The City of Paris is suing Airbnb for publishing 1,000 illegal rentals adverts, which could cost the American rental website over 12.5 million euros ($14 million), the mayor of Paris told a newspaper in an interview Sunday.
Under French law, home owners in Paris can rent out their places on short-term rental platforms for up to 120 days in a year. Advertisements must include a registration number to help ensure properties are not rented out for longer.
France passed a law in 2018 which makes companies such as Airbnb punishable by fines of 12,500 euros per illegal posting, a new provision Paris will use to challenge Airbnb in court, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
The terms set by city hall “are inefficient, disproportionate and against European regulations,” a spokeswoman for Airbnb said in an email on Sunday, after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in an interview with weekly Journal du Dimanche that the French capital’s authorities sued Airbnb for posting 1,000 illegal rental listings.