Sarastro

The city of Paris enforces ALUR, not a website. This article is much to do about noting.

stokebailey

If Paris wants to crack down on illegal apartment rentals, for all the excellent reason cited above, then they should do so. Landowners should be civic minded enough to want to help this effort. Scolding tourists who use what is, far as they know, a legally offered rental is another way to go about it, I suppose.

I was able to use a map, local knowlege, views out windows, and a little detective work to pinpoint several airbnb, vrbo, and agency apartment locations, given the general area or street name. Paris law enforcement might be even better positioned to detect illegal activity.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Yes, I'm aware the city of Paris is responsible for enforcement of the ALUR law. The point the article seems to make is that AirBnB will require listers to be in compliance with ALUR before accepting a listing. It's about compliance, not enforcement.

kerouac

I don't think that tourists have been scolded. They have just been warned that they might be informed at the last minute that the rental property is no longer available.

I would say that at least the next six months or so are relatively safe.

MmePerdu

Even as an Airbnb user, I'm skeptical that they'll weed out the non-compliers themselves. And while we can assume there may be some law-followers among Paris rental listers, many will continue as they are unless caught and either put out of business, fined, or otherwise forced to comply.

While my small town isn't Paris, the county has a 10% short-term rental tax which, as far as I can tell, is utterly ignored by most Airbnb listers and it will remain so since the tax collectors office has told me they don't have the staff to enforce it. "You're doing the right thing" didn't go far in neutralizing my chagrin that I'd come forward when I likely would never have been compelled to report and pay, thereby putting myself at a disadvantage price-wise. The reason I did it was to avoid worrying about the prospect of getting caught and, for that reason, I'm not entirely sorry.

One cannot assume human beings, individuals or organizations, will do the right thing where profit is concerned. I think either it's worth it to the city to enforce the law or it isn't.

PalenQ

Let's nt forget that the article in the OP was written by the French Government's American Embassy - thus is right out of the horse's mouth - seems to legitimize airbnbn to me - and puts great pressure on airb nb to conform to Paris laws though in France I think the central government can trump local governments - maybe I'm wrong on that.

nukesafe

A thought occurred to me that short term rental apartment investment owners could stay (mostly) within the law by only renting their apartments for the four months allowed under the law.

After all, for many such owners most of their income is earned during the high summer season. I know that for our guest room (rented through Airbnb) in Washington State we are booked solid from June through September, and occupancy is spotty during the rest of the year. Even a naughty owner who does not "actually" live in the apartment the rest of the year could use the summer income to subsidize leaving the place empty the other eight months while the property, hopefully, increases in value.

It would be much more difficult, I would think, for the authorities to identify and/or take enforcement against this sort of scheme.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Unfortunately nukesafe to rent legally for four months a year it must be your main residence, not a secondary residence.

Sarastro

<i> I think the central government can trump local governments - maybe I'm wrong on that</i>

ALUR is a law passed by the national government. That portion of the law which applies to vacations rentals is valid only in cities with more than 200,000 residents. It is being enforced by the city of Paris in Paris, specifically by the mayor´s 20 odd member task force. Enforcement has not been as aggressive in other cites probably because cities such as Lyon do not have the same housing problems as does Paris.

Airbnb has skillfully placed themselves in a position of prominence in respect to the law´s enforcement but this company´s position is effectively no different than any of the other agencies promoting vacation apartments.

There is nothing in this law that makes advertising on the internet generally illegal. If an owner is found in violation of the law, he can be prohibited from further advertising or promoting his illegal activity but Airbnb sees the crackdown on illegally rented apartments in two important ways:

1. it will eliminate a lot of their on line business by cutting a large portion of their listings.

2. as rent collectors, it requires them to forward the taxe de séjour due per person, per night for all of the rental activity handled through their website.

Airbnb has stated that they will start collecting and paying the taxe de séjour that they owe. However there is a big question about their paying what they should have been paying since they started listing apartments in Paris. Airbnb could be liable for a big chunk of change for past rentals which they did not collect when they could have and have not paid as they should have.

FrenchMystiqueTours

The ALUR laws also apply in those départements adjacent to Paris.

PalenQ

airban should have money to pay any claims - it now is about the largest income-wise accommodations enterprise in the world - worth billions.

thursdaysd

Given the fees they charge, I'm not surprised. They wanted $25/day for a place I was looking at in Boston. I booked a hotel instead - I'd rather pay the hotel tax.

nukesafe

Of course you are correct, FMT, I'm just saying it would mean a higher burden of proof for the regulators to have to prove that the owner actually did or did not live eight months of the year in the property in question. Anyway, I think they would go after the low lying fruit of owners of multiple properties before they would dig to find the single unit owner. Limited staff and return on investigative Euros spent would mandate this allocation of resources, IMO.

