Mayors soon to be given additional tools to regulate Airbnb rentals

The bill has passed the stage of the joint committee (CMP), the last before the votes for the final adoption of the bill, scheduled for November 5 in the Senate and November 7 in the National Assembly.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Valérie Létard, said on X that she was "delighted" with the progress of this text which "will provide tools to mayors and balance the rules between long-term rentals and furnished tourist accommodation".

Socialist MP Emmanuel Grégoire also welcomed the outcome of a "subject eagerly awaited by local authorities, particularly those suffering from the effects of overtourism and the despoliation effect on housing".

If the flagship measure of this text is a change in taxation, in order to reduce the advantages granted to the rental of furnished tourist accommodation compared to the rental of residential accommodation, it also contains several measures intended for local elected officials.

"All municipalities will thus be able to set up quotas for furnished tourist accommodation" and "designate areas reserved for the construction of main residences", explained the two deputies at the origin of the text, Annaïg Le Meur (Renaissance) and Iñaki Echaniz (PS), in a press release published on Monday.

"A very nice step forward" for Ian Brossat, communist senator and advisor to the Paris city hall.

According to the text of the CMP, the creation of zones reserved for main residences in the local urban planning plan (PLU) could concern municipalities with more than 20% of secondary residences and those in tense zones.

In Paris, a ban on new furnished tourist rentals in Montmartre, in the Marais and around the Eiffel Tower is planned in the next PLU, which will be voted on in mid-November, according to Mr. Brossat.

On target

To better control these rentals and ensure that they remain within the rules, a registration number for all furnished accommodation (main and secondary residence) will now be systematically required.

And in the case of main residences, proof of address will be required, compared to a simple sworn statement at present.

"In Paris, you don't have the right to rent out your second home on Airbnb," but owners "fraudulently check off main residence," assures Ian Brossat.

The CMP text then provides for the "possibility for municipalities to reduce the maximum number of days of tourist rental of main residences" to between 120 and 90 days, "to avoid abuse".

Christophe Bouillon, mayor of Barentin (Seine-Maritime) and president of the Association of Small Towns of France, welcomes "the objective of territorial regulation" which puts tools in "the hands of mayors" without imposing itself on the entire territory.

For him, "we should not consider that there are only metropolises and tense areas in France, there are many places where there was no hotel supply and this has helped to strengthen the tourist vocation of our territories".

In all municipalities, the creation of new furnished tourist rental accommodation will be subject to authorisation for change of use, if residential accommodation becomes commercial accommodation.

Sylvain Grataloup, president of the National Union of Property Owners, deplores the fact that "new regulations" increase "the obligations of owners even though elected officials already have effective legislative or regulatory mechanisms."

For him, "this text will not resolve the current housing crisis."

The owner of accommodation rented for tourist purposes must also inform his condominium manager who may decide in his regulations whether or not to prohibit furnished tourist accommodation rentals.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.