“She is a pioneer”: the very strict framework of Saint-Malo against Airbnbs dubbed by the courts

Faced with a housing crisis, the city of Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine) has decided to very strictly regulate, from 2022, the practice of short-term tourist rentals such as Airbnb. This regulation was not to the taste of 14 owners and companies who challenged it in court. Except that the administrative court of Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) has just confirmed, on October 17, the legality of the deliberation voted by the municipal council.

He judges that “European law and the law allow the city of Saint-Malo to set up a change of use authorization regime, limited to one authorization per natural person, owner of premises and including quotas » by neighborhood.

“This only targets speculators”

The mayor of Saint-Malo, Gilles Lurton (LR), does not hide his satisfaction: “The Saint-Malo regulations are pioneering and constitute the strictest framework at the national level at the moment in terms of issuing authorizations for seasonal rentals. The Saint-Malo example largely inspired the bill still under consideration in Parliament,” he explains.

The corsair city was, in 2019, the leading city in France for the number of short-term reservations per inhabitant. A situation which causes numerous nuisances denounced by the Saint-Malo collective, I live there, I stay there. Not to mention the glaring lack of rental offers for year-round residents. The court found that it was in the public interest to combat this housing shortage, in accordance with the requirements of the Court of Justice of the European Union.