Examples of misinformation here:
- You are specifically not required to quarantine at your place of registration. In fact, most Taiwanese landlords are tax evaders and don’t let you establish 戶籍 at your rental property without a significant surcharge.
- You are expressly permitted to quarantine at a “friend or relative’s home”. However, once this “friend or relative” charges you for your stay, and your stay is for less than a month, you enter into the realm of illegality under the Article 2-8 of the Act for the Development of Tourism which defines a hotel business as: “以各種方式名義提供不特定人以日或週之住宿、休息並收取費用及其他相關服務之營利事業” (Emphasis added: If it’s free, it’s not illegal. If you don’t use “days” or “months” as the lease term, it’s not illegal.)
- Article 55-1 of the Act criminalizes Airbnb by making it illegal to advertise an Article 2-8 defined hotel rental: “以廣告物、出版品、廣播、電視、電子訊號、電腦網路或其他媒體等，散布、播送或刊登營業之訊息”. It does not make it illegal to respond to such advertisements or enter into a contract that falls under the definition of Article 2-8. The fine is to the landlord for making the advertisement, not to the tenant for responding to it. The fact that you have a contract outside of Airbnb with the landlord does not make it legal if your term is less than a month; the fact that you entered into a contract on the Airbnb platform for a month or more does not make the transaction illegal.
- You cannot quarantine at a “hotel.” For what a hotel is, refer again to Article 2-8 (and Article 2-7). If you’ve rented a place for a month or more, you are no longer at a hotel. You are at a legal rental, but the landlord can still be fined under Article 55-1 for making an illegal advertisement on airbnb, 591, or wherever.
- Local governments do not have the authority to legislate fines without authorization from the Executive Yuan. The Executive Yuan cannot impose fines unless a violation of a law enacted by the Legislative Yuan has occurred. Any action by Taipei City does not expand beyond the Act for the Development of Tourism. It is merely enforcing it, as it could do for anyone staying at a daily or weekly rental, not just people under quarantine.