2023-06-16 15:00:02
The island of Oléron claimed nearly 29.7 million euros from Airbnb. In the end, she will only collect 30,000 euros from the American platform. Seized in civil proceedings, the judicial court of La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) decided on Friday a dispute between the rental giant and the Community of Communes (CdC) of Oleron.
Its elected officials hoped for the conviction of Airbnb following “breaches of its legal obligations” in terms of collection and repayment of the tourist tax in 2020 and 2021. In other words: the platform was accused of not having enough collected this tithe from tourists and for having neglected its payment in favor of the island of Oléron.
“This decision will set a precedent”
The La Rochelle judges ultimately only examined the year 2021 but agreed with the elected islanders by granting them the benefit of this civil fine “for the omissions and inaccuracies noted in the declaration” of Airbnb. “It’s a real satisfaction. The CdC and the elected community members are delighted, ”assures Michel Parent, the president of this intercommunity. According to this Oléronais, this decision “will set a precedent and will inspire other communities elsewhere in France, all those who did not dare to attack the Airbnb monster and were waiting for this judgment”.
The elected official also believes that the other platforms dedicated to tourist rental “will also have to think about a healthier and more responsible attitude” in the future. The litigation is nonetheless over: a stay of proceedings has been pronounced for the year 2020 and will be the subject of a second judgment in the coming months, in La Rochelle. The Community of communes of the island of Oléron could also decide to appeal and try to obtain greater compensation than this “symbolic fine” set at 30,000 euros. “We are going to think about it,” confirms Michel Parent.
In a press release, the Airbnb platform underlines for its part that “the amount of the fine is approximately 400 times lower than that requested by Oléron”. According to her, an “investigation” would have been carried out and would have already made it possible to settle all the amounts identified for the years 2020 and 2021. “This decision confirms that the fine requested by Oléron was disproportionate. We have resolved the problem identified last year, when we were informed of it, and all the under-collected amounts have already been paid to Oléron from Airbnb’s own funds, with late interest, “notes the transnational, recalling collect the tourist tax in more than 23,000 municipalities in France.
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