Paris is getting serious about enforcing its new rules for short-term apartment rentals with a €12.5 million lawsuit the city says is is intended “to send a shot across the bows and get it over with…”
Paris now allows apartment owners to rent out their apartments for short-term visitors for no more than 120 days a year, and each host is required to get a registration number from the city, which must appear in listings on platforms like Airbnb.
There’s a fine of up to €12,500 per illegal listing, and the city’s lawsuit cites 1,000 violations. A new French law, passed last year, makes the platform liable for ensuring that the listings it carries are legal.
The situation is being closely watched, as many other cities are moving to similar sorts of registration and time-limit rules. Paris is seen as an important test because it is Airbnb’s biggest single market, with about 65,000 listings in the city.
