The Basque Country Agglomeration Community will adopt a measure to curb furnished tourist accommodation, faced with the explosion in their number, the scarcity of land and the rise in prices, it announced on Friday.
A compensation measure will oblige the owners to produce, in the same city and with an equivalent surface, a property on the rental market for the year to compensate for a dwelling transformed into tourist accommodation, already measured in place in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon or Nice.
For this, it will be necessary to transform existing premises (garage, commercial premises, etc.) and not to build a new one.
For us, there is a considerable danger that we let this situation (of a tense market, editor’s note) continue, indicated an AFP correspondent the president of the Basque agglomeration Jean-Ren Etchegaray, mayor of Bayonne and engine of the measure.
The rule, submitted to the vote on Saturday, will be applied from June 1 to 24 municipalities in the extended area of the Basque Coast, including Bayonne, Biarritz, Anglet, Guthary, Saint-Jean-de-Luz or Hendaye.
It will not be retroactive. Current tourist accommodation is subject to a change of use authorization issued by the municipalities, valid for three years. term, the compensation rule will apply to all, at the time of renewal.
On the other hand, it does not prohibit either renting out one’s main residence for 120 days a year, or offering accommodation during the season, if rented to students for the rest of the year.
For the Alda association, at the forefront of this fight, this proactive measure, even if it could go even further, is up to the stakes because if we do not put a brake on the phenomenon, the situation will become uncontrollable, according to its co -President Xebax Christy.
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According to the Atlantic and Pyrnes Urban Planning Agency (Audap), short-term accommodation increased by 130% between 2016 and 2020. More than 16,000 tourist accommodations are listed in the 24 municipalities concerned.
The National Union for the Promotion of Holiday Rentals (UNPLV), which brings together platforms, travel agents and other professionals, this week deplored a target error, which risks harming a local economy which has long been oriented towards tourism. , according to its president, Dominique Debuire.
A petition against this restrictive project, signed Friday morning by 1,600 people, points to the lack of consultation between professionals and owners.
In November 2021, 6,500 to 8,000 people demonstrated in Bayonne to demand accessible housing in the Basque Country.