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hiraethified
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Berlin bans Airbnb apartment rentals to protect affordable housing
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ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Greebo and I found this out last week, as the building we've stayed in since 2008 can no longer do short-stay (under 2 months) rentals. A bummer that will make staying in Berlin more expensive.
editor
hiraethified
We stayed in an Airbnb when we were in Berlin too but I can see why they're doing this.Greebo and I found this out last week, as the building we've stayed in since 2008 can no longer do short-stay (under 2 months) rentals. A bummer that will make staying in Berlin more expensive.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
I wonder if the hotel and bnb business has had a role in this too.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Absolutely. Not only were ordinary rental prices climbing, but speculators and developers were buying up leases and then attempting to redevelop standard housing en masse into holiday lets.
Frankly, the only reason I'm a bit narked is that most stuff advertised on Airbnb and the likes of Mowitania is pretty well-informed regarding accessibility for disabled people, whereas hotels and pensions are a bit more wishy-washy - we've seen some advertising "step-free access" on the basis of "only having 5 steps", etc.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Not markedly. Most of the impetus has come from tenant's associations and similar grassroots action groups. The law of 2014 was just the culmination of about a decade of lobbying, especially in the working class areas like Moabit and Marzahn.
editor
hiraethified
I'm stumbling at the first step there.
pesh
Well-Known Member
its just turning everyone into buy to let landlords who are charging as much for a room for a night or 2 as the weekly rent on the property should be.
New Orleans has been going mad about this for a while, people buying up multiple properties, renting the rooms out for massive sums, killing the neighbourhoods, sound familiar?
New Orleans has been going mad about this for a while, people buying up multiple properties, renting the rooms out for massive sums, killing the neighbourhoods, sound familiar?
In what way?
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Meanwhile, in London...
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
...the government tries to destroy affordable housing, and keep rents as high as possible
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
And it's perfectly acceptable to buy property and leave it empty on purpose, and indeed to build homes that are only ever going to be used as bits of some cunt's investment portfolio.
DJWrongspeed
radio eros
It doesn't stop you staying with Berliners, arguably more fun 
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Day after TTIP comes in Airbnb will sue the granny out of the German government.
Oh no, I can't find anywhere genuinely disabled accessible and affordable in which my husband and I can have an almost normal life for a week or two, once every two or three years.
Try again. My type of health limitation makes it potentially dangerous to share a kitchen. Going psychotic in the throes of a migraine triggered by their cooking or preparation or use of onions is not more fun than staying somewhere with the kitchen to myself.It doesn't stop you staying with Berliners, arguably more fun
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
One thing you're missing is the rent control laws Berlin imposed. A "couple of hundred a night" would see landlords up before the magistrate PDQ.
Graymalkin
Ironclad Activist
This is apparently a big problem in places like San Francisco and other rapidly gentrifying cities. You have to remember that people will find novel ways to make money beyond the intended purpose of a particular platform. Ebay started out as a platform for folks to sell collectables, antiques and whatever they wanted to get rid of. Now something like 80% of their listings are new items. Etsy has similarly deviated from it's original stated purpose and actual crafters are competing with importers. So Air BNB might be ok if it was just people renting out spare rooms, but it's not hard to see how someone can make a lot of money opening a mini hotel (sans staff and the usual overhead) in a city that is already very expensive to live in and visit.
Manter
Lunch Mob
Airbnb is 'ravaging' black neighbourhoods in New York City and trying to hide it, officials say New York twitched about them too....
Thimble Queen
Called away to another place
Yes please. ❤
a_chap
When the world came apart, where were you?
But that's not a Good Thing though.
Just for once, I'm going to be selfish and say that as far as I'm concerned it wouldn't the worst thing which TTIP could allow to happen.
As explained before, finding a suitable hotel anywhere (including the UK) is well nigh impossible, hostels are unsuitable because of VP's need for quiet (because of his ME), caravan parks and similar tend to be even less accessible, and the type of holiday flat VP and I have used before has been the least bad option. The place which we most recently stayed in was on Mowitania, but also on air BnB.
We used the local supermarkets, pharmacies, launderette, offies, newsagents, and bakeries. We didn't make a nuisance of ourselves, and we weren't partying hard on anyone's doorstep. The flat in which we stayed had very limited sunlight on only one side and IMHO you really couldn't live there long term without your health suffering (in deep shade at the bottom of a courtyard) but it was more than good enough for a short stay.
Since the change in rules, it's no longer rentable for less than 62 nights, so we can't go back without either paying well over the odds to leave the place empty for more than half the time booked, or making an arrangement with others to stay in the place for the weeks we won't be there.
The landlady, (who lives in the same block with her children, and has done for several years) suffers, and one more place which was disabled accessible (and suitable for people with allergies) falls out of use. I'm struggling to see who might gain from this change; even refugees would probably not want to be housed for long in somewhere with so little natural light (and no possibility of improving that, because of the type of building).
a_chap
When the world came apart, where were you?
My point, which I'm sure you understand, is that TTIP would also allow far worse things to happen.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
I know a guy who thinks TTIP will be a great thing. It was one of those chaotic nights and I really wanted to quiz him on why but I didn't have time...
coley
Well-Known Member
Not my experience, at least down under.
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