The tenant of a two-bedroom apartment in Paris has been ordered to pay more than 221,000 euros (A$324,532) after having sublet it without authorization via the Airbnb platform.
Between 2016 and 2020, the man had sublet the apartment 329 times and collected around 198,000 euros, an amount that he must now pay back to the owners of the apartment according to the verdict, the newspaper Le Figaro reports on Monday.
In addition, it is 11,370 euros in arrears of rent because the man had not paid his entire rent himself despite the additional income.
Repairs to the property in the amount of 11,500 euros were also due, which he is obliged to pay, according to the court.
The owners noticed in June 2020 that their apartment was being misused as an Airbnb listing.
Data they requested from the platform showed that the apartment had been rented for 1,114 days for an average price of 178 euros (A$261) per day.
They charged a monthly rent of 1380 euros ($A2024).
For the judgment, the judges relied on a clause of the lease according to which the subletting requires the written agreement of the owners.
The tenant and Airbnb also violated French regulations for cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, according to which rented apartments can be sublet for tourist purposes for a maximum of 120 days per year.
The platform should have blocked the tenant’s account, the court said, although that did not play a role in the decision.
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