The European Commission opens the door to allowing municipalities to impose restrictions on second homes and tourist rentals in the areas most threatened by the housing crisis sweeping the continent. The regulation does not prohibit second homes in any case, but according to a draft of the proposal accessed by this newspaper, it would provide legal coverage to municipalities and governments so that they can limit the purchase of housing for non-primary use in areas of greatest housing tension, provided they present evidence with data justifying the measure and demonstrate that there are no less restrictive alternatives to solve the problem.
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This is the new Affordable Housing Law, which will be presented this Wednesday by the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, and the Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jorgensen. If nothing changes in the draft, the community proposal implies for the first time this legal framework with limits on the purchase of second homes, which would not affect those already acquired, through the creation of a rigorous control framework to ensure compatibility with European Union law.
That said, according to the draft, to apply any restriction on second homes, municipalities or competent local authorities must be able to demonstrate with objective evidence that the purchase of homes for uses other than primary residences has harmed housing affordability in that area for at least the previous three years. For example, to address cases of vacation towns like Biarritz, in France, where most houses are already second homes and locals cannot acquire homes for personal use.
Municipalities must demonstrate with evidence the negative effects of second homes
The regulation also allows local administrations to adopt severe commercial restrictions for platforms like Airbnb, without fear of long legal battles for violating EU market freedoms, which often end up discouraging municipalities from acting firmly. However, the European Commission has drawn a red line by prohibiting in this draft any type of restriction on tourist rentals if they are carried out in the host’s primary residence, as it understands this to be legitimate financial support for many families.
On the other hand, in properties that do not constitute the owner’s primary residence, municipalities will be able to apply strict authorization schemes, registrations, or quantitative limits if they demonstrate that the increase in tourist accommodations has had a real and proven negative impact on traditional rentals for at least the previous three years, just as in the case of second homes.
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Additionally, Brussels requests that before taking such drastic steps, more proportional alternatives be prioritized. That is, less restrictive measures such as quantitative caps in stressed areas, or exceptions for extreme difficulties or tax incentives.
Community sources explain that the proposals of the Mayors for Housing alliance, including the mayor of Barcelona Jaume Collboni, who has demanded more legal coverage from Brussels and also the definition of housing stress zones to address this crisis, have been taken very much into account. “The framework is very inspired by the mayors’ proposals,” they explain from Brussels.
If approved in this form this Wednesday at Ursula von der Leyen’s College of Commissioners, the European proposal still has a long way to go. It requires the green light from the EU Council (the Member States) and also from the European Parliament, where the right is the majority in both institutions. Popular sources have already shown their outright rejection of the proposals to limit short-term rentals and second homes, which they believe would harm the local economy and destroy jobs.
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