frenchaucoeur

I'd guess that 1994 and janisj are right--if you don't ask questions and just fork over your money, all will be well and Xavier will be the charming guy described in the reviews. Clearly, I met Mr. Hyde, not Dr. Jekyll!

If I might hijack my own thread, I'm having a tough time finding a place for next year. We really don't want to stay in a hotel for two weeks, but we do want a place that's legal. I've looked at Citadines and the Residence Henri IV, as well as the Maison St. Germain, but they are grossly expensive and just don't appeal. I've yet to find a registered apartment on VRBO. There are a number on Air BnB, but I'm reluctant to pay the full amount up front, rather than a deposit.

None of the usual agencies people used to recommend list registration numbers for their listings. Does anyone have any suggestions where else I might look?

As always, thanks for your suggestions.

janisj

Usually (at least in the past) a substantial deposit is required up front and the balance either paid say 30 days before arrival -- or sometimes the balance on arrival. Maybe because the inventory of legal apartments has shrunk so much they feel they can insist on full payment up front??? Don't know -- just a supposition.

If you don't want to pay up front, then I guess you'll just have to keep looking for apartments w/ reg numbers and that only require a deposit.

Christina

Lots of rental apts require payment in full before arrival, they have for decades in Paris. I know because I've rented them that long ago and always used to peruse numerous websites that rented them.

suze

Have not you heard about gerrymandering those reviews - what reviews are you talking about - TA - well haven't you heard about all the fake reviews they get?

PalQ~ I'm talking about the reviews actually on the rental VRBO website (no, not Trip Advisor, what does that have to do with anything here?). Did you even read the reviews? They are on the link given by our OP. Those sure don't appear to be fake or all written by the owner to me, if you took the time to even glance at them.

janisj

Christina: There is a big difference between >>Lots of rental apts require payment in full before arrival,<< and full payment 9+ months in advance which is what the OP is talking about. Yes, most flats do require payment in advance -- but usually a deposit on booking and the balance prior to arrival.

PalenQ

9+ months in advance seems extreme and rife to apartment going out of business, etc. But as jan says it looks like a seller's market now.

Macross

I rent apartments all over. Some require a deposit, some the total at once which includes most airbnb. You have to write your review before they are allowed to write yours in VRBO and airbnb. I rented an apartment in Paris in Feb and had a ton of problems. They never published my review. I even waited until my deposit was returned. I just noticed this apartment is on Trip advisor and they only allowed 100 characters. I wrote a short review and they asked me to rewrite it this morning. Big joke. I had so many problems with the manager of said Paris apartment. I will stick to hotels or rent from my friend in the 14th. It was winter and wanted to be more central last trip. I did call the agency and she was very upset with what I told her but who knows if the manager cleans up his act.

progol

I have no problem with making sure I rent a flat that is legal and have booked a small apartment in Paris through AirBnb which does have a registration number. This is what I feel is the right thing to do, but I often wonder what kind of enforcement is there and what the consequences are if someone does rent an apartment that is not legal, such as the one above? While I'd never recommend that anyone rent an unregistered apartment, I can understand why people do, especially when they include apartments such as the one above! Really, I'm curious - what can happen to someone who rents an apartment that isn't registered?

nukesafe

Just to clarify, the money that is paid up front in an Airbnb rental is held by Airbnb and is not paid into the landlord's account until 24 hours after you check into the apartment. If you arrive and find the place not as advertised you have a hotline to call, and Airbnb will hold up payment to the host until things are resolved. If it is not resolved you get your money back. We are Airbnb hosts, and we have found the company most responsive when we have run into problems when using Airbnbs when travelling ourselves.

Also, Airbnb does not alter reviews in any way, AFAIK. The guest has two weeks to review the apartment experience, and the host has the same amount of time to review the guest. As a host I can look at each potential guests' prior reviews before I accept the booking. FWIW, we have had well over 400 different renters in the seven years we have listed through Airbnb, and have never had a bad experience. (Well, there were those two ladies who were total slobs, but no damage done, just lots of cleanup needed.)

