France regulates short-term rentals through a declaration number, a change-of-use authorization in major cities, and a 120-day cap for a primary residence — tightened further by 2024's loi Le Meur. What to check before buying for Airbnb income.
France was already one of the more tightly regulated short-term-rental markets in Europe before a 2024 law (known as the loi Le Meur) tightened the rules further. A buyer planning Airbnb-style income needs to understand three separate mechanisms, not just the headline fact that Paris is strict.
The declaration number
Renting out a furnished property short-term as a tourist let (location meublée de tourisme) requires a declaration to the local mairie, which issues a registration number. In communes that have adopted the system — which includes most large cities — platforms require this number before a listing can go live, and it must be displayed on the listing.
Changement d'usage: the real barrier in large cities
In Paris and other large communes (generally over 200,000 residents, plus the inner Paris region), renting out a SECONDARY residence short-term — one that isn't your main home — requires prior authorization for changement d'usage (change of use), converting the property from residential to a different legal use. In the most constrained markets, notably Paris, this authorization typically requires "compensation": acquiring and converting an equivalent amount of space from commercial to residential use elsewhere in the same arrondissement. This is the single biggest practical obstacle to buying a Paris apartment specifically to run as a short-let, and it's a well-established rule, not a new one.
The 120-day cap for a primary residence
If the property is genuinely your primary residence, you can rent it short-term for up to 120 days per calendar year without triggering the changement d'usage requirement. Beyond that, it's treated as no longer your main home for this purpose. This cap has been in place for years and is one of the most-cited rules in French short-term-rental planning.
The 2024 tightening (loi Le Meur)
France passed a further tightening law in 2024 aimed specifically at short-term rentals, in response to housing-availability pressure in tourist-heavy cities. It is understood to have reduced the favourable tax allowance (abattement) that furnished tourist rentals previously received under the micro-BIC regime, and to have introduced energy-performance (DPE) requirements for short-term rentals aligned with France's broader rental-efficiency rules, alongside giving municipalities more power to set local caps. Because the exact current thresholds and phase-in dates for these specific provisions are the kind of detail that gets refined in subsequent finance laws, confirm the current figures with a notaire or specialist adviser rather than relying on a fixed number here.
What this means before you buy
- If you're buying a secondary residence specifically for short-let income in a large city, confirm changement d'usage is realistically available — in Paris, the compensation requirement can make this commercially unworkable for a single apartment.
- If you plan to rely on the 120-day primary-residence allowance, make sure the property genuinely qualifies as your main home under French rules, not just on paper.
- Ask a French-qualified adviser for the current loi Le Meur tax and DPE specifics before modelling returns — these are the parts most likely to have moved since this was written.
FAQ
Does every short-term rental in France need a declaration number? Yes, in communes that have adopted the registration system, which includes most large cities. Can I freely rent out a Paris apartment that isn't my main home on Airbnb? Generally no — it needs changement d'usage authorization, which in Paris typically requires compensation and is the main practical obstacle for this strategy. What's the 120-day rule? It's the annual cap on short-term letting a genuine primary residence without needing changement d'usage. Did the rules get stricter recently? Yes — the 2024 loi Le Meur reduced tax advantages and added energy-performance requirements for short-term rentals; confirm current specifics with an adviser.
How we help
We check whether a specific property can realistically support short-term rental under its commune's rules — declaration requirements, changement d'usage feasibility, and current tax treatment — before you buy on the assumption of Airbnb income. Informational only, not legal or tax advice; French short-term-rental law has tightened multiple times recently, so confirm current rules with a qualified French adviser before relying on any figure here.