The City of Paris may be celebrating victory against property owners summoned over their seasonal rental activity following the judgement delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union on 22nd September 2020; however the battle is far from being won.
Under the judgement of 22 September 2020, the European Court retained that “A national regulation authorising rental in a repetitive manner of a premises destined for habitation for short durations to occasional customers [...] is compliant to the laws of the Union as long as it is justified by an overriding reason relating to the public interest and in keeping with the fight against the shortage of housing destined for rental.”
In other words, with this judgement the European Court has validated in principle the national French legislation in the way in which it frames seasonal rental of secondary residences. However, it still invites the Court of Cassation to adjudicate on the merit of the parisien compensation mechanism implemented by the City of Paris
At the same time, the Court is also inviting all national jurisdictions to examine more closely the conformity of compensation plans put in place by their affected communes in terms of the European criteria that have been emphasised by its decision.
In order to better understand, it is necessary to briefly highlight the context of the seisin of the European Court, before presenting an analysis, clarified by the fixed conditions of this seisin.