The European Holiday Home Association (EHHA) takes note of the European Commission’s Communication on The European Affordable Housing Plan, published yesterday, and its recognition that short-term rentals deliver important economic and social benefits. EHHA recognises the Commission’s commitment to preserving these benefits while addressing potential negative impacts in clearly identified areas of housing stress. The Association strongly supports data-driven, targeted local action, in line with EU law and the principle of subsidiarity.
EHHA cautions against oversimplified narratives that single out short-term rentals as a primary driver of housing shortages. Such approaches risk diverting attention from the structural and long-standing causes of the housing crisis, including restrictive zoning and planning rules, underinvestment in housing supply, unspent housing budgets, vacant and underused properties, rising construction costs, and demographic pressures. Experience has shown that restricting short-term rentals in isolation does not improve housing affordability and can lead to unintended consequences, such as reduced tourism competitiveness, loss of household income, higher accommodation prices, and the growth of illegal rental activity.
EHHA agrees that both national authorities and short-term rental providers (hosts and professionals) need legal certainty to ensure that regulation is justified and proportionate. In this regard, the Regulation on Short-Term Rentals, applicable from May 2026, represents an important step forward. By introducing mandatory registration and data-sharing obligations, the Regulation will, for the first time, provide public authorities with robust and comparable evidence on the scale, nature and geographical concentration of short-term rental activity at a local level. It is therefore essential to allow sufficient time for the new Regulation to be fully and correctly implemented, and for the resulting data to be carefully assessed, before considering additional EU-wide legislation as part of the announced Affordable Housing Plan. This approach will help avoid one-size-fits-all solutions that could undermine legal certainty, tourism competitiveness and household income in areas with little or no housing pressure.
EHHA also underlines that short-term rentals are already subject to an extensive EU legal framework, including the Services Directive, consumer protection rules, GDPR, the Digital Services Act, DAC7, and relevant CJEU case law. The real challenge lies in consistent enforcement of existing EU law, not in adding new layers of EU regulation.
EHHA stands ready to engage constructively with the European Commission, Member States and local authorities to support solutions that improve housing affordability while preserving the benefits of short term rentals and a well-functioning Single Market.
About EHHA:
The European Holiday Home Association (EHHA) is a collective voice of Europe’s short-term rental accommodation (STR) industry. It represents national (regional) STR associations, companies, online platforms, working together to shape a fair, evidence-based and balanced regulatory landscape across the EU which allows for a vibrant, prosperous, resilient, responsible, and sustainable short-term rental industry.