- 14 Mar 2002
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It looks like the wild days of AirBNB and other vacation-rental services are over. The new law on short-term lodging to be enacted in June will limit the number of days home owners can rent out their properties to 180.
Compared to other cities that's not too bad. Here's what I googled up:
Japan's new law on short-term lodging services was meant to ease a shortage of hotel rooms, bring order to an unregulated market, and offer more options for foreign visitors ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Instead, the law is likely to stifle Airbnb Inc. when it is enacted in June, along with other businesses based on vacation-rental websites, and force many homeowners to stop offering their services, renters and experts say. The law on minpaku (private lodging services), the first national legal framework for short-term room rentals in Asia, limits provision of the services to 180 days a year — a cap some hosts say makes it difficult to turn a profit.
More important, municipal governments, which have final authority to regulate services in their areas, are imposing even more severe restrictions, citing security or noise concerns. For example, Tokyo's Chuo Ward, home to the tony Ginza shopping district, has banned weekday rentals on the grounds that allowing strangers into apartment buildings during the week could be unsafe. That's a huge disappointment for Airbnb "superhost" Mika, who asked that her last name not be used because home-based rental is now officially allowed only in certain zones. She has enjoyed hosting international visitors in her spare two-bedroom apartment but will stop because her building's management has decided to ban the service ahead of the law's enactment. "I was able to meet many different people I would have not met otherwise," said Mika, 53, who started renting out her apartment after she used a short-term lodging service overseas. "I may sell my condo." [...]
In Japan, new rules may leave short-term lodging industry out in the cold | The Japan Times
Compared to other cities that's not too bad. Here's what I googled up:
- Amsterdam: a maximum of 30 days p.a.
- London: 90 days p.a.
- Paris: 120 days p.a.
- New York: minimum of 30 consecutive days
- Toronto: minimum of 28 days, maximum 90 days p.a.
- Pasadena: 90 day limit and host must live on property
- Iceland: 90 days p.a.
Japan's new law on short-term lodging services was meant to ease a shortage of hotel rooms, bring order to an unregulated market, and offer more options for foreign visitors ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Instead, the law is likely to stifle Airbnb Inc. when it is enacted in June, along with other businesses based on vacation-rental websites, and force many homeowners to stop offering their services, renters and experts say. The law on minpaku (private lodging services), the first national legal framework for short-term room rentals in Asia, limits provision of the services to 180 days a year — a cap some hosts say makes it difficult to turn a profit.
More important, municipal governments, which have final authority to regulate services in their areas, are imposing even more severe restrictions, citing security or noise concerns. For example, Tokyo's Chuo Ward, home to the tony Ginza shopping district, has banned weekday rentals on the grounds that allowing strangers into apartment buildings during the week could be unsafe. That's a huge disappointment for Airbnb "superhost" Mika, who asked that her last name not be used because home-based rental is now officially allowed only in certain zones. She has enjoyed hosting international visitors in her spare two-bedroom apartment but will stop because her building's management has decided to ban the service ahead of the law's enactment. "I was able to meet many different people I would have not met otherwise," said Mika, 53, who started renting out her apartment after she used a short-term lodging service overseas. "I may sell my condo." [...]
In Japan, new rules may leave short-term lodging industry out in the cold | The Japan Times