The government is considering imposing a time limit during the year on short-term leases, mainly in Athens.
This was stated by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking today on the show “Morning Zone” of the TV station Action 24 and journalists George Kakousis and Anna Livadhinou.
Prime Minister said: ‘We are studying the Airbnb market…. In a sense, particularly in Athens, to see whether we can rationally limit short-term rentals to free up more properties for long-term rentals….”
Read the ensuing dialogue:
George Kakousis: Wait a minute, can we stay on the Airbnb subject for a while? How do you think this could be done? So how could you come to an owner and say…
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: First, we have already put restrictions and obligations on those who treat Airbnb as a “business”. That is, those who have more than three apartments and rent them out should have the same tax and regulatory treatment as a business.
George Kakousis: So, there will be disincentives.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: No disincentive, equal rules of the game. If you have an apartment building and you rent it all out over Airbnb, you have to be treated as a business that competes with, say, a hotel. And this is something we have already done. But we will also see how much time should we allow in total during the year to rent an apartment through Airbnb platforms.We are studying it because it is a complex issue. Because what may be a cost to someone who wants to rent a house, is a benefit to the landlord, isn’t it? That is, it is a significant additional benefit. I was in Corfu the other day and I was told by local people, who are also concerned, that on the one hand they have a lot of additional income. They tell me there are families who are educating their children because they may be Airbnb-renting some houses in the old town. On the other hand, this creates a housing problem. Complex issue, here we are to discuss it.
George Kakousis: So, we’re going for a cap on days, if I understand correctly, right?
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: It’s something that we will discuss and we are studying it very systematically. I also want us to find additional resources – we are making inquiries, I am not yet ready to make announcements – to significantly expand the “My Home” programme. For me it’s very touching, I’m moving around the region now and people come to me and say: ‘thank you very much, we found a house through the “My House” programme, which we could not have bought without this additional subsidy of the mortgage loan from the state’.
At 10:13 Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ reference to short-term rentals and the possibility of imposing a time limit in Athens
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