News of: Thursday, July 12 2012,
Amsterdam Centrum wants to spend E 100,000 extra to enforce legislation regarding illegal hotels.
Illegal hotels are apartments and residential houses that are rented out to tourists. It is against the law to rent out apartments to tourists, as (in the view of the authorities) apartments should not be used as hotels, but as residences.
Apartments can only be used for short stays if the applicable licenses have been issued.
The problem of apartments being rented to tourists is especially big in the centre of Amsterdam. Most tourists go to Amsterdam, and most would like to stay in the centre.
The authorities have received complaints from hotels (illegal competition), inhabitants (noise and pollution in the apartment complexes). Additionally, illegal hotels can cause dangerous situations. Recently, an old house burnt down that was illegally rented to travellers.
With the extra money, Amsterdam hopes to double the enforcement of the rules.
