Paris' Mayor Cracking Down on Vacation Rentals

mike, it's true, the Paris Mayor's office does indeed have a task force working on rooting out illegal rentals in the city, with the strongest focus on owners who run multiple units and on units which are in the trendiest, most popular tourist areas of the city, such as the Marais and Saint-Germain. In Montparnasse, in a well reviewed and otherwise well qualified (i.e. due diligence on your part) apartment you are unlikely to have a problem, imho. It's important to read all reviews, and to look for clues as to neighbor issues, in particular.

Here is part of a post I did this morning in a similar, nearby thread, based on my look into the current situation:

...it would appear that there are somewhere between 20,000 and 60,000 vacation rentals in Paris, and that there are about 15 people on the Mayor's task force, and that the SECOND sweep took place just a few months ago. So, with about 1.1% to 3.3% of potential rentals being "taken off the market"...

I've heard the same from our property owner in Montemarte area secured through HomeAway. Instructions were to be discreet...

How can you expect a dependable answer to your question? Because the answer is who knows. You are engaging in an illegal (for Paris) activity and no one can predict the changes of being caught. There was a posting here last week from someone complaining about their rental being cancelled about three days prior to arrival with no explanation. There was some guessing that maybe the landlord had been caught or was close to getting caught so just canceled. This is a very gray and shaking area. You take your chances.

We rented an airbnb flat in central Paris last June. I don't think you should be worried. To me, the advantages (best locations at affordable rates, meal preparation at "home" if you like, feeling like a local, etc.) outweigh the risks. However, if you are really concerned and think that this concern will dampen your enjoyment on the trip, then choose to stay at a flat that can assure you it is compliant with Paris' rules (i.e., not being rented for more than 120 days per year). Bon voyage!

If you do a search on the internet you will see that these crack downs have been going on for years and years, yet people rent flats in Paris all the time. We were there October 2015 and we rented an apartment in the 6th and had no problems. I also did not worry because I chose a reputable agency with lots of great reviews, but because I chose an agency in high demand I had to make my reservations 10 months out and pay a security deposit. My plan B was a to carry a credit card we could use if we needed to secure a hotel room. I think I would be okay renting from AirBNB for our trip next year.

Letizia, there is a huge difference between what you did - renting through an agency -- and what Mike is asking about - AirBnB. You were absolutely legal, Mike not so much.

The mere fact that an apartment is listed on AirBnB does not mean it's illegal, though the vast majority of rentals are illegal, there are also perfectly legal rentals. By the same token, an agency could rent illegal units. Compliance by an owner is a very high bar.

Under the current version of the law the only person with a legal obligation is the owner of the apartment and so that is the only person breaking the law. Letizia's apartment is probably more likely illegal than the one the OP will rent. Why? Because it is perfectly legal in Paris for a person to rent his or her primary residence for a certain number of days each year. Those apartments are listed on Air BnB and sites like VRBO. Apartments rented by agencies are rarely legal because they are rarely, if ever, a primary residence or owned by a person who has complied with the very costly requirements to be able to rent out the space to short-term rentals. Some rental agencies try to be cute and list on VRBO and Air BnB but you can usually figure it out. I think that the single most important thing I have seen for enforcement is how the neighbors feel about the vacation rental in the building; other than the publicized sweeps, the enforcement of the law in Paris is driven by complaints from neighbors because of the lack of manpower. As an aside, I read that the city is increasing the number of inspectors to 25. I own an apartment in Paris that is not rented out to vacationers and I have no plan to rent it out unless the rules change. That is not because I am unwilling to rent it out but because when I bought it earlier this year, the seller and the head of the co-propriete made it abundantly clear that vacation rentals were unconsidered un-neighborly and would be reported to the Mayor's office.

JHK -- How are you going to handle all the family and friends asking if they can stay there a few nights, or if they can trade with you? One year in Paris we had twenty house guests, family and friends. Now nobody comes to see us.

Bets -- LOL. It's not just Paris; all of France will draw people to you. We lived in a tiny town in southern Burgundy for part of 2013 and during that time, we had houseguests constantly. Free housing in France is like a magnet.

Adrian Leeds, some know her from House Hunters International, has lived in Paris for decades and writes a weekly newsletter called French Property Insider (you can Google it). She's written many newsletters, including her latest one two days ago, on this subject. Might be helpful to read what she's written about it.

Thanks for the perspectives, especially Dave, JHK and Susan. Stay tuned. New rules are coming for vacation rentals in Paris. And, as Adrian Leeds suggests the only people likely to benefit are the hotels!

mike, I hope you enjoy every minute in Paris! My favorite place, after SF... : )

And Bets... I'll come visit you!

As JHK points out, a visitor who rents an AirBnB apartment in Paris cannot be breaking the law; only the owner can, but if the owner is caught, of course, renters with reservations can lose out.

as Adrian Leeds suggests the only people likely to benefit are the hotels!

Actually, the government just wants the taxes paid, whether from a hotel or an apartment owner. They are losing tax revenue if the rentals are black market.

Edit: I agree absolutely with Kim that it's about the housing stock, also--a big problem in these cities.

JHK, be sure to let us know when you'll be in Paris next so we can all use your apartment! ;-)

LoL Dick...

The government wants a little bit more than just that the taxes are paid. This is a city of Paris issue, and the city also has an interest in having somewhat-affordable housing so that professionals can live in the city. The mairie wants to ensure that every apartment sold in Paris doesn't just become available to tourists renting for a few nights at a time, but that residents have somewhere to live.

It's actually interesting, the city of Paris has been working together quite a bit with AirBnB execs to try to accommodate a demand that is obviously there, while getting something - i.e. tax revenue - out of it. The housing officials have been quite open about their meetings with Air BnB execs.

