Industry submits official complaint to European Commission about unjustified and disproportionate Catalan short-term rental accommodation rules

The European Holiday Home Association (EHHA), the voice of short-term rental accommodation (STR) in Europe, submitted an official complaint to the European Commission about unjustified and disproportionate Catalan short-term rental accommodation rules, which are contrary to EU law.

In the EU, any national, regional or local rules which aim to impose restrictions on the provision of the short-term rental services, must comply with the EU law and more specifically the Services Directive. The Services Directive clarifies that any such rules must be justified, non-discriminatory and proportionate.

The EHHA believes that the Catalan Housing Decree (3/2023) breaches the EU’s Services Directive as restrictions laid down for short-term rental accommodation providers are unjustified, disproportionate and unsuitable for addressing the over tourism and housing shortages. As such, they risk causing significant damage to families aiming to battle increasing costs of living, tourism operators of any size and shape and to local economies.

EHHA highlights that politically inflamed accusations that short-term rentals impact availability and affordability of housing and contribute to over-tourism is too one-dimensional in a multi-faceted and overly complex discussion. Issues such as increasing urban population and migration, ageing societies, insufficient investment or underspent public budget in building new homes, rigid urban planning regimes, vacant houses and empty commercial spaces, mortgage rates are at heart of housing challenges in Europe today and STRs should not be seen as an easy scapegoat for excessively restrictive rules, to the detriment of European citizens, small tourism providers and local communities.

The Secretary General of the EHHA, Ms Viktorija Molnar, said:
“EHHA members have throughout the years supported STR data sharing with authorities and welcomed the EU’s Regulation on short term rental accommodation data collection and sharing which should increase the transparency and lead to evidence-based policy making at a local level.

We are, however, very disappointed to learn that the Catalan Housing Decree, that was adopted urgently and without any period of public consultation, is based on unconfirmed assumptions and without any evidence proving the causal link between the short-term rental accommodation providers and ignoring the complexity of housing issues.

The European Commission services have already raised concerns to the Spanish Authorities that the restrictions laid down in the Catalan Housing Decree are not suitable to attain the objective of fighting housing shortage and are disproportionate to that objective and that they seem to breach the EU’s Services Directive.

We are convinced that EU law has not been respected. By submitting the EU complaint, we hope that the European Commission will take a step further and open a formal infringement procedure against Spain.

Again, we urge the new Catalan government to review the concerns raised by the European Commission and act diligently and with urgency to suppress the unfair and disproportionate provisions of the law.”