The National Assembly adopted on Thursday morning the so-called “Airbnb” bill aimed at better regulating short-term rentals in France, by reducing their tax advantages and imposing energy renovation obligations on them.
The law, whose objective is to “strengthen the regulatory tools for furnished tourist accommodation at the local level”, was adopted with 168 votes for and 54 votes against. After more than a year and a half of a long process before the institutions, the text, already adopted by the Senate on Tuesday, will therefore bring the legal framework of furnished tourist accommodation such as Airbnb closer to that of long-term accommodation.
It also provides control and regulation instruments to town halls. The law must in fact reduce the tax advantages available to furnished tourist accommodation compared to residential accommodation. Classified furnished properties will see their tax reduction reduced from 71% to 50% and unclassified ones from 50% to 30%.
“No significant impact anticipated on our business” according to Airbnb
In addition, the entry into force over the coming years of obligations to renovate housing with poor energy performance threatened to cause owners to flee towards short-term tourist rentals to the detriment of ordinary rentals. “We do not anticipate any significant impact on our business from these measures,” Airbnb said in a written statement sent to Reuters following the vote on Thursday morning.
The Californian giant says it wants to “work with more municipalities” to implement “proportionate and effective” measures.
According to Airbnb, more than 29,000 municipalities in France have at least one “host” present on its rental platform, with public authorities counting the total number of municipalities in France at around 35,000 in 2024.
The rental specialist says it has generated 187 million euros in tourist tax in 2023, almost a third of which goes to rural communities. The rapporteur of the joint committee (CMP) Annaïg Le Meur (Together for the Republic), very moved following the vote, declared at the start of the session that she was thus offering a “toolbox to mayors” to restore equity between short-term and long-term rentals.
Also rapporteur for the CMP, Iñaki Echaniz (Socialists and Allies), said he wanted to “respond to a tax justice issue”: “how can we justify today that an owner of furnished tourist accommodation earns more and pays less tax than 'an owner who rents for the year?'. MP Christophe Plassard (Horizons and Indépendants) praised “transpartisan work” between MPs from usually opposing political sides and representing different territories.
The proposal was the subject of little opposition, notably from the National Rally (RN) deputy Alexis Jolly. The latter denounced a “so-called regulatory strategy, which poorly hides a tax grab objective”.
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