South of France tourist town to strictly limit short-term lets

A popular tourist town in the south of France is adopting strict new measures to limit the number of second homes used for short-term holiday lets in the area.

Villefranche-sur-Mer, close to Nice, has seen its population drop from 8,000 to 5,000 in the last 30 years, and currently there are more homes used for short-term lets than main year-round residencies in the commune.

This has caused local authorities to take strict and drastic action.

From July 1, 2024, each tax household (foyer fiscal) will only be able to rent out one property in the town and only for a period of six years. This is non-renewable, meaning after this date they cannot rent the property out again.

This will prevent landlords on holiday let sites such as Airbnb renting out multiple properties on a short-term basis.

Mayor Christophe Trojani hopes this will encourage landlords to rent out properties on a long-term basis to permanent residents and aid those looking to buy in the area.

Online platform will be used

The town is to use an online platform which all property owners who carry out short-term lets must use.

Landlords will be given a unique number tied to their account, which they use to rent out a single property.

As the number is tied to the foyer fiscal of the landlord at their main residence, it will not be possible for people to circumvent the rules by using the names of multiple people in their household to host multiple rental properties on the site.

Some local estate agents have welcomed the move, saying it could help bring back long-term residents to the town and kick-start sales in cases where one landlord owned several short-let properties in the town.

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