As much to say it, Toulouse is not Saint-Malo or Biarritz. Without a view of the sea or the snow-capped peaks, Airbnb-type furnished tourist accommodation does not abound to the point of creating insurmountable real estate tensions or endangering the traditional hotel industry. The metropolis has identified 5,000 accommodations offered in the Pink City by the platforms but only 3,000 “active keys”, mainly in the city center. Their owners are 85% individuals who supplement their income. Since 2019, they must declare themselves to the town hall and obtain an authorization for “change of use of residential premises”, issued for two years, within the limit of two dwellings. If it is their main residence, they cannot rent it for more than three months per year. And for these sober users of the platforms, nothing will change.
“A whole building in Airbnb, it’s called a hotel”
The other lessors are legal entities, SCIs or property managers, “There are 450 keys which in fact belong to around fifteen managers, some of whom offer around sixty accommodations, underlines Jean-Claude Dardelet, vice-president of the metropolis in charge of Tourism. However, an entire building in Airbnb is called a hotel. They therefore exercise this profession without paying the charges or fulfilling the obligations, such as the arrangements for people with reduced mobility, for example”.
And these frenzied renters were so far out of control. Hence the deliberation adopted Thursday by the metropolitan council and which consists, basically, in putting a spoke in their wheels, so as to curb the phenomenon before it becomes a real problem.
Not before the Rugby World Cup
The chosen formula is that of “compensation” and is aimed at persons, legal or natural, who offer more than two furnished tourist accommodation and are based on three perimeters created, including one in the city centre. Each time the owners make a request for a change of use of a premises, they will have to “convert at the same time a premises of at least equivalent surface area to put it up for lease, within the same area”. Suffice to say that in the hypercentre, unless you are a real estate magnate, the famous compensation can quickly turn into a headache.
This “safeguard” will only come into force in a year, in November 2023. “Because in September 2023, we are hosting the Rugby World Cup”, indicates Jean-Claude Dardelet. And in a city with little experience of mass tourism, all the levers must remain activated in order to be able to accommodate supporters, whether they are New Zealanders or Japanese.