Regulations are an inseparable aspect of navigating the short-term rental ecosystem. Understanding your market’s regulations and staying up to date with incoming policy changes is crucial to building a long-living, resilient, and healthy property management business.
In the third installment of my interview series with the thought leaders that shape the Guesty Marketplace Partners ecosystem—I chatted with Steven Marshall, Head of Sales at Chekin, for an illuminating conversation on the current state of regulations in our industry and how to stay one step ahead of ever-changing requirements.
Check out my interview with Steven below and scroll down for some of the key takeaways from our conversation.
Key Takeaways
- Legal requirements and regulations differ between countries. For example, statistical reporting is required in countries like Italy and Germany; a copy of ID is required in Dubai; authority reporting is required in Austria, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland (recently integrated in the Zurich area due to demand). This type of regulation is becoming a lot more common, especially since the property management industry is booming, which governments have noticed, leading them to impose more stringent policies.
- Authority reporting requirements are set to reach countries outside of Europe soon enough, particularly in the large market of the US. As the short-term rental industry continues to grow, attracting more and more new players, governments worldwide will look to ensure that certain procedures and guidelines are followed, taking a page out of their European counterparts’ books.
- Such requirements are mostly reasoned as national security measures (keeping unwanted, nefarious actors out) or to avoid ‘excess tourism’ in certain areas. For instance, certain residential areas in some of the globe’s hottest destinations have banned short-term rentals entirely. While this legal requirement is understandable, there is a fine line between catering to the demands of local residents and putting the survival of some businesses at risk, which will inevitably face regulatory brick walls.
- It’s difficult to identify signs that regulation is on the way because it usually comes in very quickly. It’s critical to stay on top of your market’s policies and exact laws and to reach out to an expert, as these can often be quite challenging to grasp.
- To best prepare for legal compliance, property managers should keep all business documentation on file and securely stored, whether that’s through a secure cloud or printed out. This will ensure that when changes do get introduced, they will be able to review what requirements have already been met and which need to be addressed.
