Housing | Landlords are pushing for changes to Airbnb legislation

Landlords the trustee wants to make it easier to deal with the problems of short-term rentals, i.e. Airbnb apartments in practice.

The organization is presenting a completely new tool that housing companies could use to temporarily ban Airbnb operations if housing causes significant harm to others.

“The housing company could decide, for example, that the shareholder cannot engage in short-term rental activities for even a year,” says the legal representative of Suomen Vuokranantaje Tariq Ahsanullah.

However, the organization would not completely ban Airbnb activity, but would allow it by law.

As a remedy Suomen Vuokranantajat proposes a new entry in the Housing Corporation Act, which is currently being updated.

With the change in the law, building societies would have the option to prohibit a shareholder's short-term rental in an apartment for a certain period of time by a qualified majority decision of the general meeting.

A qualified majority means that two-thirds of the votes cast at the general meeting are in favor of the matter to be decided.

According to Ahsanullah, there is a need for the change, because the housing associations' resources are limited at this time.

They can deal with problems practically only by taking control of the apartment. It is a heavy procedure that involves legal and financial risks.

In practice, the housing association can justify taking possession, for example, by saying that the apartment is being used contrary to its intended use. However, there are uncertainties associated with using the basis, says Ahsanullah.

“There is not a single legal case in which the building society won the dispute.”

Second the alternative is to resort to a disruptive life in an Airbnb apartment. But that is also a challenge in Ahsanullah's opinion, because the basis has been considered to reset every time the tenant changes.

In other words, the disturbing life of two different groups in the same apartment at different times can be difficult to use as a basis in court, even if they cause more continuous harm to the resident.

“In such a case, the housing company does not even have time to draw up a general meeting notice in order to be able to decide on taking possession.”

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“The housing company could decide, for example, that a partner cannot engage in short-term rental activities for even a year.”

A ban to end Airbnb operations would require evidence to support it, as the housing company interferes with the partner's right to manage his apartment.

According to Ahsanullah, evidence could be, for example, neighbors' records of constant noise or evidence that guests repeatedly leave waste in the hallways.

Wholly the second question is what is meant by short-term rental. So far, no law recognizes the phenomenon.

The matter is to be considered in connection with the renovation of the Construction Act.

“We have proposed that one operator should have a maximum of five apartments, which he rents for less than four weeks at a time. Then it wouldn't be a professional activity,” says Ahsanullah.

He hopes that building permit requirements would also be eased for changes in the purpose of use of properties.

For example, there is a lot of empty office space in the center of Helsinki, which, in Ahsanullah's opinion, should be considered, for example, into Airbnb-type housing.

“In terms of the vibrancy of the city, empty office space is the worst option,” he says.

“If you wanted to convert an empty office space into an accommodation space, it would have to meet all the requirements for a new hotel. The current requirements should be looked at very critically.”

Third the change, which Finnish Landlords think is necessary, concerns the improvement of the rights of those who engage in short-term rentals.

In Ahsanullah's opinion, the landlord should have the opportunity to remove a disturbing guest from the apartment with the help of the police.

“After all, hotels have such a right if necessary. If a bachelor party goes to the hotel to riot, the police will be called there and the accommodation will end there.”

There is no such possibility in short-term rentals, which are subject to the Room Rent Act.