640 inspections carried out on Brussels Airbnb hosts

More than 600 Airbnb rental providers in Brussels have been inspected in the past 18 months, new figures reveal.

The stats, supplied by the region's minister-president Rudi Vervoort, show 640 on-the-spot checks were carried out since new regulations came into force in November 2016.

The visits by inspectors led to 266 warnings for not registering a property as tourist accommodation. 109 property owners were found to be in repeat breach of the rules and 38 were hit with a fine.

According to the stats, 256 Airbnb hosts chose to withdraw their listing as a result of the inspection, and 153 went ahead and submitted an application to be recognised as a provider of tourist accommodation.

About 7,000 properties in the Brussels region are listed for rent on Airbnb - meaning about 10% have been the subject of a spot check since the new regulations were introduced.