Question about host legality

[Liz151]

Hello, 

I am using a throw away account so that our situation wont be compromised if things dont work out. Anyway:

My roommate and I are renting an airbnb in France long term (I am familiar with their airbnb laws) while we are studying abroad here (our uni does not have student housing). We had no problems with the building or our host for the first three weeks of our stay. However, on Monday a man who works for the City Tribunal came to inspect our apartment, asking us how long we were staying there, if it was furnished when we got there etc. Having recived no communication about anything like this from our host, my roomate and I complied and answered all of his questions. He gave us an offical Request for Review (a Requête À Fin de Constat in French).

The next day we got a call from our host and he said that we had to move out  of our apartment on the 4th floor and into the apartment on the 1st floor that very evening. Given that we are two americans in France with no contacts, relatives or much knowlege about legal proceedinges here, we agreed in order to save ourselves from being homless.

I had a french friend of mine look over the document and it seems that some time ago (not sure on the dates) my host had violated a French law requiring the owner of an apartment to live in an apartment if they have evicted tennants without notice and was now being served for an offical review by a woman who used to live there at some uncertain point.

Last night he brought us down to the apartment on the first floor and it was pretty dirty, and smelled like smoke but he still insisted we had to move that night.  When we asked him who was going to clean the apartment he relpied that we could all work on it together to which we responded absolutly not. My roommate and I left to get dinner and returned when he was done cleaning. 

Clearly there is something shady going on and my roommate and I are sufficently unnerved by the actions of our host and we are not sure how to move forward. The apartmen on the first floor is much nicer than the one we were previously staying in, but at this point we don't know if what we are doing is legal and we don't trust that our host is being honest with us. Our French is fine, but not great enough to catch the nuances of what hes saying in terms of how he/we are going to explain this to anyone be it the neighbors or the city.  

In a perfect world we would have left and reported to airbnb as soon as he asked us to move, but we are two american students so it is pretty difficult to find mid-term housing in France and we didnt want to retaliate and be out on the street and I am worried that if I do report or ask with my real account, airbnb will terminate our contract leaving us with no where to go. 

We have documentation of him asking us to move apartments as well as a copy of the legal document that he was served as well as proof that we were originally supposed to be on the 4th floor so my question is: if we were to report this, what would airbnb do for us (if anything) while we tried to find somewhere else to live? 

Sorry about the incredibly long story and thank you for any advice. 

[Linda108]

@Liz151  If you question whether the place where you are staying is an actual Air BNB listing, you have to check with Air BNB.  Sadly you are caught in a very difficult situation but you need to speak with Air BNB directly.  You should have a phone number on your reservation confirmation.  You have paid a fee to Air BNB and should expect to be assisted with finding alternative housing.  What is to prevent this host from doing the same thinng again?  Keep us posted as to how this comes out.  

[Liz151]

Thanks for your reply Linda, I know for a fact that the 1st floor apartment is not an actual airbnb, its just a second apartment in the same building that he supposdely "owns" but like I said we don't really trust him. 

[Marit-Anne0]

@Liz151

You can relax about you doing anything illegal - if there is anything shady going on, it is the host who will have to take the blame.  

It is a difficult situation, but at least you have a roof over your head for the time being.  

Tenant rights are strong in France and it is probably correct that a landlord cannot cancel a rental agreement unless he needs the apartment back for personal use.  Doing short term on airbnb will not count as personal use and now the former tenant is taking legal action.

As you have a contract with this host, your insurance might come into action if you have to move out.  Be proactive and look into that now.  

While you have a roof over your head, contact some estate agents for finding a rental that is above board. 

Use the airbnb messaging platform to recap the situation so that you have some proof of what is going on.  Do include the cleaning issues - if you have to clean yourself, you should have a reduction in rent.  

[Andrea9]

@Liz151

There are too many listings on Airbnb of which hosts either purposely or unknowingly stretch or ignore local short stay laws. Many cities, amongst them Paris have been cracking down on hosts to enforce regulations. Same thing here in Amsterdam where a city inspector can suddenly ring the bell. If this is the case and the host is found out to be acting against existing regulations, then the guests have to move out anyway, and the host is in trouble.

In your case, I advise that you contact Airbnb right away. It's not fair that you paid for better accommodations that were probably not even totally 'legal' and have to resort to worse ones. And I'm sure the apartment you're in now is also not according to city regulation for short stay rental.

Tell Airbnb about your experience and tell them that it seems as though the rental is not fully legal. Ask them how you can be refunded and possibly re-located. I hope your exchange with the host was on the booking message page to create a paper trail?

Good luck!