You, too, are correct Sarastro in that Airbnb seems to have put themselves out front by announcing they will collect and pay the taxes. I would assume, however that the multitude of other listing agencies out there like VRBO, Homeaway, Paris Attitude, etc., would be equally at risk if they have not been paying those taxes -- and I would bet they have not. If that is the case, Airbnb, being new in the game would be much less at risk for paying any back taxes as they have only been in the game for a few years. VRBO goes back decades, I think, and their back taxes could knock them out of the game.

You guys are more familiar with the way French tax collectors work, so please correct me if I am reading this wrong.

PalenQ

So airbnb is a double-edged swordf - big rentals of flats using it to dodge taxes but the common blokes who may only have a room in their place - the original airbnb model gets caught up too - airbnb may cost Parisians housing but it may help some poorer Parisians afford to stay in their house.

stokebailey

The expressed outrage about airbnb vs other listing agencies is in direct proportion to market share. Understandably, but gives the impression that the others are virtuous observers of the law.

janisj

I don't/won't use airbnb (and I don't use uber either) until they are on an even playing field with local businesses/cab companies/ etc and pay for local business licenses, hotel taxes, and the other costs imposed to do 'legitimate' business.

It is all well and good to get a bargain, but the trickle down effects are decimating small business in LOTS of places.

PalenQ

Unfortunately janis not all of us on your high budget that you can afford to eschew airbnb - most airbnb owners do not fit your narrow critieria - Paris is getting all the attention but in my area - a tourist area in summer - I know literally hundreds of folks who just rent out a room and that is what most airbnb places do I would be - you want to regulate such casual offerings with taxes, etc but to go thru all the hoops to do that in my area would incur of a lot of time and probably money - don't throw the baby out with the bathwater - a few rotten apples don't ruin the whole barrel you know.

Most I know rent a room at most and only in a few months.

Again your ample budget that gives you the largess to opt out on a system you probably know relatively little about and that is great - for you - but let those of us on low budgets take advantage of what is just an expansion of the old B&B system in the U.K.

Upi are always on about London flats - do you know that those owners report every pence of income to the taxman? And airbnb says they will pay all such taxes - why do you not trust that?

Again most airbnb places I know are not trying to create a business but just get a little much needed income bu giving up some privacy to strangers - regulation and licensing is indeed often advocated by the bigger businesses who, like cabs and Uber or hotels and airbnb - want to keep their monopolies and I think this may be what is driving more the Paris 'problem' than anything else.

MmePerdu

I think those who shun Airbnb have, in large part, got it wrong. The reservation is made through the online system but, with the exception of the well-publicized exceptions, each of us runs a "legitimate" small business and the website has given us that opportunity. The motel down the road has no more right to visitor dollars than I do. In the US, and I suspect elsewhere as well, we must declare the income duly reported by the company to IRS and we pay our income taxes and in my case, our local bed tax. I'm sure I'm not alone and those who don't will have to as local governments get it together and collect. The cost of established accommodation in the area is such that we on Airbnb bring visitors to town who could otherwise not afford it.

My guests often ask how it's gone for me, do I like my guests and do they treat me well. The answer is yes. Given my circumstances, people staying in my home, it is, I've realized, a self-selecting group who are comfortable in that sort of intimate environment, and those, as janisj above who may not enjoy it, don't book. And that works for both of us.

crosscheck

We don't use airbnb to save money - We use it to find cool places in less touristy parts of town. We end up spending the same as on less user-friendly sites like vrbo. But we much prefer the updated system for locating, vetting and communicating with the host/realtor (yes, often the host is an old-school apartment rental agency).

But airbnb is a game changer not because of people like us who were already renting apartments. My son and his friends stayed in airbnbs rather than hostels throughout Europe because they hate waking up early to vacate the hostel...and they ended up with locals as lifelong buddies. And we have an Australian academic friend who prefers to stay in Harlem (where there are few hotels) when he's in NYC. Airbnb is a win-win for him: He gets a light-filled room with a patio and the host has become his dear friend - they always have dinner during his stays.

Agree with stoke that a) market share has driven all the hate, b) airbnb hosts are no more honest or dishonest than those on other sites c) maybe if we all just stop traveling, we can save Paris, save the environment and nip this shared economy thing in the bud.

PalenQ

do we like janis scrutinize the business practices of every company - like should we boycott a tour company who does not pay their guides maybe because they get tips enough to make a nice salary and thus self-report their income and perhaps cheat the tax man - where do you draw the line - you'd have to spend hours anyalyzing anything you buy with that attitude.

do we boycott large businesses like Wal-Mart - yes I do because they have a proven track record of treating their employees with disdain (though they're getting much better because of the boycott) - do we boycott restaurants that use eggs or meat from caged chickens? Where does it stop - and getting back to airbnb to say I boycott them all - well that would be hard to justify in light on the vast majority of airbnb landlords that just rent out a single room - every company has some warts - just finding a few do you throw the baby out with the bath water? Not me.

Plus airbnb is making travel affordable for folks like me in a place like London or Paris - who could not afford to stay in official hotels and their high prices as a product of in peak season at least having a monoply of sorts.