Paris apartments

I have, twice. It was a good experience both times. PM me if you want more info.. 😊

Thanks Susan....I am looking at many sites but had never heard of this one.

I have used Parisbestlodge three times , very good experience. Only downfall is most of their apartments are studios or one bedrooms so not good for larger family groups .

Another vote for Paris Best Lodge, but due to their popularity you have to book way in advance because they book up fast.

seymourwills-I presume you mean that you had a bad experience with parisattitude.com, is that right? Do you mind sharing what the issue was for everyone's benefit?

Yes, Seymourwills, I too would like to know what "a fairly bad experience" means.

My daughter and her friends used Lodgis too.. and had no problems.

We stayed at a Paris Perfect apartment. It is a recommended RS agency. Beautiful apartment! Very helpful and efficient staff.

I recently used Cobblestone Paris Rental, www.cobblestoneparis.com, enjoyed our stay. They have been recommended by Rick Steves for the last 6-years.
Enjoy your trip.

Chani, any of those on the legal list?

What and where is ...the legal list...??

imatravelling. Most paris apartment rentals are not legal. Legally an apartment owner is allowed to rent their OWN RESIDENSE for up to 3 months a year( it may be four) .. but it is not legal to rent an apartment for short term unless one has all the proper permits. These permits are hard to get and very expensive, and this regulation has been in place for years, but authorities never used to pay attention . However, in last few years they have clamped down on this practice as there is a housing shortage for locals in Paris now.. and those renting their apartments are not paying their taxes on this income .

As a renter you are not at risk of procectuion.. however if you rent an apartment and the owner has been contacted by the authorities then they will pull it off the market immediately , perhaps leaving a renter with no where to stay last minute. The chances of this happening to you is not great, but it has happened to some others.

Almost all apartment agencies will tell you they are legal, but most are not, the agencies themselves ARE legal, so perhaps they are fudging a technicality . It IS legal to LIST apartment rentals.

"...any of those on the legal list?"

James, are you referring to the tiny, little, infinitesimal, and downright dinky list 'being assembled' at the Mairie? The last time I checked, Paris was a world class city with huge demand for lodging of all sorts. The apparently foundering city program to identify legal rentals for tourists has indeed put out a list...in French...of 112 apartment building addresses to date...with no apartment numbers...and no link to contact the owner or agent. If you know of a unit, you can see if the building address has a legal rental, but you don't get to confirm which unit number that is. Excellent. At this rate we can hope for a substantial, easily navigated list by the year 2025.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for this program to come together and work-that would be a great resource; in the meantime I'll not be concerned about minding laws that I am not subject to, and will continue to recommend to people that due diligence and good communication with a potential owner or agent is the way to go.

I did find the address of a building where an apartment we rented from Parisbestlodge is located, it could be that they own all of the apartments in that building-or not. There are some agencies that own entire buildings.

Here's the link to the enormous list:
https://opendata.paris.fr/explore/dataset/registre-des-autorisations-de-changement-dusage-pour-les-meubles/table/

Dave, thank you for your good insight and perspective.

Dave.. I know they own the building on Rue Galande.. we stayed in one of them, and one of the managers showed me two other units there .. we have rented from Parisbestlodge a few times now and Thierry was pretty open with us. This last visit I outright asked him about the legality of his apartments and he told me they were legal and the permits cost him hundreds of thousands of euros , now , he could be lying I suppose.. but its good to know at least one of his buidlings is on the list of legal rentals.

So, if the law is inconvenient, especially to a foreign national, and if there is no threat of prosecution it is morally acceptable to be a participant in violating the law if it provides something desired? Did I understand you correctly? I’m good with that. Just checking.

"So, if the law is inconvenient, especially to a foreign national, and if there is no threat of prosecution it is morally acceptable to be a participant in violating the law if it provides something desired? Did I understand you correctly? I’m good with that. Just checking. "

For me, it has nothing to do with inconvenient-I find the word a bit of a red herring here-it has to do with the 112 "legal" apartments for the nineteen jillion folks that would like to come to Paris and not be hotel bound. Hotels are great! They have people at the desk for directions or dinner reservations, a friendly hello, and security cameras (hmmm..), and one can usually drop luggage early if the room is not ready. For me, I have reached the end of the list of hotel benefits. In my view, it's not a benefit to have a stranger enter your room to clean up, it's not a benefit to be awoken at 4 a.m. by the recycling truck at the restaurant downstairs, it's not a benefit to be offered a mediocre overpriced breakfast...I could go on. One can certainly get an apart-hotel, if one is okay with an extra sink and a microwave in a hotel room, if that works, hey that's great.

As I said, it would be great if the 'system' worked the way they have envisioned it, and perhaps someday it will, but I am finding myself impatient with this ongoing attitude of 'be very afraid' and 'gee you must be a scofflaw'. There is currently 112 legal rentals, and there is currently lots and lots (oodles!) of people wanting apartments. I am not subject to the laws of France when it comes to this topic, and have no need/desire/right to judge someone else who is. This is a big ship and it's gonna take a while to turn it around-the much touted 'come September there's gonna be changes' fright came and went, and the process, such as it is, just creeps along, barely moving.

And no, I don't feel that this is outside the spirit of intent with regards to Community Guidelines-there is huge demand and small availability in a world class city, and people are going to do something-I am not helping anyone to break a law.

Morally acceptable? Excuse me?

This is a valid concern.
I have read of dozens of individuals that have had a booked apartment cancelled on them last minute or at least within weeks of rental date due to the city crack down.
It seems very random and still given the percentages unlikely to happen to you but good to know about it.

Seems like currently the only way to have the authorities shut a rental down is if they get a bunch of complaints from neighbors in the building, there is a tip line or similar setup to rat your neighbors out.

Using an agency, at least they likely would find another place for you at the same rate where this to happen, since they would feel bad and bare some of the burden.
If you rent on Airb2b, VRBO or similar site though ; the responsibility of finding another place to rent would be on you and could be tough if pulled last minute. You would get your fees paid back of course.

All of this fear talk aside, I booked an apartment in Paris well before I was aware of this ongoing issue and as I learned more got scared but played it out and it worked out just fine for us with a great apartment at an amazing price. I would take my chances again and rent the same place (which I am certain is "illegal" since it seems to be rented year round).

We used Paris Attitude twice. One apartment was great, the other just so-so.
They do charge a fee which is an added expense. Try Airbnb, VRBO, or HomeAway.

mreynolds, I'm not sure why one would suspect a correlation between an individual that breaks a downright inconvenient law and providing you a service you contracted for - unless the particulars of that contract became downright inconvenient to him.