Thanks to platforms such as Booking, Airbnb, TripAdvisor and others, the practice of renting a room or apartment for several days, or even just one night, has become quite popular among tourists. Saving money allows you to cover more cities at one time and spend your savings not on an overnight stay, but on truly vivid vacation experiences. And landlords are only happy to have such guests because, together with new acquaintances, they receive a stable and endless flow of money. Short-term rental has become a new trend in the real estate market, but precisely because of its popularity, it has already encountered considerable resistance from the governments of many countries.
How and why do the world's tourist capitals put a spoke in the wheels of daily rental adherents? Is it worth giving up reliable long-term cooperation in favor of quick money? We will simply show you the most striking examples, and the conclusions are yours.
Attempt to “turn off everything that is on” did not work
It would seem that Turkey, to which all those who have never been abroad go first... Turkey, to which experienced travelers return, tired of colorful landscapes and new emotions... Turkey, to which they go with the desire to immerse themselves in the color markets and the rustle of sea waves certainly cannot have anything against foreign guests. That’s how it is, but only as long as they stay in hotels with the already familiar set of “all inclusive” amenities. It is representatives of one of the most profitable areas in the country they childishly lied to the government and asked to limit and tighten the rules for renting housing to foreign guests.
Thanks to money-hungry businessmen, landlords are forced to fulfill a number of requirements in order to receive legal income from your legally purchased real estate:
- issue a special license;
- before signing a lease agreement for a period of up to 100 days, it is necessary to obtain a license from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, as well as obtain the written consent of all residents of the house;
- before signing a rental agreement for a period of more than 100 days, you must also obtain a separate license;
- at the entrance to the rented premises it is required to place a sign with information that foreign citizens are temporarily residing here;
- subletting is strictly prohibited.
In addition to the strict conditions, the same penalties are provided:
- for renting out housing without a license – 100,000 liras ($3,500);
- for failure to obtain a license 15 days after receiving the first fine - 500,000 liras ($17,600);
- for failure to obtain a license 15 days after receiving a fine - 1 million liras ($35,300);
- for subletting housing – 100,000 liras ($3,500);
- for renting out housing without an appropriate sign - 100,000 liras ($3,500).
The most surprising thing in this situation is that Turkey still firmly believes in increasing demand from foreigners in 2025. Innovations benefit hotel owners, but not investors. This is a unique case when you don’t need to wait for the situation to develop to understand that the forecasts from experts are wrong.
Even the Leaning Tower of Pisa will straighten up from such news
Italy's financial police have finally figured out where homeowners got so much money to buy prosciutto - employees seized €779 million ($835 million) for non-payment of taxes relating to the rental of real estate. In accordance with the legislation of the country, landlords are required to give 21% of the profits received to the state treasury. It turns out that their total profit was €3.7 billion. And this is only if we judge the malicious tax evaders caught red-handed. It’s scary to imagine how much more money the property owners managed to hide.
It was possible to obtain such unheard-of and illegal profits thanks to the Airbnb service, popular among tourists. It is actively used all over the world, so the problem of tax evasion is familiar not only to Italy. Landlords who welcome foreign citizens into their homes with open arms are being cut off all over Europe. Short-term rentals are turning from a profitable business and a convenient way to travel into an almost illegal activity. It all started after Italian and other European governments decided to review the tax practices of international corporations. New policies aimed at the interests of the local population often contradict them.
“Prohibition cannot be permitted” – where do the US authorities put a comma when considering short-term rentals?
Not long ago a new law regarding landlords, their apartments and rooms came into force. Without going into details, it almost completely... prohibits everything regarding short-term rentals. Law No. 18 “on the registration of short-term rentals,” as well as in European countries, is largely aimed at limiting the activities of the AirBnB company, thanks to which a foreign tourist finds a local homeowner, and the homeowner finds profit for which he is in no hurry to pay taxes. Among the main requirements for landlords, it is worth noting the following:
- you must register with the Mayor's Office of Specially Authorized Authorities (OSE);
- only owners included in the register have the right to rent out housing;
- if the rental period is less than 30 days, the lessor is obliged to live in the same premises (in the next room or somewhere within the apartment / house) together with the tenant;
- For the same rental period, another rule was invented - only two people can rent housing at the same time. Thus, a family of mom, dad and child can no longer spend a vacation under one roof.
Violation of this last rule will result in a fine of $5,000. And no one cares about the happiness of the family and the first journey of their baby. AirBnB, Booking and analog booking platforms are also prohibited from processing transactions or working with unregistered owners. An investor who wants to make money on daily rentals will ultimately receive not so much profit as a headache.