We want to thank the RS team! We are in France now and like so many we rented a VRBO. We are to arrive in Paris on Tuesday. We got an email from our apartment owner on Saturday that she had to cancel our apartment rental of 9 days! That was 4 days before we arrived!! Of course panic set in! She refunded our money. I went back to my Paris tour book and to Paris Perfect apartment rental agency. Recommended by the RS book. I told them my problem and luckily they had an apartment available!! In the area we wanted and at a 30% discount for last minute deals!! Without the information in our RS book where would we be!!! Our VRBO was probably shut down by the mayor's office. I checked her website and all of her rentals are shut down!! So if you are renting a VRBO be aware this could happen. Also if you have a last minute trip planned check out Paris Perfect❤️
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10601 posts
I'm happy to hear everything turned out well for you. Enjoy Paris!
Posted by
Paris
2466 posts
It's a shame this happened to you - and you were very lucky to find a place at the last minute.
This is becoming more common as the investigations continue, and it's good to be aware of what could happen. The rental situation is not the same as it used to be in Paris. Some people continue to rent with no problems for the time being, but others might end up like you did.
If all the owner's rentals have "disappeared", it's a safe bet that this was a large company which owned a lot of properties and so was first in line for investigation. To avoid paying exorbitant fines per apartment on a daily basis, they were forced to remove all their listings.
Posted by
Paris
10201 posts
Another interesting report -- sorry this happened to you but this is part of what concerns some of us here . . thank you for sharing your experience, and I'm glad you have a happy ending.
Posted by
OP
Redding, California
244 posts
We have now checked into our beautiful apartment in Paris. I told the Paris Perfect apartment people what had happened to us. They said that they as a company have gone through the very specific process to be certified which included apartment inspections and an approval by the apartment complex board before getting the approval to rent to travelers like us. We are counting our blessings. We are off to enjoy our food tour with Paris by Mouth! Bon appetit💝
Posted by
Paris
2466 posts
Just to clarify one thing about ParisPerfect - having the approval of the building's group of residents does not mean that their apartments have met the criteria set by the Mayor's office. This must be approved in the written "reglements du co-propriete" which may or may not be amended during the annual meeting of the property owners. Though this agency has the legal right to advertise apartments, they are clouding the issue by suggesting that their apartments are "legal".
If the apartment owners in the building do not live in their apartments for a minimum of 8 months per year, the apartment is not legal. Most of ParisPerfect's property owners are Americans who only visit their apartments a few weeks out of the year, which is clearly shown on their calendars. There are also other criteria which must be satisfied in order to be approved by the Mayor's office - but they are extremely expensive and complicated. To date, the Mayor's office has released a list of approved apartments which meet the legal criteria - there are only 107 of them out of an estimated 200,000 rentals in Paris.
Nothing will happen to the person renting the apartment, even if the Mayor's task force comes to pay you a friendly visit. All actions are directed to the owners of the property. The Mayor's office hasn't gotten around to PP, yet.