Restrictions on tourist rentals: Saint-Malo wins legal case

"The administrative court of Rennes rules that European law and the law allow the city of Saint-Malo to set up a change of use authorization system," the court said in a statement accompanying the decision rendered on Thursday.

Since 2021, this popular tourist destination has established new regulations for "short-term rentals" such as Airbnb, Abritel, Expedia or Booking, which made it one of the "strictest" in France.

These drastic rules include the establishment of quotas by district and the limitation to one short-term rental property per natural person.

During the hearing on October 3, the owners' lawyer Simon Guirriec also denounced the fact that legal entities could no longer rent out properties for tourist rental.

"What justifies the fact that an SCI cannot rent out on a seasonal basis when its neighbour, a natural person, can?", the lawyer for the lessors had argued.

The lawyer for the corsair city, Nicolas Rouxel, had defended the "proportionality of the means implemented" which are "confirmed by the results of the commune's policy".

"There are not necessarily fewer Airbnbs, but more control," he added.

The public prosecutor had requested that the plaintiffs be dismissed, considering the Saint-Malo regulations to be well-founded and proportionate.