The Chamonix-Mont-Blanc valley will introduce restrictions on furnished tourist accommodation rentals in order to curb soaring prices and encourage permanent housing, it said on Monday. The valley’s community council, which brings together the municipalities of Chamonix, The Houches Vallorcine and Servoz, all four classified as “tense zones” since August 2023, unanimously voted for a resolution to this effect, which will come into force on May 1, 2025. The valley thus becomes “the first mountain region in France to limit the number of tourist rentals to promote year-round housing”she congratulates herself.
The text provides that for each property subject to short-term rentals, the owner will have to request a registration number and a limited-term authorization from his municipality. In addition, the number of furnished rentals will be limited to one property per natural person in Chamonix and Les Houches and to two properties in Servoz, according to a press release. The new rule only concerns natural persons initially, but the data collected will then make it possible to take additional measures targeting legal persons, notes the community council.
Legal risk
A caution which can be explained by the fact that these entities, “who constitute the majority of multi-owners” and may be property managers, real estate agencies or even concierge services, have the “financial means to seek legal recourse”, they emphasize at Chamonix town hall. “There is a risk that the regulation will be attacked”we note at the town hall, recalling the setback suffered last year by the town of Annecy which sought to impose quotas for furnished tourist accommodation.
According to data collected in 2023 via the tourist tax Legal entities hold about a third of the approximately 3,500 furnished properties listed in Chamonix. In the valley, their number has increased from 2,700 to 4,000 in four years and the rental market price has reached 30 euros/m2 and the purchase price varies between 10,000 and 18,000 euros/m², according to the press release. For the mayor of Chamonix Eric Fournier, the phenomenon of changing the use of properties over the last two years is “something that goes much faster than us”. “There is an absolute need for us to rebalance the number of permanent housing units in relation to housing units intended for rental”he explains. The elected official also calls for a resumption of debates on a proposed law aimed at strengthening the regulation of furnished accommodation, interrupted by the dissolution of the National Assembly.