The City of Paris obtains the conviction of Airbnb on the registration numbers

The Paris judicial court sentenced the company Airbnb Ireland to a civil fine of 8.000 euros per advertisement for furnished tourist accommodation published without a declaration number - the town hall has identified 1.010 - for "failure to comply with the obligations of the tourism code", explains he in the judgment consulted by AFP.

The court "took into account the seriousness of the breach in question, its duration and its effects with regard to the general interest objective of combating the shortage of rental accommodation" in the capital, sanctioning "l uncivil attitude "of the American platform" whose economic balance is based on the provision of housing by Parisians ".

"This decision should not have any impact on our activity or our guest community in Paris, since we have already implemented the mandatory registration of advertisements for entire homes rented in short term in Paris", reacted Airbnb in the afternoon by qualifying the judgment as "questionable" and saying that it was studying the possibility of appealing.

Airbnb announced Thursday morning, a few hours before the judgment was known, to automatically make this registration number mandatory for all its Parisian rental companies, after having applied it on April 1 for new ads.

This measure will apply to Bordeaux at the end of July, to Lyon at the start of the school year, then to Lille, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse by the end of the year, indicates in an Airbnb press release which created a " portal for cities "so that cities report ads that do not comply with local regulations.

"It took four years for Airbnb to end up complying with the law," commented Ian Brossat, PCF deputy for housing for Paris PS mayor Anne Hidalgo, recalling that "from 2017, the law provided that cities had the possibility of creating a registration number and that platforms were required to withdraw advertisements without a registration number ".

Airbnb "is a company that has long been used to a form of impunity" while "other platforms had respected the law from the start without having to be taken to court," commented l 'deputy, indicating, however, to have initiated a similar procedure against HomeAway.

In Paris as in other cities in France, owners who wish to rent their main residence on the platform cannot exceed a ceiling of 120 nights per year. Beyond that, they must request a change of use from the town hall.

In February, the City of Paris had won a previous legal victory in its standoff with tourist rental platforms, the highest French court having found its regulations to comply with European law, allowing it to prosecute hundreds of unscrupulous landlords.

A decree published in mid-June will also allow it to regulate the transformation of commercial premises into furnished tourist accommodation.

Airbnb ensures that it meets its commitments

In accordance with commitments made to the Ministry of Housing, Airbnb asks all hosts renting entire accommodation in Paris to indicate a registration number on their listings. This new step is part of Airbnb's series of commitments for responsible tourism made last February to Ms. Emmanuelle Wargon, Minister responsible for Housing, to support the regulations applicable to short-term rentals, and place responsible travel at the heart of the recovery in tourism.

In this context, this decision should not have any significant impact on our activity or our host community in Paris.

The vast majority of Airbnb hosts are locals, and follow local regulations. Airbnb data also shows that the vast majority of homes already registered have received more bookings than those that were not.

• In 2020, more than 95% of the entire accommodation available on Airbnb in Paris was rented for less than 120 nights.
• The vast majority of overnight stays booked in entire Parisian accommodation were in accommodation previously registered, or which benefited from an exemption from registration.

Airbnb data shows that the majority of listings that did not yet have a registration number experienced little or no recent activity on the platform: 97% of them had no reservations in the past three months.

As the French prepare to unlock international travel, Airbnb data shows new hosts are joining the platform every day in anticipation of the biggest rebound of the century for the travel industry. The number of ad creations on Airbnb increased by 16% between April and May in Paris, compared to the two previous months, even though the platform made the presence of a registration number mandatory since April 1 for any new ad created in Paris.

The pandemic has led to changes in travel habits and we are seeing a greater dispersion of demand for the benefit of communities located outside large cities.

• Paris represented only 10% of all searches for stays in France in May 2021, marking a significant drop compared to May 2019
• For summer 2021, the first destination booked on Airbnb is no longer Paris as in 2019, but the Var department
• Airbnb is present in 29.000 municipalities and therefore perfectly positioned to support this new trend

Airbnb wishes to play a role of partner for local authorities and is implementing a series of measures to support guests in complying with local regulations:

• Automatic blocking of guest calendars beyond 120 rental days for main residences in Paris and major cities in France
• Regular sharing of data on guest activity
• Automated collection of tourist tax in 29.000 municipalities
• Mandatory registration for guests renting entire accommodation in Paris, this system to be extended to several other French cities by the end of the year