The city of Biarritz in south-west France is suing a property owner for €100,000 after claiming that he failed to provide the necessary year-round rental accommodation alongside his short-term rentals.
Since March 1, 2023, the city has required landlords who let a short-term rental property (for example, on the website Airbnb) to also rent a long-term property of similar size that is located in the same town.
The measure - introduced by the Communauté d'Agglomération du Pays Basque (Basque Country conurbation community) - applies to 24 municipalities along the Basque coast, including Anglet, Bayonne, Hendaye, and Biarritz. It applies to both individuals and rental companies.
It is designed to both ensure that short-term rentals do not push out long-term residents or increase property prices and to limit the number of short-term rental units. Around 11,000 properties are estimated to have been affected by the rule between 2023 and 2025.
Read also: South of France tourist town to strictly limit short-term lets
Read more: MPs propose further crackdown on short-term rentals on France
‘Profits unduly received’
Yet, the city is now taking one property owner to court. The landlord is accused of letting two flats on Airbnb without authorisation and without compensating by letting other properties on an annual basis.
The owner reportedly received two formal notices about this in August and November 2023, before the city took him to court.
The €100,000 figure represents a claim amount of €50,000 per flat, and has been calculated according to “profits unduly received by the landlord”, the city has said.
“We want to show that we are here, that we are not giving up,” said Biarritz deputy mayor, Maud Cascino, to Le Figaro. “One example, or two, or even three, will show that there are rules, that they must be respected and that there are other ways than renting out on Airbnb.”
Charges denied
The owner denies the charges. He has blamed his concierge, who reportedly looked after his properties, and said that he (the owner) was ignorant of the rules, reported Sud-Ouest. The properties have since been sold.
The owner appeared in court on February 3, and a final decision on the case is expected to be handed down on April 7.
Since this case, two more owners have been issued with court summons, and 1,000 formal notices have been sent. So far, only one such case has been settled since March 2023.
‘Better’ Airbnb alternatives?
Ms Cascino suggested that there were alternatives to renting on Airbnb in Biarritz, which would have a more positive impact on the city’s housing stock and longer-term residents.
“Owners of second homes can choose to do mixed renting, in which they rent to students for nine months of the year, and the rest of the time to tourists, which makes it possible to house students, a problematic issue in Biarritz,” she said.
“Around 284 mixed authorisations have been issued since 2023.”
She also said that around 100 former tourist rentals have now been “returned to the year-round rental market” since the 2023 law was introduced, which she called a “small victory”. Around 70 others have been sold and are no longer being let as short-term accommodation.
“We had to stop the haemorrhaging at all costs, and the speculation that had gone mad,” said Ms Cascino. “We're seeing a slight fall in prices and more people from Biarritz are able to buy.”
She said she was understanding of people who wanted to let their properties, particularly “those who have had a property in the family for X number of years, which they want to keep but need to rent out to pay utilities”, or “people who have bought a property to supplement their retirement income”.
However, she said that using Airbnb exclusively was not the answer.
More Airbnb regulations
The Biarritz cases come after new regulations on Airbnb-type rentals were passed in France in November last year.
Read also: Airbnb rental laws to be toughened in France
The cross-party bill places greater restrictions on short-term rentals, and to promote more permanent accommodation instead. It includes measures including less favourable tax treatment for landlords, a compulsory environmental impact assessment, and greater powers for mayors to take action.
It came in response to the growing housing crisis and property shortage affecting many regions nationwide. The full text of the law can be seen in a press release by one of the bill’s key proponents, MP Iñaki Echaniz, here.
Increased numbers of cities in France are implementing more stringent measures against Airbnb-style rentals, particularly those that operate outside of regulations.
For example, both Paris and Marseille have recently banned keyboxes from being attached to public street furniture such as gates and lampposts, in a bid to help combat the illegal letting of short-term rentals.
Read more: Key safes targeted in latest anti-Airbnb measure in Marseille
Read also: Paris joins Marseille in banning key boxes in bid to stop illegal tourist lets
Keyboxes are usually small boxes that are opened with a code or key, and attached somewhere outside a property, either to an external wall or door, or hanging from somewhere on the street.
They are often used by those who provide short-term holiday lets to allow guests to access a property at any time, without needing to meet anyone in person to let them in.
However in large quantities the keyboxes can be unsightly, disrupt the running of public infrastructure (such as a lamp post repair), and are - Paris and Marseille authorities say - helping to fuel the illegal letting of short-term rentals by landlords who do not have the correct city permits.
