Slo ned på Airbnb-utleie – klaget inn til Datatilsynet

Aurland municipality in Norway has filed a complaint with Datatilsynet over challenges they face in monitoring Airbnb rentals. Stefan Karlstrøm, a community development officer in Aurland, explains that it's difficult to keep track of Airbnb hosts without using Airbnb's own data. The municipality of Vestland, known as one of Norway's most popular tourist destinations, has been actively working to control short-term rentals over the past few years.

They have monitored major rental platforms to get a grasp of the issue. However, one of the rental companies has filed a complaint with Datatilsynet, which received the complaint on December 17th last year.

The dispute centers around the use of third-party data for monitoring purposes. Jan Nielsen, a senior advisor at Datatilsynet, confirms the case is under review, but cannot discuss potential outcomes for the municipality. E24 has investigated short-term rentals in Norway's largest cities, and Karlstrøm states that they have responded to Datatilsynet's inquiries, awaiting a ruling.

Yet, he emphasizes that without utilizing these data sources, it's nearly impossible to obtain an overview, as relying on neighbor tips or conducting gate-to-gate checks would be impractical.

Karlstrøm highlights the involvement of approximately 100 actors in Aurland and one building inspector who spends around 50% of his time on short-term rentals, including maintenance. With around 2,000 residents, the municipality receives about 1.5 million tourists annually. Short-term rentals are problematic for residents, tenants, and those working in the tourism industry, as they can end up competing with locals for housing and employment opportunities.

Karlstrøm argues that the responsibility placed on municipalities is too burdensome and calls for more support from authorities in evaluating the professional nature of rental businesses, which may have transformed residential properties into hotel-like establishments. He emphasizes that new issues continue to emerge within this system.