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Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

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Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#41

Post by cannam »

andy_ppp wrote: post #25
fredley wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the approach taken in London: Anyone can AirBnB their property, but only for 90 days a year, unless you have special permission. This prevents people buying up/renting flats just to let them out on AirBnB and putting pressure on the already cripplingly bad housing situation.

Isn’t this just ignored largely?

Yes. Indeed there appear to be Airbnb-management companies that help you to ignore it, by inventing fake "host" personas to list your property under and changing it to a different host every now and again. Airbnb themselves don't seem to care if you do this so long as it doesn't look as if it's their responsibility.

(We have been having problems with a neighbouring flat that is being run in this way. The details are murky but it appears to be intentionally managed like this)

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#42

Post by _Codemonkeyism »

laurieg wrote: post #32

Good riddance. I live in rented accommodation in Japan. A couple of years ago an Airbnb was set up next door and it was a nightmare. People coming and going at all hours, large groups of drunk holiday-makers having loud parties into the night, drinking and smoking on the balcony. After multiple calls to the owner of the apartment and the police the situation was finally resolved. I definitely think Airbnb should have…

Same here Berlin, and it's even illegal mostly.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#43

Post by bitL »

AirBnB never had many listings in Japan in the first place; when I was visiting there I always went with the agencies that specialized in short-term apartment rentals; those were best for price/quality ratio if you spent at least month there. And you could even get typical traditional Japanese apartments that way near important cultural landmarks. And observing typical Japanese customs like trash collection of certain types on certain days at precisely designated spots made you feel quite integrated to their modern way of life.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#44

Post by lovemenot »

ekianjo wrote: post #35
lovemenot wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. There's effectively never been Uber or similar in Japan either. People just respect regulations and they generally do work very well.

> People just respect regulations and they generally do work very well. Except when the regulations are inappropriate or protect the incumbents instead of promoting experimentation and innovation. There's a reason Japan is lagging behind in almost everything these days compared to its neighbors in Asia.

Agree. Japan has a stability-at-all-costs mentality. Until the old is completely untenable, and then change can happen incredibly rapidly.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#45

Post by ceejayoz »

fredley wrote: post #29
andy_ppp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t this just ignored largely?

AFAIK the limit is on AirBnB's site directly. Your account is limited until you provide documents from the council. I don't know to what extent people are forging these documents though.

"Apartment #1A, #1B, #1C..."

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#46

Post by scrumption »

charlesdm wrote: post #33
pavel_lishin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also pretty annoying when you can't find a place to rent, because the apartments start getting taken over by "enterpreneurs" such as your friend.

You say "entrepreneur", but I don't see anything wrong with the approach -- as long as you follow the laws. Often the solution the the problem is that you start buying the properties rather than renting them, which means profits per unit will be (much) higher (but you will also need additional capital to support that). Or you buy an entire block with 5 or 10 apartments; then there should be no complaints.

Because it's literally rent-seeking and leeches wealth from the economy, jacking up prices while contributing nothing?

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#47

Post by Kluny »

jorvi wrote: post #11
lovemenot wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. There's effectively never been Uber or similar in Japan either. People just respect regulations and they generally do work very well.

I'm European, and in general I like (well thought out) regulations, but in the case of the taxi industry Uber is actually not a bad guy but a huge blessing. In a lot of countries (80%+) taxi drivers are rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes. Uber takes all of this away. The rating system ensures drivers are polite. The estimate € (plus route tracking) ensures they don't take the sceni…

> they are absolutely top notch.

It's easy to be top notch when you don't have to pay all the expenses you incur. By offloading all of their infrastructure costs onto their employees (that is, the cars and the phones), they can operate very cheaply. But it's not because the service is cheaper, it's because they're avoiding their bills.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#48

Post by pavel_lishin »

charlesdm wrote: post #33
pavel_lishin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also pretty annoying when you can't find a place to rent, because the apartments start getting taken over by "enterpreneurs" such as your friend.

You say "entrepreneur", but I don't see anything wrong with the approach -- as long as you follow the laws. Often the solution the the problem is that you start buying the properties rather than renting them, which means profits per unit will be (much) higher (but you will also need additional capital to support that). Or you buy an entire block with 5 or 10 apartments; then there should be no complaints.

I commend your Lawful Neutral alignment.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#49

Post by icebraining »

EStudley wrote: post #13
jorvi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm European, and in general I like (well thought out) regulations, but in the case of the taxi industry Uber is actually not a bad guy but a huge blessing. In a lot of countries (80%+) taxi drivers are rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes. Uber takes all of this away. The rating system ensures drivers are polite. The estimate € (plus route tracking) ensures they don't take the sceni…

>In a lot of countries (80%+) taxi drivers are rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes. I have had every experience you explained with Uber. People driving me weird ways around my city to make the trip longer, rude, attempting to add a cleaning charge with no reason, or the classic "Hey if you cancel the ride and give me $10 I can get you there."

What happened when you complained to Uber?
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