Paris gets Airbnb sentenced to a fine of more than 8 million euros

The City of Paris obtained Thursday the conviction of Airbnb to a fine of more than 8 million euros for having maintained since 2017 advertisements without the compulsory registration number, the same day when the platform announces to make this number compulsory for all its Parisian announcements. The Paris judicial court sentenced the company Airbnb Ireland to a civil fine of 8,000 euros per advertisement for furnished tourist accommodation published without a declaration number – the town hall has identified 1,010 – for “failure to comply with the obligations of the tourism code”, explains he in judgment.

Housing shortage

The court “took into account the seriousness of the breach in question, its duration and its effects with regard to the general interest objective of combating the shortage of rental accommodation” in the capital, sanctioning “l uncivil attitude “of the American platform” whose economic balance is based on the provision of housing by Parisians “. Airbnb, which must also pay 10,000 euros to the City for procedural costs, announced Thursday morning, a few hours before the judgment was known, to automatically make this registration number mandatory for all its Parisian rental companies, after having it applied April 1 for new announcements.

This measure will apply to Bordeaux at the end of July, to Lyon at the start of the school year, then to Lille, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse by the end of the year, indicates in an Airbnb press release which has created a “portal for cities “so that cities report ads that do not comply with local regulations.

Airbnb “used to a form of impunity”

“It took 4 years for Airbnb to end up complying with the law”, commented Ian Brossat, PCF deputy for housing of the PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, recalling that “from 2017, the law provided that cities had the possibility of creating a registration number and that platforms were required to withdraw advertisements without a registration number “. Airbnb “is a company that has long been used to a form of impunity” while “other platforms had respected the law from the start without having to be taken to court”, commented l ‘deputy, indicating, however, to have initiated a similar procedure against HomeAway.

120 nights per year

In Paris as in other cities in France, owners who wish to rent their main residence on the platform cannot exceed a ceiling of 120 nights per year. Beyond that, they must request a change of use from the town hall. In February, the City of Paris had won a previous legal victory in its tug-of-war with tourist rental platforms, the highest French court having found its regulations to comply with European law, allowing it to prosecute hundreds of unscrupulous landlords .

A decree published in mid-June will also allow it to regulate the transformation of commercial premises into furnished tourist accommodation.