In the Alps, Chamonix tries to better cohabit with the Airbnb

This January morning, it snows with big flakes on Chamonix (Haute-Savoie). Skis on the shoulder, tourists join the slopes. “This is not the peak of the season, but we are already full!” »»comments Nadine. Twenty years ago, this 60-year-old Chamoniard acquired a three-room frying room to make a rental year.

She has since transformed it into a furnished tourism, which she offers on sites like Gîtes de France or Abritel, about thirty weeks a year. “A much more practical and more profitable choice”, become its only source of income. But “Until when? “, she wonders. While the new law on the supervision of seasonal rentals, known as “Airbnb”, was adopted in early winter, the first regulation measures hover over the Haut-Savoyard station.

A boon that quickly aggravated the housing crisis

With the arrival of online platforms, which facilitate the reservation from individual to individual, the valley has seen the number of this type of accommodation explode. “We went from 2,700 to 4,400 in five years! “, testifies Aurore Termoz, first assistant to the town hall of Chamonix. The valley has just over 20,000 homes.

A boon to boost the “lukewarm beds” – little busy second homes – and absorb a stream of permanent tourists all year round. Because beyond skiing, « Cham » is also the capital of mountaineering, houses the Aiguille du Midi – seventh most visited monument in France outside the Paris region – and hosts many international events.

But the phenomenon ended up aggravating the housing crisis: the average price per square meter has reached Parisian prices, nearly € 10,000, and the offer for residents is reduced. In addition, there are problems specific to the mountains, including the limited land reserve or the accommodation of seasonal workers.

A quota of tourist furnishings next spring

Anticipating the law, the city has therefore prepared the land. Since 2023, an agreement signed with Airbnb has given it access to many data on this new rental market. Enough to allow the community of communes to imagine its own quota system: now, in Chamonix, a natural person can rent only one furnished tourism. Announced in the summer of 2024, this change will come into force on May 1, 2025. Objective? “Rebalance the cursor”, Summarizes Aurore Termoz.

If the measure was “Mostly anticipated”according to the inhabitants, a doubt hangs over the future of the accommodation which will be excluded from the tourist park. “Will they be rented year-round?” Sold? Isn’t it all going to be bypassed? The behavior of the owners is more than uncertain! »»announces Laurent Duffoug, at the head of Mont-Blanc Immobilier.

Giuseppe Pentassuglia, who founded the concierge cham’concierge and works with 37 owners, including two multi -owners, already an idea: “Many are already planning to escape it by creating one or more companies. »»

A new toolbox for municipalities

According to Chamonix, this quota will soon be extended to legal persons. But the municipality wishes to gradually seize other levers of action allowed by law. In addition to the abolition of certain privileges hitherto reserved for these rentals-on the diagnosis of energy performance (DPE) or taxation-it plans to reserve, in its local urban planning plan (PLU), areas to the construction of main residences.

The mayor, Éric Fournier, is also thinking of differentiating taxation according to certain counterparts, such as seasonal housing. “That worries much more!” “, We confide at Cham’concierge.

“Do not expect a backtracking!” »»

Across the country, the National Union for the Promotion of Vacation Rental (UNPLV) evokes a law “Badly targeted”, which will not significantly improve a crisis in multifactorial housing. Lecturer in digital economics and specialist in tourist furnishings, Sylvain Dejean warns: “Do not expect a backtracking!” »»

If the latter welcomes a legislative framework which will allow each municipality to make ” custom made “it evokes certain risks. “In major cities that have set up a quota, for example, demand focused on the activity of those who remained and continued to increase prices”, he underlines. The only approach that has truly borne fruit, according to him: compensation, which conditions the rental of a tourist furniture to put the classic rental market of another property.