Expat in Paris: Short or long stay?

Welcome to the jungle of new laws regulating the housing market in the Ville Lumière.

As for many other international cities, finding the right accommodation in Paris is one of the biggest expat concerns at the moment of preparing for an international relocation. Italians aren’t an exception and over the last few years, many of them have invested in brick. In fact, for a long time, to buy a pied à terre was a really good business– up to the point that some even decided to rent their apartment for short periods through platforms such as Airbnb.

This turned out into a hot topic among both Parisians and expats and ended up with a new renting regulation – in place since last September  – making a clear distinction between short and medium term stays.

Let's try to make things clear: Short and medium-term leases

In the face of numerous and repeated abuses, as well as the explosion of the AIRBNB trend, a clear distinction has been done between short leases and medium-term leases:

- Short term: Renting contacts between 1 night to 12 months (if the case of students, 9 months).

- Medium term: Contracts with a duration of up to 3 years.

What is the main news for rentals from 12 months upwards?

First of all, the equation between furnished and unfurnished rents. In the past, the provisions on furnished rents were more favorable to the owner in case of non-payment of the fee. Today, the law allows these provisions to be applied also to unfurnished apartments.

Other important changes:

- The decrease of notice’s duration to withdraw from the lease
- The obligation of the diagnostics
- The furniture inventory (if it’s a lease for a furnished apartment)
- The obligatory model of contract

Does this mean that there is no longer a price ceiling imposed on owners for the rent?

That’s correct. The owners can, therefore, set the price they want until further notice. However, the Government promised to amend this very soon.

Renting for less than 12 months

Leasing contracts of less than 12 months don’t make a clear distinction between tourists or business visitors and short-term residents. The major change in this type of contracts is the obligation for the owners to register online and obtain a code. This code needs to be entered in ads and on the contract, as a proof that the location is officially authorized. The online lease portals have the obligation to cancel the ads without an authorization number. However, many of these haven’t taken action yet.

Obviously, the execution of the new rules will take some time, but those expats who want to rent in all serenity can still ask the owner of the chosen apartment the authorization code of the Mairie (the Municipality).

And what if you want to rent your own Parisian apartment for short periods?

In this case, we must distinguish two hypotheses:

1. the apartment that you want to rent is owned and considered fiscally as a principal residence: it is legal to rent short-term for a maximum of 120 days/year and subject to authorization by Mairie.

2. on the other hand, the apartment is owned but considered fiscally as a secondary residence: the short-term lease is not legal unless it changes its intended use to the land registry with the principle of compensation, almost impossible to obtain.

In the case of control, the penalty is € 50,000 if the lease is illegal and € 80,000 in the event of a false declaration in an announcement.

Want to learn more? Here some official websites that give you all the information:

https://www.paris.fr/meubles-touristiques
http://droit-finances.commentcamarche.net/contents/1538-location-meublee-regime-juridique
http://droit-finances.commentcamarche.net/download/telecharger-335-contrat-de-location-meuble-type-modele-alur
http://www.encadrementdesloyers.gouv.fr/