Airbnb squatters: renting out houses legally and occupying them after the end of the booking process
Occupants exploit a loophole in French law: they avoid 'rapid eviction' because they have paid their stay
In France they call them 'Airbnb squatters': they enter the houses to be occupied no longer illegally but through platforms such as Airbnb or Booking. And, thanks to a loophole in the 2023 law passed to allow prefects quick evictions without the need to go to court, they stay in legally rented flats but no longer pay. The new phenomenon that was much talked about in the summer was investigated by Le Figaro: 'Renting out your flat on an online platform can now become a nightmare', writes the French newspaper.
Squatters who pass themselves off as tourists book flats on Airbnb or Booking and, once their stay is over, refuse to leave. According to the legislator's 'oversight', in fact, having entered the flat in absolute legality and having paid for their stay, they are not considered squatters and escape any 'quick' expulsion as the law would have it. Which provides for the short procedure only if not the stay in the occupied place is unlawful, but if the entry was. For eviction, a judge is then needed to make a ruling, with the ensuing interminable procedures that can last up to a year. Plus the legal costs of sending a bailiff on several occasions and the possible use of public force, not to mention the loss of rent for the owners.
Guillaume Kasbarian, the MP behind the law on speedy evictions that bears his name, proposes two solutions: 'The law can be changed,' he suggests. Or, 'the Ministry of Housing can send a circular to the prefects inviting them to trigger expulsion proceedings that can be brought before the TAR judges in the event of litigation'.
