The Flemish Government has approved a sweeping overhaul of the rules governing short-term holiday rentals, introducing stricter obligations for platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com while giving local authorities greater powers to crack down on illegal accommodation and properties linked to criminal activity.
The reforms implement the European Union‘s Short-Term Rental Regulation (EU) 2024/1028, which aims to improve transparency across the rapidly growing short-term accommodation market by harmonising registration systems and improving data sharing between online platforms and public authorities. The draft legislation has now been submitted to the Flemish Parliament and is expected to be debated after the summer recess.
Platforms will have to verify registrations
Under the new rules, online booking platforms will only be allowed to advertise holiday accommodation that has been properly registered with Visit Flanders (Tourism Flanders, Toerisme Vlaanderen), ending a system under which registration was already mandatory but rarely enforced by the platforms themselves.
The Flemish Government said the changes would create a more transparent market and ensure a level playing field for accommodation providers. Authorities responsible for inspections and enforcement will also gain easier access to registration data, making it simpler to verify whether properties comply with tourism regulations.
The move follows growing concern over widespread non-compliance. According to recent inspections by Visit Flanders, only 54% of the 2,859 holiday rentals examined in Antwerp were correctly registered or officially recognised. A separate sample in Kortrijk (Courtrai) found 40 unregistered holiday rentals compared with just 26 registered properties.
Easier action against criminal activity
The legislation also gives municipalities stronger powers to deal with holiday accommodation linked to illegal activities, including drug trafficking, illegal sex work and other criminal offences.
Currently, local authorities often face lengthy administrative procedures before they can close problematic holiday rentals. Under the proposed system, an official municipal report will be sufficient for Visit Flanders to withdraw a property’s recognition, after which the accommodation must also be removed from the online rental platform.
The government says the new approach will enable much faster intervention when accommodation is being misused for criminal purposes or repeatedly causes nuisance or planning violations.
Verifiable contact details required
The legislation also introduces stricter identification requirements for hosts. Anyone renting out accommodation through an online platform will have to provide a genuine, verifiable contact person as part of the registration process.
Flemish Minister for Tourism and Housing Melissa Depraetere (Vooruit) said the reforms were not intended to prohibit platforms such as Airbnb, but to make their operations considerably more transparent. She said authorities had previously encountered obviously fictitious contact persons during inspections, including listings registered under names such as “Kermit the Frog“, making enforcement unnecessarily difficult. The new verification requirements are intended to prevent anonymous or fraudulent listings.
Depraetere also acknowledged that while the new measures would close several loopholes, authorities expected new attempts to circumvent the rules and would continue monitoring the sector closely.
Municipalities called for stronger powers
According to the minister, numerous municipalities, including Ostend, Ghent, and Aarschot, had urged the Flemish Government to simplify enforcement against problematic holiday rentals.
She argued that under the current system, closing an illegal Airbnb often takes so long that operators have already moved their activities elsewhere by the time proceedings are completed. She also noted that Visit Flanders currently focuses primarily on safety and quality standards, such as fire protection and emergency exits, but has little authority to intervene when criminal activity is reported inside registered accommodation.
The reforms are designed to bridge that gap by strengthening cooperation between tourism authorities, municipalities and enforcement agencies.
Part of wider European reforms
The Flemish legislation forms part of the implementation of the EU Short-Term Rental Regulation, which entered into force earlier this year. The regulation seeks to improve oversight of the rapidly expanding short-term rental sector by introducing common registration systems across the European Union and requiring online platforms to share accommodation data with public authorities.
If approved by the Flemish Parliament later this year, the new rules will require rental platforms to actively verify that every property offered in Flanders is properly registered before it can be advertised, while giving authorities faster tools to remove illegal or criminal holiday rentals from the market.