Envierges

The danger renters face if renting an illegal apartment is having that apartment disappear from the market leaving the renter without a place to stay. Then the scramble, finding a place to stay, getting the deposit back . . . .etc.etc.etc.

kerouac

Yes, quite a few people (but still a minority, thank god) have reported having their apartment rental reservation cancelled at the last minute. Owners apparently never tell the truth about this, however -- they claim that there was a plumbing catastrophe or something.

lolfn

Airbnb has changed their payment policy and you now have choice to pay all upfront or 1/2 at reservation and 1/2 a month before the trip. We did that in Copenhagen.

I know someone who stayed in a Paris Perfect apartment a couple weeks ago so I looked at their website. They have registration numbers on most of their apartments.

PalenQ

Still not clear why Paris can't close down these illegal apartments that flount the law - would not take much effort. And then others would register and bring in more tax moneys.

Macross

lofln, great to hear about airbnb and the deposit. I know it goes into Airbnb's funds but still out of mine for the period prior. I rented a house for seven nights for a wedding 11 months in advance. I could have made a tiny bit of interest on that. I use VRBO 75% of the time. I would not rent anything in Paris now without the registration code.

scdreamer

We just returned from Paris a few days ago - stayed in a reasonably nice apartment in the 1st - on rue Montmartre near Les Halles, which was a great location. The apartment is legal - has a registration number and is managed by an agent. It's VRBO 65964. The only downside to the place was that it's on the 4th floor of the building and no lift, but I figured all those stairs gave me permission for an extra dessert or two.

Macross

https://www.vrbo.com/1632617a first place I looked at on VRBO and it has a registration number!

Sarastro

It takes a lot of manpower and time to build a case against someone who is operating illegally. What the city has started with are the most flagrant violators, those operating what are effectively illegal hotels, buildings in which a landlord purchases multiple apartments and converts them into short term rentals. These operations do not always report revenue and do not insure nor license their properties as the commercial businesses they really are.

But with tens of thousands of illegal apartments in Paris, the city will not be able to shut them down quickly. The city staff of 25, full time inspectors has brought 111 illegal apartment owners to the court system where they were fined a total of €1.3 million. This was just in the first 7 full months of 2018. The city is really just getting started with enforcement.

Laws passed earlier this year made it illegal to list an apartment without a registration number. Booking.com now only lists apartments with registration number, but Airbnb refused to comply is pouring a lot of money into fighting and delaying implementation of the law. Once this is settled, fining violators for listing illegal apartments should be a quick and easy affair and we should see a sharp decline in the number of illegal apartments.

frenchaucoeur

Thanks for the suggestion, lolfn. I swore off renting from Paris Perfect after we had an experience with them that was the exact opposite of perfect. I had looked at their builidng on the place Dauphine, because it's one of my favorite places in Paris, but decided that I simply wasn't going to do business with them since they were so appallingly awful when we had a problem (not of our making) with the apartment.

And scdreamer, I'm a bit too old and my knees are not up to the challenge of a four-story climb. But kudos to people who can!

Macross, the apartment looks very appealing, but I'm one of those retrograde Americans who won't rent an apartment that doesn't have air conditioning. We travel in June for a number of reasons, and two years ago we lived through a stretch of about ten days when the temp reached 95 and even 100 degrees. Even this past June it was good to have air conditioning for warm, still nights (we stayed in a hotel since we were there for only five days). My experience over more than forty years of visiting Paris is that it is having more hot days (or at least seems to be), and this is a deal breaker for me.

Clearly I'm just going to have to suck it up and pay the whole bill ten months ahead of time, which annoys me--just another profit center for airbnb or vrbo. But I know when I'm licked.

Macross

https://www.vrbo.com/423038#photos acon elavator and registration number

frenchaucoeur

Macross thank you so much for this referral. I have written to the owner with a couple of questions, but this one looks perfect.

Merci mille fois! Je prendrai un verre dans votre honneur!