HOLIDAY LETTINGS IN FRANCE: TIPS AND TRICKS – Up to euros 12,500 for failure to inform the lessor correctly – Up to euros 50,000 for failure to respond to the requests made by the mayor, – But also in some cases to damages (see hereinafter). For example, the city of Paris recently decided to issue proceedings against an Internet platform that failed to mentions in 1,010 offers for holiday lettings advertised on its website, the respective declaration numbers of the lessors. The court ruled that failure to advertise the declaration number constituted a breach and held the platform to pay a fine of euros 8,000 per incomplete advertisement, making a total fine of euros 8,080,000 to the benefit of the City of Paris!7 French courts are nowadays applying the recent above-mentioned provisions destined to control holiday lettings, with a particular severity against both lessors of holiday lettings and Internet platforms that are advertising offers. They further decided to apply other older dispositions, to limit the inconvenience originating from expanding holiday lettings. II. THE REFERENCE TO OLDER EXISTING LEGISLATIONS TO REMEDY INCONVENIENCE RESULTING FROM HOLIDAY LETTINGS The fast-growing interest for holiday lettings led to refer to other legal rules to contain such a phenomenon. This was first found in the tenancy legislation as well as the old theory of “accession”8 in property rights. Holiday lessors may hence encounter unexpected trouble from… the owner of the premises. This will be the case (only) when the holiday lessor is at the same time a tenant. In other words, the lessor is not the owner (landlord) of the premises to be let, but rather a tenant who is sub-letting the accommodation for short-term holiday rentals. In such a case, the holiday letting will be considered as a sub-let. However, under French law, an authorisation to sub-let must be expressly obtained from the landlord (either in a clause provided by the main tenancy agreement or later in a formal authorisation of the landlord). Indeed, in the absence of such an authorisation to sub-let, French courts have concluded that the landlord would be entitled not only to request 7 TJ Paris, 1 July 2021, n°19/54288. 8 This old theory was developed in articles 547 and 548 of the civil code and experienced a new interest by lawyers in their dispute against indelicate lessors.
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