I am writing about problems with apartment rentals in Paris on my blog at http://parischarade.com – the aim was originally to give information to owners about problems ahead from laws affecting vacation rentals.
UPDATE – I have suspended the ParisCharade website after a lot of threats from owners of properties in Paris (only overseas non-French owners) and hacking attacks on all my sites – I ain’t no hero
Interestingly this site has generated mail from renters telling me some horrific stories about owners. Clearly there is a lot to be cleared up and the Government of France and the City of Paris are taking steps to put things in order.
If you have had problems with any service, most countries have an official department you can complain to and report the supplier. A good website listing these offices is http://oecg.org/ – for France the official consumer protection bureau is The DGCCRF – it is an official French government authority for Consumer Protection, they have a website in English at http://http://www.economie.gouv.fr/dgccrf – they have produced a leaflet, in English, which gives some information and other contacts. You can see this at Welcome to France
As most apartments in Paris rented for vacations are rented illegally, you should ensure that the owner, or the owners agent, has correctly registered the apartment as a commercial property to rent, is correctly declared for taxation on the revenue in France and therefore they are able to show you valid and adequate insurance.
Interestingly from the websites above I found that most of the disclaimers for loss or damage on rented premises are not legally valid, this applies to hotels as well – you cannot “sign away” your rights on any rental contract.