may want to use for a brand new one. Even when short-term leases are allowed, they are not allowed for an infinite interval.
An exemption allow might be granted for utilizing an condominium for short-term rental inside a residential zone, topic to sure situations. The allow should be granted provided that, after excluding the bottom flooring and basement, not less than 80% of the usable residing house stays within the constructing. An exemption will also be granted if the standard of residing within the affected recreation rooms is lowered by exterior elements akin to lighting and air flow or as a result of condominium’s unfavorable place on the bottom flooring. Moreover, an exemption might be granted if an equal residing house is created in the identical residential zone and district with the same condominium measurement, tools, and common hire. Co-owners within the constructing can object to this exemption, however as soon as the allow is obtained, it should stay legitimate indefinitely.
Extra Management and Penalties
Implementing the ban on short-term lodging in residential areas with no allow was difficult up to now. Vienna’s authorities relied primarily on complaints to take motion. Nonetheless, new measures have been launched to make monitoring simpler. This features a requirement for authorization and exchanging knowledge with the tax authority on present native tax accounts.
Moreover, the penal provision has been prolonged to cowl not simply the precise rental but in addition the providing of an condominium on-line in violation of constructing laws. That is punishable as an administrative offense, resulting in 300 extra administrative legal proceedings per 12 months. The penalty vary of as much as 50,000 euros applies to the supplier and the proprietor.
Though some will nonetheless be allowed to hire short-term properties in Vienna, corporations providing whole properties by way of Airbnb should discover a new strategy. One possibility could also be repurposing the zoning, that means the premises would not be categorized as flats.
