Florence wants to ban housing. Hotels wipe their hands

The Florence authorities are increasingly committed to controlling the short-term rental of apartments for tourists. Their argument is based on the belief that this practice generates chaos and a crisis in the local real property market, causes problems with public policy, and complaints about these issues are raised by the residents of the tenement houses themselves, who are neighbors to rented apartments. As a result, hotels will benefit from this situation due to restrictions on competition.

Florence has been affected for years by a phenomenon called overtourism, or excessive number of tourists. Most of the year the city is crowded with hundreds of thousands of visitors. Long queues for popular attractions specified as cathedrals or Uffizi Gallery, and crowds on the streets have become everyday.

This results in a crucial increase in hotel accommodation prices. This year Florence set a national evidence for price increases, with a recorded increase of more than 40 percent compared to the erstwhile year. The price for accommodation does not fall below 100 euros, and frequently oscillates between 150-200 euros.

In fresh years there has besides been a noticeable increase in the number of apartments offered for short-term rental, mainly via online platforms, frequently at more attractive prices compared to hotels.

Thousands of dwellings in the tenement houses in the historical center of the city are occupied by constantly changing tourists, which is simply a origin of discontent to the residents. This coexistence is becoming more and more difficult,” reports Il Sole-24.

The municipal authorities, led by Mayor Dario Nardella, argue that it is essential to regulate this marketplace and prevent further uncontrolled spread of this phenomenon. The mayor considers this problem structural.

As a consequence of the expanding number of apartments available to tourists there is simply a deficiency of flats for long-term rentals, resulting in an increase in rents. This in turn forces more and more families and young people to search for housing in distant areas, which, according to the municipal authorities, led to a serious housing crisis.

In October, the City Council of Florence approved a regulation which prohibits the usage of fresh housing for short-term rental in the UNESCO Heritage Site. This applies to the city's strict centre, including monuments specified as Palazzo Vecchio, the Pontifical Bridge, the Uffizi Gallery and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

In addition, housing owners who choose to opt out of rental for tourists will be exempted from municipal property taxation for a period of 3 years.

This turn of events is best enjoyed by hotels that benefit from the regulation of competition. At the same time, they realise that they do not necessarily compete in the price, especially erstwhile we talk about amounts of EUR 40 per night per individual in short word rental. For them, it is crucial to organize the marketplace to have area for all those offering accommodation, while avoiding the conversion of Florentine tenements into inexpensive places for tourists – explained the owner of the hotel located close Santa Maria Novella Square.