Black money, uncontrolled “tourism” services and in total… more than 500 (!) short-term rental accommodations are said to be operating in the city of Ioannina, according to the Association of Hoteliers of our prefecture.
Apart from the effects on the legally operating tourism businesses of the area, the operation of these units has enormous social effects, as the available rental housing has shrunk significantly, or the rents for the few remaining houses have skyrocketed.
The president of the Union of Hoteliers of Ioannina, Spyros Sourelis, touches on this matter in a letter to the Mayor of Ioannina, asking the Municipality to intervene with the relevant Ministry so that they proceed with the issuance of the Joint Ministerial Decision of 2016 that imposes strict restrictions on the operation of these accommodations.
Mr. Surelis’ letter states in detail:
The number of short-term rental properties in the city of Ioannina continues to grow uncontrollably and has already exceeded 500 properties.
The results of the above situation are obvious to everyone.
Enormous increase in rent prices, major problems in finding housing, especially for special categories of our fellow citizens, such as students, teachers, military and members of the security forces, increase in waste and the consequent burden on the services of your Municipality, alteration of the character of local communities, etc.
In addition, we should mention the unfair competition that our legally operating businesses suffer from the above activity that operates completely uncontrolled and the phenomena of tax evasion and undeclared work that in many cases occur in the specific accommodations.
According to paragraph 8 of article 111 of Law 4446/2016, the following are provided for: “By joint decision of the Ministers of Economy and Development, Finance and Tourism, for reasons related to the protection of the residence, geographical areas may be defined, where restrictions will apply to the availability of real estate for short-term rental as follows: a. Not to allow the short-term rental of more than two (2) properties per A.F.I. beneficiary of income. b. The lease of each property shall not exceed ninety (90) days per calendar year. Exceeding the duration of the previous subsection is allowed, as long as the total income of the lessor or sublessor, from all the properties available for lease or sublease, does not exceed twelve thousand (€12,000) euros during the relevant tax year.”
Since in this case the conditions for the application of the above regulations are met, please submit a relevant request to the co-competent Ministries, so that they can proceed with the issuance of the above Joint Ministerial Decision.
