Thursday, November 7, the National Assembly definitively adopted the bill “to strengthen the regulatory tools for furnished tourist accommodation at the local level”. The text, carried by the Renaissance deputy from Finistère Annaïg Le Meur and her socialist colleague from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Iñaki Echaniz, traveled for two years, crossed four Ministers of Housing and survived a dissolution. It reduces the tax advantage for furnished tourist accommodation and extends the power of mayors to preserve main residences (read elsewhere).
New Popular Front, Macronists and Republicans: how was such a majority possible on this text?
Because it was a fight deeply rooted in the territories, where we measure the housing crisis. I initiated a first question on this subject of furnished tourist accommodation from July 2022, because it was the subject that I saw rising in the Basque Country. With the socialist group we submitted a first text in January 2023. At the beginning of February, the president of the Renaissance group Aurore Bergé said she was in favor of a reform of the tax advantage for “Airbnbs” (1). It was during a conference of the Abbé Pierre Foundation. We took her at her words. Renaissance was reluctant to introduce a law but said it was ready for us to work together. I had 24 hours of hesitation to work with those I opposed within Nupes, but it was worth it.
The only thing missing is the National Rally. Of the 54 deputies who voted against the bill, 51 are from the RN…
This is indicative of the social scam that is the far right. It is interesting to note that the speech by Alexis Jolly, who spoke for the RN on the text, resembles almost word for word the white note distributed by Airbnb at the time of the discussion of the text in the joint joint committee. But I also know that some in the RN group are questioning this position.
Would you speak of a political, or even ideological, victory, the constraint of the market not being an inclination of Renaissance or the Republicans?
It's true that we are anchored in a core of left-wing ideas, the fight against financialization and speculation on housing, not really the natural conceptions of the liberal right or macronism. But this text was driven by the reality of the housing crisis.
It maintains a 50% tax reduction on income from classified tourist accommodation, while year-round rentals must still be satisfied with 30%. Is the topic closed?
It's a first victory. The main thing was regulatory progress. But yes, I would have preferred to maintain the reduction at 71% for rural lodgings and guest houses, but to align classified furnished accommodation with long-term rental. We still hope to make progress on the taxation of bare rentals with the finance law.
Why not assume tax incentives for year-round rentals?
Of course. I am for a fiscal shock in this sense. Except that we are in great budgetary constraints with the deficit that Bruno Lemaire left us.
Mayors will be able to reduce the possibility of renting your main residence in furnished tourist accommodation to 90 days. But who can do without their accommodation for three months?
It seems like a lot, but some have obtained loans and been able to become owners of their main residence by committing to their bank to earn rental income from it. I know people who go camping for three months a year to finance their accommodation.
So this mode of speculative financing is approved?
It has established itself in areas of housing tension but it is illegal. We have to stop this in the future, otherwise it's a speculative embolism. The 90 days instead of 120 go in this direction.
Your bill pushes for the decentralization of housing policy. Should we strengthen intermunicipalities as housing organizing authorities (AOH)?
I am a profound decentralizer, even if we have to keep a national framework. The law allows AOH but it must give them the means, otherwise they will remain empty shells. But it could be a trap, the State could see it as a way to get rid of emergency housing and stop funding it.
Are you in favor of an increase in transfer taxes on second homes?
We must desecrate the right to property. We have the right to have a second home but this is not without consequences locally. I spoke with Jean-Félix Acquaviva (advisor to the Corsican assembly, Editor's note) who introduced the tax on exceptional capital gains in tense areas of Corsica. The amendment by Peio Dufau (MP for the Abertzale left of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Editor's note) on “speculative somersaults” goes in this direction (2).
Will you defend a resident status, which links the right to buy a residence to the fact of living there?
On the fundamental principle, I am not opposed. But the principle of easement contained in the bill that we have adopted, with zones reserved for the creation of main residences in the PLUs, is already a form of controlled town planning.
Should we ease the principle of zero net artificialization (ZAN) in the face of the housing crisis?
I share the objective of preserving land, particularly agricultural land, from artificialization. But we have a problem of modalities. We cannot put over-urbanized territories on the same level as other rural areas, which are more virtuous in terms of artificialization. The last ones end up with the double penalty. When a mayor of Soule tells me that he has not built for ten years but that a young person from his village will not be able to build his house, this mayor has the feeling of paying for Bordeaux.
The reduction in solidarity rent (RLS) by which social landlords compensate for the drop in APL greatly weakens investment in social housing. Should we put an end to this measure?
This is a real error in Macronist policy. We must not forget that 70% of the population is eligible for social housing. We know that Bercy will not invalidate the RLS but we are fighting for a return of 200 to 300 million to social landlords. The Minister of Housing, Valérie Létard, agrees with this.
Do you consider her an ally?
In my eyes, it is one of the rare pieces of good news from the Barnier government. In the past, she has defended positions close to ours. Will she succeed in holding them as minister and above all in winning the Bercy arbitrations? In any case, we will accompany him when it seems right to us.
(1) From the name of the main furnished tourist rental platform, often named to designate all of this type of rental.
(2) Adopted at first reading in the finance law, it plans to tax “high” real estate capital gains more heavily.
Main measures
To date, renters of unclassified furnished tourist accommodation apply a 50% tax reduction on income from this activity, up to a limit of 77,000 euros. Those who rent so-called “classified” furnished accommodation, with a higher level of service, can deduct 71% within the limit of 188,000 euros. The classic lessor of “bare” apartments, which provides long-term accommodation for families, is limited to 30%. The bill reduces the first category to 30%, up to 15,000 euros, the second to 50%, up to 77,700 euros. Rural lodges and guest houses fall into this last stratum.
The text also extends the power of mayors. Municipalities will be able to establish quotas for furnished tourist accommodation by sector and designate in local urban planning plans (PLU) areas reserved for the construction of main residences. Another new option for local elected officials: lowering from 120 to 90 days the maximum possibility of renting your main residence as tourist accommodation.
