Latest / STR Unpacked / Two Fines, One Risk
Transcript
- Ben: Morning and welcome to your short-term rental bulletin on the 12th of October. So, over in Germany today, where Bavaria's short let law carries two fines. Both of them need your counsel to have passed the bylaw. So it's Munich and Nuremberg. They have passed the one that carries half a million euros, but neither have passed the one that carries 50,000 euros. So the 50,000 euros is the registration fine. And it is the one in the headlines. Where a council brings in a registration scheme, the host must register before listing and then show that number in the advert. And failing either costs up to 50,000 euros, negligence including. But read the condition on it: the duty and the fine behind it apply only in areas where a council has actually introduced the scheme. Munich has not. And its own page, which I read this morning, says no registration procedure applies there and therefore no registration duty either. And the bylaw amendment and the portal are both still being prepared. And Neurobung agreed its change on the 22nd of July and says you cannot yet apply for a number. The federal list of connected areas dated 1st of October carries no Bavarian entry at all. So the half a million euro fine is the one already sitting on you. Both cities had change of use bylaws for years. Nuremberg since 2019, and under those, using a dwelling for anything other than housing without permission is an offence. Munich puts it at half a million euros per breach and says plainly that letting a flat or house in the city permanently and exclusively as a holiday flat is forbidden. The eight-week allowance is not the shelter people think it is, as well, unfortunately. Munich's wording is your own flat or your own house offered while you're away up to 56 calendar days a year, which the place otherwise lived in by you. That does nothing for Lettings business. So in Bavaria, the registration number is the headline and the change of use permission is the risk. So stop waiting for your portal to go active and go out there and check your permission. Thank you for watching and I'll see tomorrow.