Your Building Can Still Say No: The Community Veto Power

We've covered the VV Licence, the UK vs EU tax gap, and enforcement. This time, something that catches many owners off guard: even with a fully valid licence, your own building's community of owners can still block you from renting short-term.

What Changed

Since April 2025, a legal reform changed how much power a community of owners has over this. Previously, banning short-term rentals in a building required unanimous agreement, extremely hard to achieve in practice. Now, a community can prohibit tourist use with a 60% majority vote, and that 60% has to be met in two ways at once: 60% of the actual owners, and 60% of the ownership share (bigger units carry more weight). Both thresholds need to be hit for the vote to count.

The Bigger Shift: Default Has Flipped

Since this reform, short-term rental in many buildings is effectively off by default unless the community explicitly authorises it, rather than the old assumption that owners could rent unless specifically banned.

This is a meaningful shift in how the burden of proof works. It used to be on the community to organise a ban. Increasingly, it's on individual owners to secure permission in the first place.

What If You're Already Renting Legally?

There's a genuine protection here worth knowing: owners who were already operating legally before their community's ban was voted in typically keep their existing rights, under the terms and timelines set by the relevant regulations. A new community vote in 2026 doesn't automatically wipe out every existing legal rental overnight. That said, every case depends on specifics, when you started, what licence you held, what the building's bylaws actually say.

Watch Older Bylaws Too

Courts have recently extended this further. Even older building statutes that never explicitly mention "tourist rental" can now sometimes be interpreted as an effective ban, if they contain vaguer language like "no commercial activity" or "residential use only." Worth having someone actually read your building's statutes properly, not just checking for a VV licence and assuming you're covered.

Combined with everything else we've covered, VV licence, tax treatment, enforcement, this is really the fourth piece of due diligence: check what your own building allows, not just what the region allows.

This post is general information only, not financial or legal advice. Community of owners rules, statutes, and voting outcomes vary building by building. Always check your specific situation, including your building's actual bylaws, with a qualified local lawyer before making decisions.