Recently, the French government announced that the number of municipalities classified as ‘zones tendues’ (areas with a housing shortage) would increase from 1,152 to 3,687. This also affects short-term furnished rentals – like Airbnb – as would-be renters in such areas can be made to first register with their town hall.

To help town halls crackdown on rule-breakers,  Airbnb will begin requiring that all listings in areas where registration is required be accompanied by an individual registration number, according to reporting by Ouest France.

The France and Europe director of Airbnb, Emmanuel Marill, told Ouest France that “in areas that have voted to require registration, Airbnb will block any advertisements for furnished tourist accommodation that does not have a registration number.

“The platform will also continue to block rentals of primary residences that exceed 120 days.”

READ MORE: What are the rules on renting out French property on Airbnb?

On top of that Airbnb said it wants to help local authorities by giving them access to an interface called Portail des territoires which will allow them to report any listings that fail to comply with rules and regulations so that Airbnb can remove them. 

Marill said that he is actively reaching out to all cities across Western France and across the country to help mayors use and benefit from this system, “according to the needs of the area”.

“We will also share with them new data on the activity of hosts, such as the address, number of rental days, and income information,” Marill told Ouest France. 

In recent months and years, the online rental platform has faced increasing criticism over its role in housing shortages, especially in tourist hotspots.

Over the summer, the city of Paris announced it would increase fines applied to those who fail to respect rules on short-term rentals such as Airbnb, in an attempt to keep housing accessible to locals.

Some local authorities have also been choosing to add some of their own rules – in Paris, for instance, it is forbidden to rent out a second home. The only time this is allowed is when property owners obtain a “Change of Use’ authorisation (found here).