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Airbnb logo in the Louvre in Paris: approval requirement is legal
Photo: CHARLES PLATIAU / REUTERS
Short-term rental of apartments may be made subject to a permit by EU countries.
This has been decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Combating the housing shortage is in the general interest and justifies the measure, the ECJ justified its decision.
In the specific case, the court thus confirmed a French regulation.
France had introduced such a permit requirement for the greater Paris area and all cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants.
For failing to comply, the owners of two studios in Paris were fined 15,000 euros each.
They had to offer the apartments again on the normal rental market.
The owners then called the French Court of Cassation.
He turned to the ECJ to clarify the question of whether the national directive is in line with European law.
It does, the ECJ decided.
The authorization requirement is intended to create a system to combat the housing shortage "to take account of the deterioration in conditions for access to housing and the heightening of tensions in the real estate markets, which is an overriding reason for the general interest".
The measures are proportionate - the intended aim cannot be achieved through a more lenient regulation.
In Europe, several cities are already taking action against the mass short-term rental of apartments in particularly popular neighborhoods.
Amsterdam, for example, prohibits rental in certain areas of the Canal Belt.
Berlin also makes rentals subject to registration or approval.
File numbers: C-724/18 and C-727/18
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