Court rules Amsterdam's fines for illegal vacation home rentals are "disproportionate"

The City of Amsterdam has been too blunt in determining how and when to fine homeowners and tenants who violate the capital's regulations to limit renting out homes to vacationers and tourists for short stays, the Council of State ruled on Wednesday. The country's highest administrative court said that the table used to calculate the fine for violations of holiday rental rules is no longer legally binding, as the method used is "not proportionate."

The court criticized the city for not using a more nuanced approach by taking into account factors like the degree to which the violation was commercial in nature, the extent of specific violations, and whether the person in violation of the rule has repeatedly broken the city's regulations. "This is all the more pressing because the general level of fines in Amsterdam is high. The result of this is that citizens who sometimes unknowingly, accidentally, or only once violate a rule are always immediately confronted with a high fine, which can cause them serious financial problems, while the seriousness and extent of the violation do not always justify that high fine."

The Council of State ruled on a case filed by a woman who was fined 11,600 euros for renting her home to one more tourist than the rules allowed and without getting any complaints. She was registered and had permission to rent the home as a holiday rental on Airbnb. The home measures 153 square meters and is spread out over three floors. A condition of her permit was that she only rent the home to a maximum of four tourists.

However, it was clear that she rented the home to a family of two adults and three children for four nights in August 2020. A listing for the apartment was found on Airbnb, offering the apartment to groups of up to six people. The Amsterdam court had already ruled that the fine was justified but too high “in proportion to the limited seriousness of the violation” and lowered it to 8,700 euros.

The local was still dissatisfied and took the matter to the Council of State, which agreed that the fine was disproportionate to the violation and ordered Amsterdam to rework its system. The Council of State’s Administrative Law Division decided to reduce the woman’s fine to 2,900 euros, which is “appropriate and necessary,” a statement from the court noted. The court said the municipality was justified in imposing a fine against the woman as “she violated one of the conditions for holiday rentals.”

The case itself dates to Amsterdam’s mayor and aldermen issuing the fine in June 2021, for the apartment’s use as a vacation home rented out on Airbnb in August and September of 2020. Towards the end of 2022, the city reduced the fine for a first-time offense from 11,600 euros to 3,000 euros. However, this only applied retroactively to October of that year.