I too am staying Air BnB in Paris near Montparnasse for a week. Traveling as a single older female it does seem safer as I often stay with another female, a landlady who can greatly benefit, older, like myself, and I have used this service MANY times (for 5 years) throughout Europe. People I meet like this are amazing, informative, communicative if you want, and just lovely! I read reviews assiduously and communicate loads. I use hotels too. But there have been times that hotels have been not the best choice and the first time I was in Paris my hotel was across from a noisy bar unbeknownst to me prior to arrival. Luckily, I can sleep through anything. But the neighborhood was also borderline safe at night. Never again. The mistake of a newbie. And the isolation of a hotel is not something I want when I travel most of the time. I want to experience all that is possible where I am and sometimes that means a North African bar with 'World Music' right across the street at 1 am on a week night with something mysterious to drink. To all the doubters I lived through it, but won't do it again. Barbara

hill.barbara, are your renting a room from a person or an entire apartment? If it's a room, that is a totally different situation than renting an entire apartment. And yes, hotels can be in bad locations for a traveler but apartment rentals can be as well. I don't see one as being superior to the other in terms of the possibility of the location not being ideal and a traditional short-term apartment rental is often more isolating than a hotel room because there is no front desk or other hotel staff to interact with.

JHK I always rent a room from a person, usually a woman and try to get to know them by communicating before and during. This is the best! I try to not rent an apartment unless I really need to be alone. Doesn't happen much. But even then, I do not rent from these folks that try to make an income from several apartments and do not care much who rents. Barbara

Are VRBO rentals in Paris illegal? Or are they perhaps registered? Now I am concerned we'll get to Paris next week and not have anyplace to stay.

Randi, if you read the previous posts you'll find the answer to your question.

There is now a registry of legal apartments in Paris, issued by the Mayor's office. There are only 107 of them in the entire City of Paris, though more will be added as the investigations continue. There are no references to which apartment(s) are in any building(s) at the address listed. The link is in French, takes a long time to load, but here it is:
http://opendata.paris.fr/explore/dataset/registre-des-autorisations-de-changement-dusage-pour-les-meubles/information/

There was a story on TF1 news last week, which showed the Mayor's agent visiting two apartments in the same building. There was also a brief visit to the office of AirBnB in Paris, whose representative stated that he had forwarded all the information about legal issues to the owners, but it wasn't his job to enforce it.

Is the apartment listing meant to include apartments rented by people who are renting out their primary residence for less than 120 days per year? Or is it just a list of the places that are ongoing, "all the time" vacation rentals?

^^^ Good question.

I guess we can refer to the list if we would prefer a choice of 107 rentals over a choice of 20,000+.

JHK - this list includes apartments which meet the Mayor's criteria for legal rentals. There is no further specification on whether the property is owner-occupied or meets other criteria. The problem with this list is that there is no mention of the actual apartment which is legal - in fact, there might be many illegal apartments located in the same building(s).

As such, this list is pretty much useless until further information can be added to it. But people have been clamoring for a list, so here it is.

There are over 200,000 vacation rental apartments which are listed on Internet websites, according to the Mayor's task force. As of the latest census (2015), there are more vacation rentals than full-time résidents in the 3ème and 4ème arrondissements combined.

So I just checked and in 2009 there were approx. 36,000 residents in arrondissement 3. Let's say that today there are 40,000. Are you saying there are more vacation rental apartments available than the total population of this particular arrondissement? That is very puzzling indeed.

I think that Chexbres may be referring to a report that for the summer of 2014, more tourists stayed in short-term rentals in Le Marais (66,320) than live in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements combined (64,795). This was reported in a Wall Street Journal Article in June 2015: http://graphics.wsj.com/how-airbnb-is-taking-over-paris/. The thing is though that there was really no discussion of how many of the 66,320 were there on any given day in the summer. The numbers seems very dramatic until you start thinking about the fact that the 66,320 people were not all there at the same time.

Well, let's see. That's 66,320 visitors divided by (say) 90 days for the summer period - that's about 737 people per day staying in short term rentals compared to the tens of thousands who live there on a permanent basis. Gad zooks, I hate when people start massaging numbers, they become so meaningless.

Exactly, Nancy.

200,000 vacation rentals in Paris?! Simply amazing! So many people placing greed before the good of their fellow citizens is disgraceful. It's time for the government to step in and redistribute ownership so everyone can enjoy their RIGHT to affordable housing in every corner of Paris. This experiment with rights of personal of ownership and trickle-on economics has gone too far. After all these land Barrons got where they are on the backs of the working man, So who really earned the right of ownership, why the working man of course. Ohhhhh, Bull Puckey.

There is one other factor tipping those numbers: empty apartments, or those used occassionally by people who live elsewhere. In France, the philosophy is to never sell an apartment unless necessary. This is where people hold their assets rather than investing heavily in stocks and bonds. We have both friends and family members who have several properties scattered around the country. Consequently, in Paris and other cities you have buildings with unoccupied apartments. One of our friends, in a six-storey building is the only occupant, along with the concierge. But hebhas two other properties outside Paris. additionally, some wealthy foreigners have apartments they use only a few weeks a year. You can see all the shuttered apartments on the quais of the Ile St. Louis. So the problem is many sided.

Due to the recent changes in tax laws, these "empty apartments" are being taxed more heavily than before, and people are looking for ways to get rid of them as fast as possible.
Many cases are being held up due to successions, or in the cases were there were no heirs, the property will revert to the State after the legalities have been completed. All of this can take years, which is why the apartments remain empty for the time being.