Tourist accommodation: the city of Marseille wants to "punish" owners of multiple properties

The case of a fourth, a judge at the commercial court, was not argued, his lawyer having requested that the case be heard by a neighboring jurisdiction, as the law allows.

By summoning them to a civil court, the municipality of Marseille wanted to make a strong impression, to bring into compliance the owners of some 6.000 furnished tourist accommodations operated in violation of the law and increasingly drastic municipal regulations.

One million overnight stays per year are booked in Marseille via online platforms such as Airbnb or Booking. And in a city that already has 40.000 substandard housing units, nearly 13.000 apartments are identified as furnished tourist accommodations, representing up to 11% of the housing stock in the historic Panier district.

"In one year, we have recorded 2.000 additional seasonal furnished accommodations, so that means 2.000 families who have not been able to benefit from these accommodations," lamented the city's lawyer, Jorge Mendes Constante, emphasizing "the educational value" of this first round of proceedings.

The city has therefore sought a judgment of nine times 100.000 euros against the company of a Parisian developer who transformed the ground floor and first floor apartment of a building acquired in the center of Marseille into nine seasonal furnished apartments.

Like the other defendants summoned, he had failed to declare the change of use of these units, which were originally intended for residential use. His concierge service, which manages these premises, is being sued for €247.500 in fines for using fraudulent registration numbers, failing to submit rental statements, and other violations of the law.

For each "infraction", the City demanded the maximum fine incurred as a form of "punishment" for the offenders.

"A feeling of impunity"

"This notion of setting an example doesn't sit well with me, coming from a community that behaves worse than a prosecutor," denounced his lawyer, Olivier Burtez. According to him, his client immediately wanted to "make amends for his mistake," notably by acquiring commercial premises to convert into housing, a form of compensation provided for by law after the conversion of residential units into tourist accommodations.

In these three cases, Mr. Mendes Constante asked the civil judge to order the return of the premises to their residential use under threat of a heavy penalty payment.

"We cannot make an example, a symbol, of a property owner who has made amends," argued Pierre Le Beller, the lawyer representing a surgeon from Périgueux who, after acquiring a building, subdivided it to transform six apartments into fourteen furnished tourist rentals. "He is not an unscrupulous investor who pretends to be buying a second home and makes exorbitant sums from seasonal rentals," the lawyer asserted.

The city denounced the "openly displayed sense of impunity" of this offender who, during an interview on the French investigative program "Complément d'enquête" on France 2, admitted to breaking the law. "Everyone told me, 'This is Marseille, baby, we have to fend for ourselves,'" he declared to the cameras. The city is seeking €810.000 in civil fines from him and €350.000 from the concierge service that manages his apartments.

Although they owned thirteen apartments, to prepare for retirement and their inheritance according to their lawyer Me Manon François, a couple from Marseille were once again summoned for the lack of change of use of an apartment in a building which was also placed under a safety order and therefore prohibited from being rented.

"This is substandard housing that could collapse and they're renting it out on Airbnb," protested the city's lawyer, who is demanding payment of a civil fine of 100.000 euros.

All decisions will be made on February 2nd.