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Amsterdam offcially approves new Airbnb-friendly laws

Hosts can now rent out their homes periodically, if they follow all the tax and safety laws related to vacation rentals.

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Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
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Airbnb celebrated a win in Amsterdam on Thursday after the city approved new laws that allow for peer-to-peer rentals of residential property.

The Amsterdam City Council created a new category with Airbnb in mind. The new "private rental" designation allows residents to rent their homes for limited periods of time. Otherwise, all things remain as expected. Hosts will still have to pay income and tourist taxes, and make sure their guests don't draw complaints from neighbors.

Airbnb has long argued that it helps bring in more interest, and money, from tourists who visit places like Amsterdam.

The company probably wants to see more of this kind of flexibility from New York's leaders.

It highlighted the new laws after a data-crunching report from Skift came out, analyzing listings in New York. According to the data, two-thirds of host listings in New York should be deemed illegal. The report provided more fodder for lawmakers who are actively bringing the hammer down on Airbnb's business.