translated from Spanish: “Wild leases”: Paris sues Airbnb for 12.5 million euros for failing to comply the law

The Mairie de Paris is calling on Airbnb to justice 12.5 million euros, a record sum against the platform’s temporary lease of apartments, for “not respecting the law” French, reported this Sunday (10.02.2019) s emanario Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD).
“We cannot accept that Airbnb and others do not respect the law. Our control officers have had a thousand of illegal ads, each one subject to a fine of 12,500 euros”, stated in this medium Mayor Anne Hidalgo. The consistory filed Friday a subpoena before the Tribunal of Grand instance of Paris with a view to a hearing on May 21 in which supposed to date amount record sued the company.
Hidalgo said that “aims to make an impact to finish with these wild leases that denatured some suburbs of Paris”. “Although termed favorable to Parisians to lease your apartment a few days to earn some money, considered that”the problem are several property owners who rented all year round apartments to tourists without declaring it,”as well as the” accomplices “platforms that host such ads. This, he said, helps create a “predatory economy”.
The Town Hall in the French capital is supported in the latest Housing Act of the Government, approved in December of 2018 and known as law Elan, which stipulates sanctions against internet platforms that publish illegal ads. The text proposes fines of up to 50 thousand euros if these proposed lease of houses that exceed the threshold of 120 days a year, but the judge can also order a fine of 12,500 euros for each advertisement that omits the registration number data binding to showing that the owners have declared the lease.
Hidalgo believes that the threshold of 120 days per year for a principal residence is “too high” and bet because it is reduced to 30. For his part, Airbnb defends and considered that “he has fulfilled his part” to inform clients of obligations before the law, for what has sent more than “120,000 emails”.
In addition, denounced that the Parisian regulation is “inefficient, disproportionate and contrary to European legislation”, that understands that platform not can “monitor on an ongoing basis” the activity of its users. The consistory and Airbnb are already competing in another process, whose decision must be given on March 5, which asks Paris to withdraw ads do not conform with the rules imposed by the city.
In parallel, the City Council also pursues certain “multipropietarios” users which leased several properties on the platform without having it declared.

Original source in Spanish