The summer season is over, but what about the problems that come with it?
Exactly, it’s starting again with a vengeance. In particular false repossessions for sale and fraudulent leases. We have a lot of advertisements on the Internet for rentals from October to June for example. From what I see every day, some owners are convinced that they are normal. The housing problem is spreading across the department. I saw, in Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse, a T3 for 1,800 euros per month, it’s maddening, there is no concept of prices.
Do you believe that owners have a form of free will to set prices?
Data is lacking, whether on year-round or tourist rentals. When I ask the average rental price, in places, during the departmental conciliation commissions where I sit, for example, no one can answer. But since January 2024, landlords must follow the standard lease provided by the government and by referring to the previous rental. That’s already it.
The law on taxation of furnished tourist accommodation, notably supported by MP Iñaki Echaniz, is gaining momentum. Is this a subject as scrutinized in the Landes as in the Basque Country?
We are following this closely. I met Iñaki Echaniz at the HLM congress in Montpellier. The law on taxation of furnished tourist accommodation should pass before the joint committee by the end of the year, according to the new minister (Valérie Létard, Editor’s note). This is a huge step forward.
For what ?
In my opinion, what is important, apart from the reduction in the tax loophole for furnished tourist accommodation, is their regulation, framed by a national platform. It will, basically, allow the public authorities to know who is renting (touristically), therefore to control the tourist tax, to establish quotas – which concern municipalities with more than 15% second homes, we are at more than 60 % in Hossegor and Capbreton – and to grant or not the rental, if it also respects specific criteria (fire standards, energy performance diagnosis). We are going in the right direction.
Prime Minister Michel Barnier is reviving the project studied by the previous government, which gives more powers to mayors in the allocation of social housing. Will this help fill the shortage of HLM?
Absolutely not. This is a big step back. I sit on the XL Habitat allocation committee. Since I have been there, I have observed the reduction in clientelism and, today, we are returning to it. If this project passes, I will refuse to sit. It’s an abuse. The mayors already have power upstream, they choose the files, but the discussion is collegial. We must preserve the priority criterion of a request: urgency, because we are sometimes dealing with people who live in their cars. I have often had the thoughts of mayors, because I happened to find that the files presented were quite recent: “Ah well, I only present the files of people who come to see me. » So I advise all tenants to contact the Municipal Social Action Centers, town halls, mayors, at the risk of seeing their file fall into oblivion.
Do you have the impression that the political world, at the local level and beyond, is taking the housing issue head on?
There is progress. Housing is a problem that is of increasing interest to governments and local policies. It has to continue. I don’t wish there were no more Airbnbs, but we have to find a happy medium. If we allow tourist rentals to proliferate, we will end up with dead towns, where businesses will not find workers. The right to property yes; the right to speculate, no.
