France: Lawmakers in France’s parliament [the Assemblée Nationale] have passed a bill aimed at strengthening short-term rental accommodation to combat the country’s affordable housing shortage.
The bill was first unanimously approved by the French Sénat [the upper house of the parliament] before the Assemblée Nationale [lower house] adopted the legislation by a large majority. The far-right Rassemblement National [RN] group also voted against the bill.
Specifically, the legislation will cut tax breaks for non-classified short-term holiday rentals from 50 per cent to 30 per cent with a cap of €15,000, while the tax allowance for furnished tourist accommodation will be slashed from 71 per cent to 50 per cent, with a cap reduced to €77,700.
Annaïg Le Meur, one of the lawmakers behind the bill, said that the purpose of the legislation was to prevent the short-term rental sector from “spiralling out of control” and “further complicating access to conventional housing”.
Iñaki Echaniz, a co-author of the bill, also confirmed that mayors across France would be given a “toolbox” to regulate short-term rentals and that local authorities will be able to set their own quotas for furnished tourist accommodation in their towns and cities.
France represents Airbnb’s second-largest market after the United States, with listings spread across 29,000 French towns and cities.
In response to the parliamentary bill approval, the home-sharing platform told AFP: “We regret the inclusion of additional measures that will burden everyday families with additional tax costs and bureaucracy. We want to work with municipalities to ensure that new powers are leveraged where there is a clear need and trackable impact.”
Meanwhile, representatives from the hotel sector have widely welcomed the move by the Assemblée Nationale.
Last November, the Sénat approved measures to implement tougher taxation on short-term rentals in order to address a perceived “distortion of competition” compared to the country’s hotel sector. The new nationwide legislation, once introduced, will consequently close tax loopholes for short-term rental platforms in France.
Then last month, Marseille mayor Benoît Payan promised to enforce the “strictest rental regulations in France” by announcing plans to force landlords and hosts to “buy back” another property and list it on the long-term rental market. Payan told regional radio station FranceInfo that the strategic move would prevent holiday rental owners from “emptying the neighbourhoods” in a city where local citizens are increasingly struggling to secure long-term tenancies.
Elsewhere across the country. protesters expressing concerns about ‘over-tourism’ have caused damage to short-term rental key lockboxes by sawing them off. In Marseille, for example, Payan has already banned all lockboxes and key safes for short-term rentals from the city’s streets.
