Seasonal rentals: Paris town hall declares war on the RATP key boxes

A dark matter of keys. As Airbnb key boxes become more present on urban furniture, RATP has also joined the trend in 2022. It offers this device in partnership with Monkey Locky since 2022 in five particularly busy metro stations. These stations are Denfert-Rochereau, Montparnasse-Bienvenüe, Hôtel de Ville, Etienne Marcel, and Opéra. However, the City of Paris is not happy about this and is trying to calm the phenomenon, which encourages seasonal rentals. In this regard, the Paris City Council adopted a text at the beginning of February that prohibits “hanging key boxes and any other storage devices in public spaces,” as reported by 20 Minutes on February 28, 2024.

Asked by the news website, Barbara Gomes, delegate councilor in charge of rental regulation, rental platforms, and tenant protection, indicates that the objective of the approved text is to “anticipate a phenomenon that is not massive for now (as in Marseille or Annecy), but with the upcoming Olympics, we wanted to prevent the risk of seeing the phenomenon multiply.” While RATP assures in a statement from the launch of its key boxes that they allow “safe key exchanges for family [and] as a troubleshooting solution for friends.”

Discussions to come between the municipality and RATP. Does the reason given satisfy the municipality? It’s not certain. While Barbara Gomes explains that “RATP assures us that the main goal is not to promote furnished tourist rentals,” she admits that her team has “planned to discuss this with them,” in order to ensure that “this service does not contribute to easier access to furnished tourist rentals.” However, the councilor adds, “In any case, we do not have the power to decide on this.”

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