Almost 12,000 rentals are available just in the main cities in Veneto. The new proposed national regulation (the Santanchè DDL, which calls for a minimum two-night stay and introducing a national ID code for rentals) is branded “useless and damaging” by Confturismo, while Confcommercio calls it “a first step”. Meanwhile, Venice rejects the stop being imposed by Florence: “An audacious plan, but it will be stopped at the first appeal”
2 June 2023
By Stefano Bensa
VENICE
The goal is to regulate the jungle of tourist rentals, which – to be clear – are exploding on portals such as Airbnb and Booking.com. The purpose is three-fold: pare down “daytripper” tourism by imposing at least two-night stays, expose “under the table” rentals and curb the proliferation of short-term rentals in favor of long-term leases, to “protect housing in the historic centers and prevent their depopulation”. However, the draft law decree (DDL) put forward by Minister Daniela Santanchè has so far achieved only one result: upsetting nearly everybody, albeit with some distinctions.
Veneto, as the Italian region with the largest flow of visitors, would be fully affected by the reform. The numbers are imposing: in just the main cities of the province, in fact, the site Airdna.co counted (as of 1 June) at least 11,704 apartments and homes on the market, with Venice in the lead: 7,416 units at an average cost per night of 208 euro. Verona follows with 2,676, then Padua with 821, Belluno with 126 and Rovigo with 29. That’s a big difference from the regional databanks, which indicate 9,132 rentals available, a number that includes the entire province, however.
Among those who hold the new dispositions to be “unenforceable and made on the fly” (Marco Michiele, regional president of Confturismo) and those who on the contrary believe that the Santanchè draft is “a just and correct law because it cleans up the enormous mass of evasion and improvisation” (Patrizio Bertin, head of Ascom Confcommercio of Padua), the case of Florence has made a big splash: yesterday Mayor Dario Nardella announced a stop on new authorizations in the UNESCO area of the Tuscan capital. Simone Venturini, the councilor for Tourism for the Municipality of Venice, immediately stepped in to say no, dismissing the provision as “legally audacious”. “That type of measure – declared Venturini, specifying that he was speaking “only for himself” – cannot limit the use of real estate, and it’s clear that as soon as it is applied it will trigger an appeal to the TAR which will invalidate it”.
What will happen in that regard we will see in the future. In any case, everyone agrees on the fact that intervention is needed, but much more than what’s been floated by the minister. “For the cities of art it is a serious question: short-term rentals are distorting the historic center, it’s a challenge to find even one grocer around, now we only see souvenir sellers. It is clear that the people, then, are emigrating to the peripheries. And it’s no less that way in Verona” argues Marco Michielli. According to the president of Confturismo Veneto (which is associated with hotels and real estate agents) “the mountain has given birth to a mouse”. “I agree with Santanchè about the introduction of a national identification code, but things should work like this: the identifying codes should be communicated to a national center, which, using software like what Venice is already using in collaboration with the Guardia di Finanza, monitors in real-time the offers on the portals, identifying locations without a code. Violators should be fined 20 thousand euro. Thousands of underground rentals would emerge”. And the question of two-night stays? “That could be eluded at any moment, especially if we don’t introduce the obligation for client registration “in person” with the renter”.
Also, precisely in Venice, there is a clash underway over the so-called “Pellicani amendment” approved by Parliament last year, which established how the Municipality could make carrying out the activity of short-term rentals for over 120 days become an entrepreneurial tourist business. The renters, hoteliers and hosts have called for its abolition, while Mayor Luigi Brugnaro is accused by the opposition of not having any measures at all. Would the Santanchè DDL be a part of it? “To stem the phenomenon would require much more” attack Nicola Piccolo and Oscar Zago, presidents – respectively – of Confcommercio and Albergatori di Vicenza. What more? “Also establish a maximum limit of nights per year for every apartment with short-term leases, in addition to the obligation for a Business Tax ID (partita IVA) for those who manage more than four apartments”.
For its part, CGIL goes even farther, calling it “an indecent proposal”. “There is no instrument and no facilitation actually granted to the Municipalities to try to govern a phenomenon which is creating many problems for the residents, and which has generated an irresponsible growth of rentals, taking away available housing from families and workers. The gap between the cost-of-living increases and outsourcing in the labor market – accuses Daniel Giordano, secretary of the Chamber of Labor of Venice – is producing the definitive expulsion of the working class from the historic city”.
In Verona, councilor Marta Ugolini judges “the limit of two nights to be very low”, while reserving further comment “to evaluate the draft of the law in detail”. In Padua the front is more cautious: “We are talking about a plan for a law, and there are wide margins for improvement” stated the provincial president of ASCOM, Patrizio Bertin. In his judgement the Santanchè DDL is “a first step towards the regulation of a jungle”. “As far as we are concerned, we are ready to lend a hand”. The councilor for Tourism, Andrea Colasio, confirms: “There must be a ceiling placed, but the Municipalities must be involved: it is on the basis of the laws that we can put forward an effective housing policy. Especially in a university city like ours”.
–Source: Corriere del Veneto
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