Global Regulatory Notes (18)

ABU DHABI, UAE

Tenants, joint owners, legal entities and anyone authorized by an owner can now run a licensed holiday home in Abu Dhabi, and no property may be advertised without a valid DCT license number displayed on the listing after the Department of Culture and Tourism updated its holiday home regulations. The amended framework announced at Arabian Travel Market 2026 updates rules first issued in 2020 and covers eligibility, licensing, operations, inspections and compliance.

ZAWYA: DCT Abu Dhabi enhances holiday home regulations with new digital system

By Staff WriterThe Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has upgraded its holiday home regulatory system, aiming to streamline licensing, improve compliance and provide owners, operators and sector partners with a more efficient digital experience.The enhanced platform reduc…

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Executive Director of Support Services Hamad Sudain said the sector is an increasingly important part of the emirate's tourism offer. Supply grew 77% in 2025 to 4,771 units while guests rose 77% to more than 335,000, domestic guests climbed 114% to 82,900 and average daily revenue rose 28% to AED 1,887.

🍁 CALEDON, ON 🍁

Only owner-occupied homes qualify and each operator gets a single license now that the Town of Caledon has launched its Residential Rental Licensing program for short-term rentals last September 8, 2026. Corporations cannot hold a license, the property must be the operator's primary residence, and hotels, motels, group homes and approved student housing are exempt.

Town of Caledon launches Residential Rental Licensing program

Town of Caledon Logo

Rental License Program

Town of Caledon Logo

An introductory fee of $250 runs until November 6, 2026 before the standard $500 rate applies from November 7. Also, licensed units must accept inspections and meet the Ontario Building and Fire Codes and town property standards. Commissioner of Community Services Judith D'Souza Soares said the program gives owners clarity while protecting neighbourhoods and long-term rental licensing follows in phases through 2027.

LANZAROTE, SPAIN

Haría City Council has approved the Plan for Verification and Control of Holiday Homes (PCC-M), the oversight program Canary Islands Law 6/2025 of December 10, 2025 requires of every municipality covering 465 registered holiday rentals with 1,834 bed places over four years. Mayor Alfredo Villalba said it gives the town clear planning and objective criteria for verification, control and inspection.

Haría aprueba su plan para comprobar y controlar las viviendas vacacionales – Ayuntamiento de Haría

The plan runs in two phases: an inventory from regional registry data and a documentary check of declarations, licenses and enabling titles, then physical inspections of technical, environmental, planning and safety conditions with special attention to substandard or overcrowded units. The oldest registrations and any flagged by complaints go first, the Municipal Technical Office leads, and a final results report goes to the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands Government.

ENGLAND

An uncapped overnight levy charged as a percentage of the room price is coming to England's mayoral areas after the government confirmed that mayors will get tourist tax powers on accommodation covering hotels, B&Bs, self-catering and short-term lets, with a bill promised in due course. Mayors may exempt campsites and other categories but not whole localities while Yorkshire and London mayors have pledged to stay at or under 5% with some saying they will not levy at all.

England’s tourist tax: What hotel operators need to know

England’s proposed tourist levy could leave hotels navigating different rates, rules and costs across the country.

Hotel Management NetworkMohamed Dabo

Hoteliers are lining up against the charge with the projected 11.9 million fewer overnight stays by 2030, £1.8bn less spending and nearly 33,000 lost jobs. FSB chair Tina McKenzie called it a kick in the teeth after 91% of small hospitality firms saw costs rise. The consultation ran from November 26, 2025 to February 18, 2026.

🍁 PERTH, ON 🍁

A 4% municipal accommodation tax on hotels, motels, B&Bs and short-term rentals could raise $45,000 to $70,000 a year for Perth after a council committee accepted a staff update on the possible levy without deciding yet whether to adopt it. Provincial rules would keep half for town tourism programs and send half to an eligible tourism organization while existing Ontario rates run from 4% to 8.5%.

Councillor Isabel Anne McRae backed the tax as a way to offset what tourism costs the town while Councillor Jim Boldt opposed it as a burden on a sector the local economy depends on. Staff will consult accommodation providers, tourism groups and businesses through fall 2026 and return with a recommendation in early 2027.

