Between Christmas and New Year, there is no better time to stroll around the Old Port of La Rochelle: the town hall has decided to make it an ephemeral haven of tranquility by preventing traffic. Only the shrill roar of a grinder breaks the maritime picture. Another consequence of municipal action, this disorder is the work of the environmental police who remove the key boxes from bicycle hoops and other public benches.
A few days before the end-of-year holidays, these little code boxes are gradually disappearing from the urban landscape. To the great dismay of tourists. Because these boxes contain the precious keys that allow them to access the furnished accommodation rented on platforms such as Airbnb or Abritel. “Public space is not a support for commercial activity”sweeps Marie Nédellec, deputy mayor. Like Rome, Florence, Marseille, Nice, Lille and Annecy, the first French city to have done so from 2022, the La Rochelle municipal council signed an order at the beginning of November prohibiting the hanging of these boxes on street furniture.
« We put stickers and the owners have fifteen days to remove their boxexplains the elected official from La Rochelle, whose action led to the removal of a few dozen boxes. The key box is a symbol of this tourism which is only growing and for which supervision is necessary. »
Variable regulations
A new turn of the screw for owners, while since September boaters in the port of Minimes have already no longer had the right to rent their boat for nights on Airbnb. Their representatives, however, understand the municipal decision. “Installing key boxes on public property is illegal. I find it abnormal that owners put them on benches and in public spaces”address Jean-Louis Racaud, president of the union chamber of owners of La Rochelle. For co-ownerships, the key box must be installed on the facade of the building or in the common areas… provided that the agreement of the co-ownership association is obtained, as now required by law. To help adapt the cursor of local regulations, the National Assembly and the Senate voted at the beginning of November this text giving more power to municipalities to regulate Airbnb.
How cities plan to exploit the new anti-Airbnb law
Cities that most wish to limit the number of furnished tourist accommodation can, for example, apply drastic quotas or even reserve areas for the construction of primary residences. A way of adjusting the cursor from one territory to another, while short-term rental is also a delight in certain rural or more isolated areas.
« This regulation gives a certain number of tools to municipalities and leaves them the choice, but it is of no usehowever judge Jean-Louis Racaud. In other countries, this same law has had no effect on the fluidification of the rental market… » At the town hall of La Rochelle, on the other hand, we are satisfied with the new legislative panoply but we are still impatient to know the opinion of the courts on the local regulations temporarily suspended in March 2023. This was aimed squarely at curbing the rental of accommodation less than 35m2 on Airbnb. Waiting for, “we are still losing housing that was rented year-round for local populations”regrets Marie Nédellec. Such a restriction has not yet been introduced anywhere in France.
La Rochelle forced to reduce the ambitions of its anti-Airbnb regulations
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