Banning Paris vacation apartment rentals
Here is my question: Did you know that rentals under one year are on the chopping block?
I received the following email from Lodgis.com, a reliable, well-known French agency, a few minutes ago. We've rented through Lodgis five times over the past few years.
Seems this post is too long, so I'm putting the letter in a follow up. At the bottom of the letter is a link where it says "here". I don't know how to hyperlink, so here is the page it takes you to. Perhaps, someone more computer savvy can do it for me or teach me by pm.
http://www.francemeubles.org/?page_id=16
This "question" is too long, so I'll put the letter in a follow up.
Bets
Bloomington 11/21/12
Send Private Message
Here's the letter I just received via email:
Hello,
Furnished rental is threatened in Paris, as well as in other French towns of 200 000 inhabitants or more. Renting for less than one year will soon become nearly impossible. Paris City Hall has decided to forbid it. Wether you want to rent an apartment for a short term stay to visit Paris, attend a fair, come for an 8 months internship or even stay in Paris for 11 months for business, City Hall wants you to say in a hotel instead of an apartment. It will even become impossible to rent an apartment when you are in a difficult situation, and need to find a home to get medical care, or after a break-up or a decease. According to City Hall, renting a flat in those conditions is now becoming illegal.
Parisian owners are in a difficult situation : it is becoming impossible to rent your second home when you are not in Paris. The law says that you can either:
Choose to rent for short term, pay a considerable amount of money (80 000 for a 20 m2 studio), and pray for City Hall to accept your request. If you succeed, you will be able to rent for short term but you won't be allowed to occupy your apartment for personal use.
Choose to occupy the apartment personally but be unable to rent it when you are out of town.
Our agency is part of an organization that defends short term rentals. Our mean is to defend tenants and owners, and allow people to visit Paris the way they want, wether it is for business or personal purpose, and wether it is for one week or 10 months. We have some appointments with Paris City Hall and the government. The only way to make them listen to our requests is for us to get as many supporters as possible. We need to show them that we represent the opinion of a large number. For that WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT.
Please support us by signing our petition here.
Warmest regards,
Follow "France Meublé" on Facebook
This has been going on for years. Here's a New York Times article from 2 1/2 years ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/business/global/07rent.html?pagewanted=all
Most of us have read that article and know that the hotel lobby has been pushing for this for a few years. However, this is the first time I've received a letter from an agency.
I've known about this for several years but it sounds like it's getting closer and closer to becoming reality. This new news is so disappointing. Thanks for posting it Bets. I'll sign right now.
Originally, the government claimed there was a shortage of apartments for residents which is why they wanted the ban on short term rentals. Now, the new government is trying to raise money any way it can with special emphasis on new taxes. They just raised the highest income tax rate to 75% which is driving some of the wealthy out of France. (Sales of homes in neighboring Belgium towns are skyrocketing.)
My guess is that a compromise will be made, some new "short term" rental tax will be implemented and the government will back off.
France, especially Paris, makes a lot of money from tourists. Why tick off a group who comes to spend money? After all, those who stay in short term rentals probably stay longer than those in hotels and spend more in local business than just tourist oriented ones.
Actually, there have been several French TV reports on the shortage. Add to that a few dramatic fires in Paris slum buildings where people died, and all the empty apartments handed down in families that remain largely empty throughout the year, and I'm not surprised there is a push against the short-term rental market.
The agency that I had used before (Jeux de Clefs) shut down it operations because of this, back in January 2012. The owner simply decided to sell her rental apartments, in the face of the coming changes in the regulations. I had a bit of a hard time finding a replacement booking for last May. Finally, I ended up renting from a UK owner, through a UK website. Maybe dealing with an owner located outside of France (US or UK) will be an alternative way of dealing with the tightened restrictions...
75% tax on the wealthiest, on top of the already 20% VAT, a drop in their credit rating because socialism is contradictory to economic growth, a damper on private property rights, 10% unemployment. France, the new Greece. US, the new France.
Before we get too hard on the French, I'd point out that there are plenty of condo boards right here in the US that totally frown on owners doing short-term rentals.
I'd also say that if I were a Frenchman who just shelled out a million or so euros for my Paris apartment, I don't know how happy I'd be if the guy next door was renting his place out to tourists 20 weeks a year.
The US is not becoming the new France, it's becoming the new Mexico (ie, most of the country living near poverty while a privileged few have most of the wealth).
James, your senseless rant is obviously in violation of the posting guidelines, but until you take it down, let me point out that the countries in Europe with the highest unemployment, the four PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) also have amongst the lowest tax rates and the highest wealth inequality in western Europe, more like the US than France. But, for their high taxes, Europeans also get good public transportation and excellent health care, for which Americans have to pay a lot extra.
And I should also point out that it was not the government alone that restricted the rental limitations - it was pushed by businesses, the hotels. In this way, too much influence by business on government policies, we are too much like France. Typical, free enterpriser don't want government doing anything, unless it advances their interests.
I see a big difference between the frowns of a condo board and the legislation of a government, but none of the last few posts are relevant and will, I fear, cause frowns from the Webmaster.
Hope everyone here had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now it's time to nap and watch football. (And rest up for the shopping tomorrow).
There was an interesting special report in The Economist on why France has to reform itself pretty radically and urgently to avoid sliding into the same morass as the PIGS. They're pretty pessimistic that Hollande won't get it done.
I have a feeling that this thread will probably be deleted, but until it is, I will add my 2 cents worth.
As a traveler who uses and recommends apartment rentals (as opposed to hotels) this law, when enforced will hurt me. It may cause short-term rental rates to increase (due to licensing and other fees by owners that they will likely recoup from us) and it may send me back to using hotels (less desireable and usually more expensive).
However, be that as it may, I don't like the idea of foreigners being asked to sign petitions aimed at changing a country's laws. We have no business doing that. Would you like foreign tourists signing petitions in YOUR country aimed at affecting YOUR housing market? I don't think so.