Airbnb, vacation rentals – New changes in NICE’s regulation (01/07/2021).
Airbnb, vacation rentals – New changes in NICE’s regulation (01/07/2021).
The rule in NICE to be able to rent out your property in the form of seasonal rentals such as airbnb, is to apply for a change of use of your property.
Various arrangements have been made up to now, with temporary authorisations of varying lengths, which may be renewable. After a certain period, and in certain situations (owned via a legal entity), compensation should be considered (already mentioned in a previous article).
Change in the duration of authorisations :
As of 1st July 2021, although the principle remains that of a six-year authorisation, it will now take the form of a one-year authorisation, tacitly renewable.
The City of NICE thus reserves the right to terminate this authorisation :
“In the event of proven and repeated nuisances in the dwelling subject to the change of use which have required the intervention of the police or observations by sworn agents“.
This new rule is not retroactive.
I would like to remind you that the city of Nice has had a “housing protection brigade” in place for several years now, whose aim is to seek out breaches of the legislation in force in terms of seasonal rentals, so it is easy to imagine that this brigade could be called upon to note this type of disorder.
Increased compliance with the condominium rules :
Until now, a certificate from the owner stating that the proposed rental was not prohibited by the building regulations was required. Now, an extract from the regulations is also required.
In practice, there are very few building regulations which state in unambiguous terms that seasonal furnished rentals are permitted. If there is any doubt about the interpretation, a “building agreement” is required. In this case, nothing is said about the form of such an agreement, it is possible to imagine the production of a letter from the building’s syndic.
However, few Syndics will want to take sides in interpreting ambiguous building regulations. At present, there are many disputes over the interpretation of building regulations, and case law is in its infancy. We are talking about regulations that may have been written more than 50 years ago, so their interpretation of new forms of tenancy is obviously open to debate.
I have recently seen General Assemblies for building making decisions to interpret the building regulations in one way or another. I therefore wonder at this stage about the analysis that the City of Nice itself will make in the event of the production of building regulation whose terms are not particularly explicit.
The City of NICE has an easy argument here to reject requests for change of use.
The use of a lawyer to explain to the City how the building regulations should be analysed in a way that is favourable to letting the property seems to be something to consider at the stage of submitting the application for a change of use.
A refusal of authorisation on this ground could be challenged before the administrative court, which would thus be invited to take a position on a civil law issue…
The sanctions put forward :
It should also be noted that in its new form, the City of NICE highlights the penalties applicable in the event of non-compliance with the applicable legislation, namely
- 50,000 for failure to obtain authorisation for change of use or failure to comply with the Regulations, under L.651-2 of the C.C.H. ;
- 80,000 and one year’s imprisonment for false declaration, under L.651-3 of the C.C.H. ;
- 15,000 and one year’s imprisonment for drawing up a certificate stating materially inaccurate facts, under Article 441-7 of the Penal Code;
- 10,000 euros in the event of unauthorised rental of the entirety of one’s main residence for more than 120 days per year under Article L324-1-1-IV of the Tourism Code;
- In the absence of a registration number, a penalty of 5,000 euros may be applied under Article L.324-1-1 III of the Tourism Code.
These different elements put together lead me to believe that the building syndicates will become the cornerstone of the seasonal rentals in Nice, they will have an importance upstream in terms of the analysis of building rules, and thereafter, any possible neighbourhood disturbance will be brought to their attention to make the link with the Brigade in charge of the control of its legislation by the City of Nice, which will de facto lead to the non-renewal of the change of use