Research On The Legal Issues Of Online Short-term Rental Homestays

In recent years,the sharing economy has begun to rise rapidly in China with a new resource allocation method characterized by low cost and high efficiency.As a typical example of the sharing economy in the accommodation industry,online short-term rental homestays soon led the hotel industry as soon as its market share was launched,and gradually occupied a dominant position in the tourist accommodation market,showing vigorous vitality,but it involves complex legal relationships,and different business models require different management methods,although online short-term rental platforms are also implementing self-discipline supervision,constantly improving their supervision and management capabilities,while the government is also constantly intervening and social coordination.However,the current regulatory effect of online short-term rental homestays in China is still not ideal."Online short-term rental" refers to a mode in which online short-term rental homestay providers rent out vacant properties for which they have ownership or legal right to use through the Internet platform,and homestay tenants search online to complete transactions and move in offline entities.As a typical example of the sharing economy in the accommodation industry,online short-term rental homestays make extensive use of idle houses,which have the characteristics of convenience and affordability,and have become an industry with great development potential in the rental market.However,from the current legal supervision status of China’s online short-term rental homestay industry,although there are special regulatory laws at the national level,they are relatively general and superficial,there is no unified national laws and regulations for specific implementation,and the local governments are mainly some guiding opinions and lack authority.Due to the lack of perfect tax laws,it is difficult to tax the online short-term rental industry,forming unfair competition for the traditional tourism industry,and consumer rights and interests cannot be protected.From the perspective of administrative supervision,the problems of chaotic management,outdated supervision models and lagging regulatory concepts still exist,and the management methods have not been upgraded according to the emerging formats of the online short-term rental homestay industry,resulting in the existence of supervision in vulnerabilities.From the perspective of platform supervision,due to the platform’s failure to fulfill its information review obligations,a large number of fake listings on the platform damage consumers’ trust interests,so that the transaction security of online short-term rental homestay transaction entities cannot be guaranteed.Through comparative analysis,the regulatory practice of online short-term rental homestays outside the region has important reference significance for the improvement of China’s regulatory practice.In view of the problems in China’s online short-term rental homestay industry,China should improve it from the following aspects: First,in terms of legislation,clarify the legal status of online short-term rental homestay and the obligations of each subject of the transaction,and lay a theoretical foundation for its supervision.Improve industry access and punishment and elimination mechanisms,and increase the illegal costs of online short-term rental homestay platforms and operators,so as to better protect the rights and interests of consumers.Second,in law enforcement,change the front-end management thinking,attach importance to process management,and better solve the new situation arising under the current new Internet format.Third,in terms of platform management,platforms are required to continuously improve the mechanism for rights protection,implement the obligations of verifying registration and reviewing housing information in good faith,solve consumers’ worries,and better ensure transaction security.