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PROPERTY

French politicians agree on tighter Airbnb rules

The property rental platform Airbnb is the target of a new French law tightening conditions of use.

French politicians agree on tighter Airbnb rules
Renting out property in France is the subject of controls on a local and a national level. Photo: AFP

France already imposes several restrictions on people who want to rent out their property via the holiday letting platform Airbnb, but new legislation making its way through the French parliament is set to tighten the rules further.

Across Europe, the platform is often blamed for housing shortages in tourist hotspots – with local leaders saying that locals are priced out of the market because landlords can make a bigger profit renting out property to tourists, with cities including Barcelona and Paris bringing in stricter controls.

Although France already imposes controls at both a national and a local level, a new law is now being debated which would, among other things, close tax loopholes for landlords.

The bill, proposed by MPs from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party and the centre-left Parti Socialiste, has already been approved in the Assemblée nationale and is now being debated in the Senate. Senators are also broadly in favour but have added some amendments – that means the bill will have to go back to the Assemblée but with the overall agreement of politicians in both chambers it seems likely that the bill will be passed in something similar to its current form.

Tax loopholes

The biggest change in the bill will be closing a ‘tax loophole’ that makes it advantageous for landlords to rent out properties as a holiday rental.

Tax on income from property rentals is currently charged at a variable rate depending on whether the property is rented furnished or unfurnished and as a long-term rental or a short-term holiday let.

Politicians say that the current rates mean that landlords are rewarded with lower tax rates for letting on Airbnb, and want to change the tax system to incentivise landlords to let long-term to tenants who will live there (in France, most long-term rentals are unfurnished).

The exact tax rates are the subject of amendments between the two different houses of parliament, but it seems likely that the tax rates will change.

Communist senator Ian Brossat denounced “an absurdity which means that a landlord pays more tax if he rents his property year-round to a worker than if he rents his property to tourists”.

Local restrictions

At present most of the strictest restrictions on Airbnb rentals are at a local level – for example, the city of Paris has a total ban on second-homes being advertised on Airbnb, while people renting out their main residence are limited to 120 days per year.

Meanwhile, in Pyrenees-Atlantique, one commune is bringing in rules that require anyone letting a property full-time on Airbnb to show that they are also letting at least one property to a long-term tenant. 

Numerous other local authorities, mostly in touristy areas, have their own restrictions on rentals via the platform.

In many areas you are required to register with the mairie if you want to let out your property.

The bill aims at strengthening powers for local authorities to impose Airbnb restrictions, although the Senate rejected a proposal to further lower the limit for temporary rentals to 90 days per year. 

Tax declarations

Although tax rates may change, the bill does not change the current rules on declaring Airbnb income. Anyone who rents out a French property on Airbnb for even one day a year must declare the income to French tax authorities – even if they do not live in France.

READ ALSO What you need to know about renting out your French property on Airbnb

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PROTESTS

IN PICTURES: Hundreds of thousands protest against far right in France

Around 640,000 people took to the streets in France on Saturday to protest against the far right, French trade union CGT said.

IN PICTURES: Hundreds of thousands protest against far right in France

The CGT said there were 182 demonstrations across the country.

The demonstrations were called by trade unions, associations and the newly formed left-wing alliance the Nouveau Front Populaire less than a week after French President Emmanuel Macron called snap legislative elections after the far right made significant gains in European Parliament elections.

Protesters gather during an anti far-right rally  in Paris on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP)

The CGT said 250,000 people protested in Paris, while the police put the number in the capital at 75,000.

 
Demonstrators hold placards, union flags and banners at an anti far-right rally in Dijon, south-eastern France on June 15, 2024. One protester holds a banner reading “Rather the Front Populaire than the children of [Vichy leader] Petain”. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP)
 
 
 

 
Demonstrators march with placards during an anti far-right rally in Nantes on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)

And in Rennes, 25,000 demonstrators (according to the organisers, or 12,000 according to the police), joined the Pride March, where rainbow flags mixed with Palestinian flags.

“Democracy can be lost at any moment,” said Florence Audebert, 40, who used to work in the entertainment industry.

“I have often voted usefully, Chirac in 2002 against Jean-Marie Le Pen, then Macron against Marine Le Pen… So I am happy to have left-wing candidates to vote for in these legislative elections!” she added.

 
Demonstrators react as they are enveloped by tear gas during an anti far-right rally in Rennes, western France on June 15, 2024. (Photo by LOU BENOIST / AFP)
 
The first tensions broke out shortly before 4pm at Rennes’ Place de Bretagne with police firing tear gas, according to an AFP journalist.
 
The police said that a few people were responsible for damage to banks, estate agencies, street furniture and throwing projectiles at the police, along the protest route. 
 

 
A demonstrator throws back a tear gas canister fired by police during an anti far-right rally in Nantes on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
 
In Nantes, the procession brought together 15,000 people according to the organisers, 8,500 according to the police, including many young people.
 

“The RN is like your ex: he says he’s changed but it’s not true”, a sign from a group of environmental law students read.  

Among them, Léonie Leblanc, 19, voted for the first time last week. “For a first election, such a result saddens me a lot. It will be tense but I believe in the Nouveau Front Populaire,” she said.

 
A protester wearing an astronaut costume holds a placard reading “I come from the future and we have won” during an anti far-right rally in Nantes on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
 
In the Nantes procession, a same-sex family, Chloé Mahouet-Pujol alongside his wife Natacha and their two and a half year old daughter in a stroller, is worried: “we are trying to have a second child and we are wondering what will happen to the rights of homosexual and LGBTQI+ people.”
 

 
Protesters chant and hold placards during a demonstration against the far right, in Toulouse on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)
 
Around 4.30pm, the Nantes procession split in two, with some of the demonstrators returning to the starting point in a good-natured atmosphere to the sound of a fanfare, while a hundred metres away groups of young people faced the police in a haze of tear gas, said an AFP correspondent, before calm returned.
 

The Loire-Atlantique police recorded five arrests and “no major damage”.

 

 
A protester holds a placard which reads “Rise up and vote Front Populaire” during a demonstration against the far right, in Dijon, central eastern France, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP)
 
Further demos are planned for Sunday, according to the trade unions, including in Lyon.
 
 

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