SHINJUKU, JAPAN

About 2,000 of Shinjuku's roughly 4,000 vacation rentals (more than half) would have to close under a ward plan to ban minpaku in residential-only zones and near schools from summer 2027. Surviving operators would see their allowed rental days cut from 180 to 120 a year and the ordinance revision goes to the ward assembly in February 2027 with a grace period under consideration.

Ward officials said complaints rose about 40% in the fiscal year to March 2026 as neighbours reported trash, smoking and trespassing with 1,334 complaints logged in 2025 and 29 temporary and 5 permanent closure orders issued. The mayor was due to detail the plan last September 8, 2026.

NEW ZEALAND

Councils will share $385 million from the International Visitor Levy over four years from July 1, 2027 instead of a bed tax with and tourism mayors saying National's axing of the bed tax to leave hotspots short-changed. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the split on September 9, 2026 with $100m a year for the Department of Conservation, $50m for a tourism priorities fund and the rest allocated on international guest nights two weeks after National ruled out any bed tax on August 24, 2026.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor John Glover said a local bed tax would have raised $40m against $17m from the levy and warned the formula ignores Airbnb stays, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown put his $19.1m share about $8m short of need while Rotorua's Tania Tapsell called her roughly $20m a welcome surprise.

EUROPEAN UNION

Cities in housing-stressed areas would gain a legal route to cap short-term rentals of non-primary homes under a European Commission draft law that sets uniform conditions for restricting holiday lets while steering governments away from outright bans. A member state must show a price-to-income ratio of at least 8 that has risen over ten years, stress unlikely to ease within three years and at least three years of harm from rentals with measures limited to five years.

Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera presented the Affordable Housing Act on September 9, 2026 with member states and the European Parliament to still agree. CCIA which represents Airbnb warned against disproportionate restrictions in tourism-dependent regions as Paris, Barcelona and Venice already limit rentals.

EU Is Preparing New Restrictions on Airbnb and Short-Term Rentals in Cities with Housing Shortages

According to the Relocation project, the European Commission has proposed new rules that will allow EU cities and regions to restrict short-term apartment rentals through Airbnb, Booking, and other platforms in areas with a severe shortage of affordable housing. The Affordable Housing Act was presented by the European Commission on September 9, 2026, and must […]

UNITED KINGDOM

Holiday cottage owners could pay £1,000 to £3,000 more a year if the Treasury reclassifies self-catering lets as second homes liable for council tax rather than businesses on business rates as Labour weighs a tax raid on holiday cottages ahead of the October 28, 2026 Budget. Treasury minister James Murray confirmed in a written parliamentary answer that the department is reviewing short-term let taxation amid concern that second-home owners use small business rates relief.

Professional Association of Self-Caterers chairman Alistair Handyside said the average operator owns 1.2 properties and clears about £5,000 a year so a rise could trigger mass sales in tourism towns while Shadow Chief Secretary Richard Fuller called it another tax raid as Chancellor John Healey seeks about £10bn.

GREECE

Hosts who under-reported 2025 earnings face a fine of twice the rental amount recorded by the platform as Greek tax authority AADE cross-checks Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo data against 2026 tax returns. The audit covers 2,466,075 short-term stay declarations filed in 2025 with reported rents of €973.7 million, up about 10% from €888.9 million in 2024.

Unregistered properties draw an annual penalty of 50% of gross income with a €5,000 minimum, doubling for a repeat within a year and quadrupling after that while late filings carry a €100 administrative fine.

📱 Social Buzz

🎤 Episode Title: How to Run an AirBnb in Rural Japan (Part 2)
🎤 Episode: Japan Real Estate
📻 Listen: https://podcast05d680.podigee.io/464-how-to-run-an-airbnb-in-rural-japan-part-2

Free workshop for accommodation hosts in Dražice 2026

📅 Planning family accommodation? Join a free September 23 workshop in Dražice on rules, market trends, digital marketing and the local tourism offer in detail

KarloBag.euTourism desk

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