In the midst of discussing the rent law reformthe ruling party and Together for Change (JxC) decided this Thursday to move forward with a unified opinion to regulate the temporary rentalsa contracting modality that has grown strongly in recent months, causing a lower supply of homes.
Temporary rentals: «A problem worldwide»
Within the debate, when taking the floor, Ianni pointed out that it is «a worldwide problem» and celebrated that «we all identify that we have the problem».
In this sense, Ianni highlighted that «Within tourist services, accommodation is one of the strongest activities” and “all this is regulated, it is not done why or how each one wants to carry it out, and it is the same thing that we tend to do for temporary rentals”.
For his part, Juri stated that the Senate «is taking charge of one of the great problems that afflict tourism today» and affirmed that from the parliament they do not intend to be «so interventionist» as to hinder the market, but «with this we are giving benefits to all parties».
«We cannot be oblivious to the fact that the temporary rental is adding another difficulty to what is the traditional rental of homes,» he said.
And he concluded: «Being able to come to this meeting with a unified opinionwith contributions even from the public sector, from the private sector, and being able to have this standard I think is a great advance».
All the legislators that make up the General Legislation and Tourism commission and it is ready for it to be debated on the premises.
Temporary rentals: what regulations does the agreed project propose?
The initiative creates a registry and regulates platforms as Airbnbforcing them to offer the prices in Argentine pesos and they are also imposed sanctions for non-compliance. Currently, these systems are outside the State’s regulatory framework.
According to the text of the project, for the location of a property to be considered «temporary rent» must be rented between 1 and 90 days.
The project reaches «the owners or administrators who have the power or corresponding authorization to market real estate on a temporary basis, guests and any person who markets, advertises or offers through any means houses of temporary rental for tourist use”.
In the case of buildings that allocate more than 60% of their functional units for residential purposes to the activity that is the object of this, belong to the same owner, are under the same administration or are offered under the same brand, «they will not be of application of this law and must have the authorization, registration and categorization that corresponds according to Law No. 18,828 (National Hospitality Law)».
Temporary rentals: how will the registry dependent on the Ministry of Tourism work?
It is proposed to create National Registry of Temporary Tourist Rental Housing and a series of functions that the application authority will have are established.
Digital platforms that offer temporary rentals for tourism purposes must: enable a field on the site so that the owner inform the registration number before the registration of each unit; Proceed with the removal, withdrawal or suspension of any publication that does not have the registration number in the registry, with prior notification to the owner; and use the national currency Argentine pesos for advertisements and for payment processing.
In turn, the owner also has obligations such as “delivering the property in habitable conditions and in the agreed terms; have valid authorization, registration and authorization for tourist use of the home correspondent; take out civil liability insurance for damages against third parties”, among others.
About the sanctionsthe initiative foresees for the owners a warning, the suspension of the registry and the cancellation of the registry, while in case of non-compliance by the platforms they can be noticed; fine; suspend local operations; and cessation of activities in the country.