Published: 5:58 p.m. – Modified: 6:13 p.m. by Luka PAMBOUR
The port of La Rochelle (17)
Credit : Dolores Charles
AirBnbs have been multiplying in the West for several years. They offer the same comfort as at home and allow easy access to city centers or popular places. In La Rochelle, the marina is putting an end to overnight rental boats. The city also wants to regulate the number of furnished rentals and eliminate the key boxes that abound on public roads.
On November 7, parliament adopted Breton MP Annaïg Le Meur’s anti-Airbnb law, aimed at regulating furnished tourist accommodation. It provides for fewer tax benefits for owners and the establishment of a monitoring platform for mayors.
In La Rochelle, many Airbnb boats are moored at the marina but these overnight rental boats will be banned from June 1, 2025. According to Port Master Xavier Vanhecke, this is an activity that harms the proper functioning of the site.
“The port is intended to facilitate navigation and not become floating accommodation”
“Our annual boaters and our visitors have very regularly informed us in recent years of the nuisances linked to accommodation afloat with people who come for a night to party. Or, It is not the vocation of a marina to be a hotel, even if we have security teams 24 hours a day.The port is 100 hectares and we cannot be under surveillance everywhere!
A marina is made for boats which sail, which benefit from the port area and especially from the sluices… For the board of directors of the port: the port is intended to facilitate navigation and must not become a floating accommodation for people who would be permanently or on a tourist basis in La Rochelle.”
Credit : Luka Pambour
These owners will only be able to use their boat profitably for navigation, and sanctions will be put in place for boaters who do not respect the new regulations.
“If he continues his activity in non-compliance with the regulations, he will have to leave the port”
“If we observe that the activity is continuing, we will inform the holder of an occupation authorization in the port by mail that he cannot continue this activity. Failing to comply with the operating regulations, he risks no longer being authorized to be present at the marina. If he continues his activity in non-compliance with the regulations, he will have to leave the port.
(…) They can refer to rental for navigation purposes, there is no issue with the economic model… The boats can easily be switched to other types of activities authorized at the marina. On the other hand, regarding the accommodation part, it is clear that as of June 1, this activity specifically will no longer be authorized.”
Credit : Luka Pambour
La Rochelle marina
Credit : Dolores Charles
La Rochelle wishes to better regulate this activity, because the area has been experiencing a housing shortage for several years, and the priority is to house the people of Rochelle. But this is not done without difficulty, according to Marie Nédellec, deputy responsible for local attractiveness.
The urban area facing the proliferation of Airbnbs
“We have been trying to regulate the activity of furnished tourism for two years… We wanted to pass a new regulation aimed at limiting the number of properties per person, by putting in place compensation systems, but we were attacked in court by owners and concierge and today, more than two years after this vote in community council, we are still awaiting the judgment on this case. It’s been two years that every month, many properties continue to come on the market and especially disappear from the year-round rental market.”
Credit : Luka Pambour
La Rochelle Bikes
Credit : Dolores Charles
The city is also hunting down key boxes that abound on public roads. A practice prohibited by lawbut it This detail being little known to the general public, certain municipalities have adopted decrees strictly prohibiting key boxes, as in La Rochelle. “Public space must be available to all and not used for commercial purposes. Therefore, all key boxes that will be located in the public domain,there will be a time of prevention, we will put stickers on the boxes asking to free up space and if it
The boxes are still in place, they will be removed.”
Marie Nédellec, deputy responsible for local attractiveness in La Rochelle Credit :
Luka Pambour
In Pays de la Loire, more than 48,000 Airbnb accommodations are listed, compared to 55,000 in Brittany. Faced with this influence, Dinan and Saint-Malo introduced quotas, limiting the share of furnished tourist accommodation to 12%.
SAs these are public capital goods, it is strictly forbidden to affix any device to them. Article L.2121-1 of the General Code of Property of Public Entities provides that property in the public domain is allocated to the public utility (which would no longer be the case once an element relating to the public domain is attached to it). private domain such as a key box).
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