“Prices are exploding and we need to restore balance,” says Mayor

From May 2025, property owners in Chamonix in the French Alps will not be allowed to offer more than one short-term rental.

The town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in the province of Haute-Savoie (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) plans to introduce the quota from May 1, 2025 to encourage landlords to favour long-term rentals over short-term tourist holiday accommodation through websites such as Airbnb, Leboncoin or Abritel.

It is the first mountain resort in France to introduce such a measure.

Read more: Has the tax reform for holiday rental properties in France changed anything?

Boom in furnished short-term rentals

The measure is a response to the sharp increase in short-term furnished rental apartments in the city, which have risen from 2,700 to over 4,000 in the last four years, according to Mayor Eric Fournier.

This growth is largely due to the lucrative short-term rental market.

The average price for a short-term rental in the city is €256 per night, which equates to €7,936 if paying for 31 nights (and much more for luxury chalets).

Even if the apartment is not fully booked, the landlord can earn more money with a short-term rental than with a long-term one.

This results in the displacement of people who want to live in the area permanently and leads to a shortage of rental apartments and affordable housing for long-term renters.

Property prices in Chamonix currently range between 10,000 and 18,000 euros per m2 and rental costs average 30 euros per m2 per month.

This means that buying a 100 m² property costs between 1 and 1.8 million euros, with rent being 3,000 euros per month (36,000 euros per year for rent alone).

Read also: Can I use Airbnb as proof of residence for official French procedures?

“The valley is not an amusement park”

To contain the problem, from 1 May 2025, landlords will be allowed to rent a maximum of one short-term rental property in Chamonix and the nearby municipality of Houches and two properties in the municipality of Servoz.

In the municipality of Vallorcine, on the other side of the Col des Montets, there is no limit on the number of short-term rentals allowed, but permits are only issued for one year and must then be re-examined and renewed.

In a statement, the mayor of Chamonix said: “This measure is part of an overall effort to preserve permanent housing in the valley. Part of our housing stock is being lost to short-term rental platforms, causing increasing problems for local residents. Year-round rental offers are few and far between and prices are exploding.”

City Hall had previously voted to impose a surcharge on second homes in the area in 2023, as more than 70% of properties in the valley are subject to it.

“The valley is not an amusement park,” the mayor said. “We need to restore balance … and respond to the pressure on property prices and the rapidly fluctuating tourist numbers in the area.”

Registration required

Property owners looking to rent out short-term properties must also register their property before listing it on websites such as Airbnb, a similar system to that used in cities such as Paris.

This allows the authorities to keep track of who is renting our properties, where and how many listings there are.

Read also: Airbnb in Paris: Supply exceeds demand during the Olympics

“We have signed agreements with these sites and if some do not register, their offers will be removed from their platforms,” said Mr Fournier.

Currently, the rules only apply to private individuals, but Fournier said the measure was a “first step” and could soon apply to real estate agencies and companies.

Mr Fournier’s decisions come after a similar measure in Annecy (also in Haute-Savoie) was suspended in July 2023 by the Grenoble court on the grounds that it was “too restrictive”.

But Haute-Savoie MP Xavier Roseren, from Les Houches, said he strongly supported Mr Fournier’s measures, adding that he would continue to push for similar legislative initiatives in the Assemblée Nationale.

A bill to “strengthen the tools for regulating tourism rentals at the local level” was due to be examined by a joint government committee, but the examination was postponed after President Macron unexpectedly dissolved parliament in June.

Mr Roseren also said that the law needs to be changed regarding environmental standards for short-term rentals. Currently, there is a legal loophole that means that properties that do not meet the insulation standards for long-term rentals can still be rented out for short-term rentals.

“It is not acceptable that you can rent a poorly insulated property through Airbnb, but not for a longer period of time,” he said. “We must continue to work on the ecological and tourist transition in our valleys.”