ADVERTISEMENTParis never fails to capture the hearts of tourists, and many now choose to stay in a home-away-from-home holiday rental.
But renters may soon be disappointed: the city is cracking down on Airbnbs and other rental companies.
The French government passed a law in May 2024 making it harder to rent out properties on Airbnb for short-term lets. The ruling received cross-party support and Paris is the first municipality to roll it out.
Right now, there are 95,461 Airbnb listings in the city, of which 89.3 per cent are entire properties, compared to just 9.5 per cent private rooms and 0.4 per cent shared rooms, Inside Airbnb data reveals.
Paris has a system for leasing apartments commercially. But 20 per cent of lets don’t have licences, making them illegal - and it’s these that Paris hopes to crack down on.
Rental agencies dominate the short-let booking platform, as 31.7 per cent of Airbnb hosts in Paris have multiple listings.
The top two hosts, in fact, are international property companies: Blueground has 781 entire home/apartment listings, and Veeve has 533. Meanwhile, the third largest host in Paris is Pierre De WeHost, a concierge service.
Airbnb hosts that don’t comply with Paris’ laws could be fined up to €100,000
From 1 January 2025, Paris will be handing out fines to unlicensed hosts.
If properties have an illegal change of use, owners could be fined up to €100,000 outright. Likewise, any concierge services - often used by homeowners to manage bookings - could be fined €100,000 for ‘being complicit in fraud’.
Properties not registered as tourism rentals could face a €10,000 fine - or €20,000 if owners have made a false declaration or used a false registration number.
The city further plans to set a legal limit on the number of nights a short-term tourist rental can have guests - from 120 to 90 nights each year, as is the rule in London and San Francisco.
Anyone who is found to be renting out their property for more than 90 nights could be charged €15,000.
Once the new laws come into play, hosts who do not remove illegal adverts from short-term rental platforms could be fined €50,000.
Small hotels will benefit from Paris’ Airbnb crackdown
With fewer accommodation options, boutique and independently-run hotels will likely be deemed the next best thing and benefit from the crackdown.
Due to the shortage of affordable housing and complaints of rowdy Airbnb neighbours, Parisians will likely welcome this law.
ADVERTISEMENTLikewise, property managers who manage residential buildings support the law but worry about its practical implications.
“It's not that easy to prove a tourist rental,” one Parisian property manager told Le Parisien. “You have to bring in a bailiff several times to prove the activity. And that has a cost.”
Several associations that represent holiday rental owners have already raised concerns.
The European Holiday Home Association says “rules must always be based on evidence and they should be suitable” and “should not target one industry player with an aim to solve looming and overly complex local issues”.
ADVERTISEMENTUNPLV, the French short-term rental association, is calling on Parisian elected officials “not to apply too quickly a very political and legally fragile law” that goes against EU rules in a city that already has the “most restrictive” regulations.
“While the high cost of living in Paris is pushing many Parisians to leave the capital, the new measures envisaged by the city of Paris will deprive furnished rental owners of the possibility of topping up their income and meeting their expenses or the cost of energy renovation of buildings,” adds UNPLV.
Airbnb highlights that these measures are still only a wish of the Paris city council, but does not expect it to have a major impact on its business in the capital.
“We believe these new measures are a distraction that won’t solve the housing issues in Paris, introduced by an administration that is ignoring the real local challenges related to tourism concentration in central Paris".
ADVERTISEMENTHow will fewer holiday rentals in Paris affect tourists?
Paris is undeniably popular with visitors. As one of the world’s top tourist destinations, the French capital received 47.6 million visitors last year, half of which came from overseas, according to Statista.
Fewer tourists in central Paris would put less pressure on the city’s iconic landmarks and attractions like the Eiffel Tower and soon-to-reopen Notre Dame.
The crackdown could also revive neighbourhood culture, as more locals and independent artisans can afford to move back into the city centre.
Less availability in Paris could also nudge visitors to consider other French cities, such as Lyon or Bordeaux, helping to combat overtourism.
ADVERTISEMENTHowever the UNPLV warns that Paris’ short-term rental shakedown could deprive families who cannot afford a hotel room and encourage “an overconcentration of tourism and its detrimental effects on central districts”.
Airbnb adds that, “limiting how often Parisians can share their primary home will only benefit big hotel chains and drive tourists' accommodation prices up, while hurting many local families who rely on hosting to make ends meet”.
Paris isn’t the first major city to try to reduce holiday rentals. New York banned short-term rentals in 2011, withmixed results. While hoteliers have reaped the rewards, critics say that it has made hotels more expensive without improving housing affordability - and may even have driven short-term rentals underground into the black market.
Earlier this year, Catalonia said it planned to revoke short-term licences for the 10,000-holiday apartments in Barcelona over the next five years. The city currently has less than20,000 listings on Airbnb.
ADVERTISEMENT