Are there too many tourist furnished rentals in Strasbourg?
The question has arisen for years in the Alsatian capital.
The Eurometropolis has just taken new measures by tightening the regulations around these accommodations accessible from Airbnb and other platforms.
A decision that appeals to restaurant owners, but not to everyone.
“Superb duplex with cathedral view”, “room in the heart of Petite France”… Some rental listings are still visible on Airbnb.
Not much with the Christmas market, because furnished tourist accommodation should once again fill up in Strasbourg.
The Alsatian capital now has around 2,300 housing of this type, or 8,000 beds out of the 39,000 accessible, including traditional hotels.
Figures from the town hall to be taken with caution because some owners do not declare their rentals.
Not to mention those who monetize them less than 120 days a year and whose accommodation is not considered as furnished tourist accommodation.
How to regulate all this?
Since the development of Airbnb and its competitors at the end of the 2000s, the subject has been complicated.
Both at the national and local level, the communities having to collect the tourist tax.
"The legislative framework remains too permissive even if the Elan law [2018] has enabled us to better control and prosecute", summarizes the first deputy in the city of Strasbourg, Syamak Agha Babaei.
In his viewfinder? People who own multiple rentals of this type and have made it their business. Far from the original image of the individual who offers a room to make ends meet. “About 80% of the turnover of these platforms is achieved by 20% of professionals. Some may have 20, 25 lodgings and we know very well that there are illegal hotels. These are the people we have to fight against, ”says Pierre Siegel.
The president of the Union of Trades and Hospitality Industry (Umih) of Strasbourg calls for "reinforced controls" and therefore welcomes one of the latest decisions of the Eurometropolis.
At the last council of November 19, it was unanimously voted to tighten up the regulations on the subject.
With three measures: the share devoted to non-tourist accommodation should no longer be less than 60% of the total area of a building, against 50% previously;
a single change of use for a furnished tourist accommodation will be tolerated per individual (instead of two previously, understand that an owner can only switch one of his apartments to furnished tourist accommodation);
finally, the rental period for furnished tourist accommodation is reduced to 6 years, instead of the 9 years previously in force.
Only two agents to control ...
"We are sending a signal and we are giving ourselves additional means to regulate", summarizes Syamak Agha Babaei, nevertheless aware of the limits of this new municipal turn of the screw. First, because it only applies to all new rentals that require municipal authorization. Then because the possible abuses will hardly be discovered. “We only have two sworn officers who can do this. We need more service, we know. "
In the meantime, the Strasbourg metropolitan area hopes above all that these new rules will make it possible to limit the diversion of traditional housing into furnished rental accommodation. The city estimates them at around 200 to 300 per year currently. Against 400 a few years ago. “Meeting the housing needs of the population begins with the fight against these diversions. The tightening of the regulations should thus make it possible to preserve access to housing for families, especially in the center of Strasbourg, ”wrote in a press release the vice-president of the Eurometropolis in charge of housing, Suzanne Brolly.
A statement that should not necessarily appeal to rental owners of tourist property.
"I am surprised at the lack of consultation on the part of the town hall", reacts Fanny Attia, of the Club des Hosts de la Communauté de Strasbourg.
“We are one of the actors in tourism, it is a pity that there was no meeting to discuss the subject.
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