Last week, New York made a drastic decision by ban all those temporary tourist rental contracts of less than one month. Here, while the debate on the rental law was delayed, a project less ambitious, but which also gets involved with rentals through platforms and whose main objective is to regulate the market and dedollarize rates. Y A Buenos Aires law already governs to create a “host” record.
Short-stay rentals, managed by platforms such as Airbnb or Booking, are questioned around the world by the negative impact they generate in the local market: They are accused of distorting prices and offers for those who are residents. And in a market like the local one, especially in cities with tourist attractions, the impact can be greater.
In New York, the Short-Term Rental Registration Law has been in force since September 5, which was approved in 2022 and, among other rules, prevents apartments from being rented for less than 30 days. What it does admit are rents lower than that term. if the host is present at the accommodation and has no more than two visitors.
Here, while the Senate delays the treatment of the law that was approved in Deputies and modifies the current regulation of traditional rentals, a joint project of legislators from the Frente de Todos (FdT) and Together for Change (JxC) began to be discussed in the Senate. The initiative seeks to create a national registration of properties that are temporarily rented to tourists.
According to the authors (the Kirchnerist senator Ana María Ianni, for Santa Cruz; and the radical Mariana Juri, for Mendoza), “one of the premises of the project is to give guarantees to the tenants and owners involved in the short-term rental contract, support that today they do not have in conflict situations.” Among the examples they describe situations such as, since they are not included in the Civil and Commercial Code, it can occur that tourists settle in and do not want to leave; while in the case of those who rent, they may encounter security problems and lack of controls in gas or electricity installations and not having anyone to complain to.
The bill has other key points: if approved, they will be the same platforms that will request the data from the owners to inform the Governmentand rates may no longer be expressed in dollars.
New York put limits on temporary rentals. Here, the Senate debates a regulation project and the City already has a law that is almost not complied with.
The City already has a law
With a similar objective, in the City of Buenos Aires there is already a law that obliges the owners of Temporary Tourist Rentals to sign up for a registry. The process is free. However, according to official figures there are no more than 600 owners, compared to the more than 17,000 that are on offer on the platforms.
“Temporary tourist rental is understood to be the accommodation service in units intended for housing, in whole or in part, for a minimum period of one night’s stay and up to three months”says the text of the Buenos Aires law that, in a second instance, imposes as an obligation that the so-called “hosts” inform the consortium of co-owners that the unit is going to be occupied by tourists. Furthermore, it stipulates that this activity should not be expressly prohibited by the consortium regulations.
Also, registered owners must “verify the identity and record information about each hosted guest, as well as the accommodation period”, and notify “the City Tourism Entity of the cessation of its offer as a temporary rental property”, in the event that this occurs. Finally, according to the law, a copy of the registration certificate in the Registry must be on display at the entrance to the place intended for rental. Additionally, the property must have a civil liability insurance for damages against third parties.
Beyond regulation, another of the objectives of the project that is being discussed in the Senate is to encourage more owners to keep their properties in the traditional offer and not turn it to temporary, as has been happening in the City, where the The traditional rental offer is on its historic floor, with less than 900 properties.
Solution or new problem?
But both the Senate project and the Buenos Aires law occur in an area and economic scenario very different from the one New York is going through. For José Rozados, president of Reporte Inmobiliario, The housing problems of Buenos Aires have nothing to do with those of cities like New York or Paris.
“In Buenos Aires, the phenomenon of temporary rental occurs concentrated in certain neighborhoods such as Palermo, Recoleta, Puerto Madero and Belgrano. There is nothing Airbnb in Nueva Pompeya, Mataderos, Paternal or Liniers,” said the real estate market specialist.
He also said that “trying to excite” people with the idea that with this regulation on temporary rentals “it will be possible to mitigate the problem of rental supply is precisely putting the cart before the horse, since discourages the little formal offer in the face of more regulation, turning it towards informality”-
For Rozados, what is even more serious is that the bill “discourages investment in future construction of units that generate work and taxes that remain in Argentina. Those who have available capital and could invest it here, will take it to other friendlier destinations such as Montevideo, Asuncion or Madrid”he highlighted.
The rental market in the City is at historic supply levels. Photo: Federico López Claro
Rental law
In the attempt to regulate temporary rentals, the example of the current law for the traditional market serves as an example, which was enacted three years ago and is under debate because rentals are at their worst. Many owners, discouraged by the three-year contracts and the annual updating of values, choose to withdraw the properties to put them on the temporary market or simply stop renting them. Everything happens with an annual inflation of 120% as a framework.
Deputies have already approved changes. The main ones are that it shrinks to two years the extension of the bond between owner and tenant, and which leaves adjustment intervals to the consideration of an agreement between the parties, which cannot be less than 4 months. In addition, it stipulates that you can choose the consumer price index (CPI), the wholesale price index (WPI) and/or the wage index (IS), prepared by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) or A combination.
The project, like the one that seeks to regulate temporary rentals, is in the Senate, which is delaying its discussion. It is because the opposition intends to approve it as it came from the Deputies, while the ruling party seeks to modify it, which would make it return to the Deputies.
2023-09-08 08:55:19
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