Tourism Law in Europe

5 least one week. The limit of 9 weeks includes the owner’s own use. In addition, the summerhouse can only be used in half of the winter period. 17 Thus in total, the house can be used 43 weeks per calendar year. 18 Even if the house is ‘only’ used for 43 weeks, this does not preclude, that the letting can be regarded as a business activity if the conditions mentioned above are met. 3.2.2. Permanent residence The rise of platforms like Airbnb gave a bigger market for letting rooms or whole apartments/houses normally used for permanent residence. The concept entails that you open your house (originally your couch) against payment to someone in need of a place to spend the night. As demand by tourists for this kind of accommodation increases, the risk is that city areas originally laid out for permanent residence will transform into a tourist place because people and businesses will buy property with the purpose of profiting from letting. To prevent professional letting and to motivate legal private letting, Denmark added an innovative concept to the existing regulation. The concept was introduced as part of the political agreement called ‘Better conditions for growth and correct tax payment in the sharing and platform economy’ of May 17 2018 agreed by most of the Danish political parties. 19 In the Law of Letting of Property for the Purposes of Holiday and Leisure etc., planlægning, lov om naturbeskyttelse og lov om aktindsigt i miljøoplysninger) (preparatory work of proposed law of the suggested changes of Law amending the Law on Planning etc.). 17 Stated in the regional court case U.2002.1632V and also earlier seen in a guideline for the municipality in their enforcement of the legislation on the use of summerhouses, Vejledning til kommunerne om håndhævelse af forbuddet mod helårsbeboelse i sommerhuse i sommerhusområder af 8. september 2009. The judges in the court case underlined that the possibility to use the summerhouse in the winter period for short stays was an exception to the main rule regarding a ban of the use of summerhouses in the winter time. 18 LFF 2017-01-25 nr. 121 Ændring af lov om planlægning, lov om naturbeskyttelse og lov om aktindsigt i miljøoplysninger (forslag til Lov 2017-06-08 nr. 668 om ændring af lov om planlægning, lov om naturbeskyttelse og lov om aktindsigt i miljøoplysninger) afsnit 2.10.2 (preparatory work of the proposed law of the suggested changes of Law amending the Law on Planning). In a guide on the letting of summerhouses, the Danish Business Authority states that letting exceeding 41 weeks will indicate that the letting is a business activity, Vejledning om udlejning af sommerhuse m.v. af 8. januar 2021 (Guide on Letting of Summerhouses of January 8, 2021). 19 Forslag til lov om ændring af lov om sommerhuse og campering m.v., lov om midlertidig regulering af boligforholdene og byggeloven LFF 2019-02-27 nr. 188 afsnit 1 (preparatory work of proposed law of Law amending the Law on Summerhouses etc.).