Over the weekend, global homesharing giant Airbnb sent emails to as many as 48,000 hosts throughout Japan who had not met strict new legislative requirements. The emails informed them that their properties would be delisted with immediate effect.

Japan's new minpaku homesharing law, which comes into effect on June 15, requires hosts to meet strict requirements in order to legally register as a home-sharing property. 

Known for occasionally being somewhat blasé about local laws and ordinances, in this case Airbnb is strictly toeing the government line, requiring hosts to enter their official notification number, received upon successful registration, or evidence of a hotel licence, or otherwise have their property removed from the site.

While it was understood that this would be the case from mid-June, a notice from the Ministry of Tourism on June 1, informing vacation rental companies of the need to cancel future bookings and inform guests in advance of the deadline, seems to have prompted the swift and unexpected action by Airbnb.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the number of listed properties has fallen from 62,000 in April to just 13,800 after the cull.  

By Greg Lane

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