Two companies were sentenced to a suspended fine of €28,000 on Monday, for failing to obtain the necessary licences to rent out flats via the Airbnb platform. The court ordered the forfeiture of financial gains amounting to €37,500 and €25,000.
The case centres on an apartment block on the Italiëlei in Antwerp, of which one company is the owner and the other the tenant.
The building consists of 25 flats, of which 23 have been let via Airbnb for tourism and short stays since 2022. The court ruled that the defendants should have applied for a planning permission for urban development works.
"The 23 flats are not 'small tourist accommodation' falling under the residential category. All the flats in the building must be assessed as a single entity and not as 23 separate units," the court ruled.
"Otherwise, any traditional hotel could be split up into small units for urban planning purposes in order to circumvent the permit requirement," the court added.
Profits forfeited
The defendants were found guilty of changing the main function of the property from residential to recreational accommodation and of reducing the number of residential units from 25 to two, in each case without the required permits.
The court considered the fact that the defendants are professionally active in the sector to be an aggravating circumstance. The court sentenced each of the defendants to a suspended fine of €28,000. The profits of €37,500 and €25,000 from the rentals via Airbnb were forfeited.
Additionally, at the request of the Mayor of Antwerp, the defendants were ordered to cease the unlawful use of the property within two months and to put the flats back on the market for sale or rent within six months in accordance with their residential use.
The court imposed a penalty of €1,000 per defendant, per flat and per day should the defendants fail to implement the remedial measures within those time limits.
