"Platforms can be punished if they violate the law": Oléron Island condemns Le Bon Coin for breaches relating to tourist tax

This judgment by the La Rochelle judicial court was delivered on July 29, barely three months after another platform, Airbnb, was ordered on appeal to pay more than €8.6 million to the CDCO in a similar case.

"We are delighted with this new victory, which demonstrates that all platforms can be punished if they violate the law. The law is the same for everyone, both for Airbnb and the Leboncoin platform ," commented Jonathan Bellaiche, who is also bringing an action against Booking brought by the Oléron community.

The judgment, seen by AFP, orders Le Bon Coin to pay €380,000 in civil fines for repeated failures to meet its tax collection obligation for 384 stays booked between 2020 and 2022 via the platform.

In addition to this sum, there are two civil fines of 10,000 euros each , for failure to comply with the obligation to repay the tourist tax over the same period and for failure to comply with the declaration obligation, as well as 10,000 euros in legal costs.

Le Bon Coin invoked the right to make mistakes

The CDCO was seeking more than one million euros in civil fines in this procedure.

Le Bon Coin, which connects hosts with tourists for accommodation rentals booked and paid for online , invoked in particular the right to make mistakes.

But the argument was rejected by the court on the grounds that in the exchanges it had with the community, the platform "did not invoke any error but contested the actual taxation" of the stays concerned, by refusing to communicate the files necessary for its implementation.

Furthermore, for 21 months, she refused to pay the sums requested for the tourist tax , before paying these 22,108 euros in December 2023.