Latest / STR Unpacked / Your Neighbours Are Now A Regulator
Transcript
- Ben: Good morning and welcome to your shortlet rental bulletin on the 28th of July. So, this story this morning covers three countries, three different legal routes, and obviously one new regulator. So, let's start in France. the Lemois law added a new clause to Article 26 of the 1965 Co Ownership Act. A co owners' meeting can now ban shortlets by qualified majority. Rather than unanimity. That's a majority of members representing at least two-thirds of the vote. In March, the Concierge Constitutional upheld it. The court found no disproportionate interference with property rights. Two conditions apply. The property must not be a principal residence, and the building's rules must already bar commercial activity. Croatia went further. So since January 2025. Shortletting a flat in a multi-apartment building needs prior written consent from two-thirds of the co-owners by share, plus consent from every owner whose walls and floors and ceiling are joined to yours. There's one carve out worth knowing. Neighbours who already shortlet their flat are deemed to consent and cannot refuse. Everyone else can. Existing operators have until the end of 2029 to secure it. And then you got Greece. A decision reported this month that we covered saw a single member in court in Athens partially uphold an injunction and order a company to stop letting a flat in the short term because the building's rules restricted use to residential, and the court treated those rules as binding law between co owners. So none of this touches your license. You can hold every permit. Every registration number, be fully tax compliant, and still lose a unit at an owner's building. So the caveat matters too. All three turn into the precise wording of your building's rules. Read them, all of them, understand them and act proportionately. Your neighbours are now the regulator and they don't run on a consultation. So thank you for watching and I'll see you tomorrow.