An automatic cap on the number of days hosts can rent their homes out will be put into effect in the French capital
Airbnb will automatically limit the length of time a host can rent their home in central Paris to 120 days per year.
The decision will come into force in January 2018. This means that all hosts affected must comply with the city’s regulations.
“Paris is Airbnb’s number one city worldwide and we want to ensure our community of hosts expands in a responsible and sustainable manner,” Emmanuel Marill, Airbnb general manager for France, told Reuters.
A ticker will be added to every hosts’ homepage, which will show how many nights they have left to let.
Airbnb’s move comes following criticism that its short-term rentals force up house prices, remove housing stock and make tourism unsustainable in many popular destinations.
Both London and Amsterdam have already forced Airbnb to implement caps on the length of lettings to comply with local law.
Berlin has gone a step further – it has banned the letting of whole apartments through Airbnb and its competitors in an attempt to protect housing stock. This is enforced with the help of large fines.
Ian Brossat, the housing advisor to the Paris Mayor, told Reuters that the cap should extend to the whole of Paris, rather than just the four central arrondissements.
“Under the law, websites must withdraw listings that do not comply with the law throughout Paris. One cannot accept that a website complies with the law only in the first four arrondissements of Paris,” said Brossat.
Paris city council recently changed the law to make it mandatory for people renting their homes for short periods to register. It was this decision that forced Airbnb to cap the length of rental.
France is Airbnb’s second-largest market after the United States, with more than 400,000 listings, and Paris is Airbnb’s largest single market, with 65,000 places to choose from on the site.
