Post by High Priestess on Apr 16, 2016 3:42:44 GMT
See the article:
www.thelocal.fr/20160415/tenants-forced-to-pay-landlords-after-illegal-airbnb-rentals
In this, a legal first in France, a tenant in Paris has been ordered to pay damages to his landlord for subletting his flat on Airbnb without permission.
The judgement from a court in Paris will be bad news for the thousands of tenants who earn a little bit of extra income renting out their flats on Airbnb while they are away.
Most of them are breaking the law by doing it without the permission of their landlord.
And as the recent court judgement showed, it can be very costly to take the risk.
According to reports, the culprit, who was earning up €700 a week or €4,000 a month by subletting the flat in the fifth arrondissement, was ordered to pay €5,000 in damages to their landlords.
The law voted through parliament in January has obliged tenants to get permission from their landlords before putting their flat on Airbnb.
But according to reports in France, it’s the first time a tenant has been ordered to compensate the landlord.
Authorities in Paris, which is the world’s number one city for Airbnb rentals, have for some time tried to crack down on illegal rentals on the home-sharing site.
Their focus has been on landlords who who are trying to get rich by offering their flat for more than the legally designated 120 days a year.
The Town Hall’s housing chief Ian Brossat stressed that the aim wasn't to pick on "owners who rent their apartment one or two weeks a year when they go on vacation".
"This is targeting professionals who illegally rent their homes all year round, and who often buy an apartment solely with the intention of transforming it into a tourist spot," he told Liberation newspaper
Parisians are expressing a growing frustration with the never-ending stream of Airbnb tenants carting luggage up the stairs of their apartment buildings.
"We are getting more and more complaints from residents," Jean-François Legaret, the mayor of the first arrondissement, told France Bleu.
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5000 Euros ($5641 ) seems like quite a steep fine to me, but if the tenant was earning 4000 Euros a month through the illegal subletting, then perhaps it is proportionate. As well, one has to consider the landlord's legal costs to bring the case to court. Was this fine the alternative to eviction or a threat of eviction? I have heard that in France it is quite difficult to evict a tenant. THus, if the tenant knew they could not be evicted (or threatened with eviction if they didn't stop the subletting) then being able to levy fines on them for subletting seems fair, as there would hardly be any other way of getting the tenant to stop the illegal subletting. (Presuming that the tenants were not respectful enough to stop the practice when asked. )
As well, it seems more fair to a tenant to be fined than to be evicted over a lease violation. In the USA, I don't believe there is a way to fine a tenant like this, for a lease violation -- but I wish there were. THis would solve the problem of the landlord in ensuring that the violation doesn't continue, and reimbursing them for the hassle and legal expense. At the same time it would protect the tenant by removing the threat of being evicted over the matter, while still strongly discouraging similar lease violations in the future.
www.thelocal.fr/20160415/tenants-forced-to-pay-landlords-after-illegal-airbnb-rentals
In this, a legal first in France, a tenant in Paris has been ordered to pay damages to his landlord for subletting his flat on Airbnb without permission.
The judgement from a court in Paris will be bad news for the thousands of tenants who earn a little bit of extra income renting out their flats on Airbnb while they are away.
Most of them are breaking the law by doing it without the permission of their landlord.
And as the recent court judgement showed, it can be very costly to take the risk.
According to reports, the culprit, who was earning up €700 a week or €4,000 a month by subletting the flat in the fifth arrondissement, was ordered to pay €5,000 in damages to their landlords.
The law voted through parliament in January has obliged tenants to get permission from their landlords before putting their flat on Airbnb.
But according to reports in France, it’s the first time a tenant has been ordered to compensate the landlord.
Authorities in Paris, which is the world’s number one city for Airbnb rentals, have for some time tried to crack down on illegal rentals on the home-sharing site.
Their focus has been on landlords who who are trying to get rich by offering their flat for more than the legally designated 120 days a year.
The Town Hall’s housing chief Ian Brossat stressed that the aim wasn't to pick on "owners who rent their apartment one or two weeks a year when they go on vacation".
"This is targeting professionals who illegally rent their homes all year round, and who often buy an apartment solely with the intention of transforming it into a tourist spot," he told Liberation newspaper
Parisians are expressing a growing frustration with the never-ending stream of Airbnb tenants carting luggage up the stairs of their apartment buildings.
"We are getting more and more complaints from residents," Jean-François Legaret, the mayor of the first arrondissement, told France Bleu.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5000 Euros ($5641 ) seems like quite a steep fine to me, but if the tenant was earning 4000 Euros a month through the illegal subletting, then perhaps it is proportionate. As well, one has to consider the landlord's legal costs to bring the case to court. Was this fine the alternative to eviction or a threat of eviction? I have heard that in France it is quite difficult to evict a tenant. THus, if the tenant knew they could not be evicted (or threatened with eviction if they didn't stop the subletting) then being able to levy fines on them for subletting seems fair, as there would hardly be any other way of getting the tenant to stop the illegal subletting. (Presuming that the tenants were not respectful enough to stop the practice when asked. )
As well, it seems more fair to a tenant to be fined than to be evicted over a lease violation. In the USA, I don't believe there is a way to fine a tenant like this, for a lease violation -- but I wish there were. THis would solve the problem of the landlord in ensuring that the violation doesn't continue, and reimbursing them for the hassle and legal expense. At the same time it would protect the tenant by removing the threat of being evicted over the matter, while still strongly discouraging similar lease violations in the future.
