Last updated: October 2026
Rules last verified 15 October 2026
Since 20 May 2026, every furnished tourist rental in France must hold a national registration number. Miss it and fines run up to €10,000. Rent over your commune's day limit and add up to €15,000. Change the use of a flat without permission and the ceiling is €100,000. Here is what the loi Le Meur requires.
The loi Le Meur (Law No. 2024-1039 of 19 November 2024), France's "anti-Airbnb law", activated a national registration obligation on 20 May 2026. Every meublé de tourisme, the French legal category for tourist-furnished rentals, must hold a Declaloc registration number, including properties that operated for years under local-only registration. Existing local numbers in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille and Nice remain valid during the transition, but the national number is the new legal baseline. Once issued, it must appear on all listings across all platforms.
The Declaloc portal was finalised by decree 2026-196 of 19 March 2026, but the landlord-facing version only became fully operational in the second half of 2026. Hosts in communes with existing local systems should keep registering through those channels until the national portal handles their area.
The national annual cap for renting out a primary residence to tourists is 120 days. But the law gives mayors in housing-pressure zones the power to cut it to 90 days by council resolution. Paris moved first: from 1 January 2025, primary-residence tourist rentals in the capital are capped at 90 days a year. Exceeding your commune's limit carries a civil fine of up to €15,000.
Second homes play by tougher rules. Renting a second home by the night is legally a change of use, from housing to commercial tourist accommodation, and in listed cities it needs the mayor's prior authorisation from the very first guest, not the ninety-first. Paris requires compensation for the lost housing. Operating without that authorisation can be fined up to €100,000.
| Offence | Maximum fine |
|---|---|
| Failure to register | €10,000 |
| False declaration or fraudulent registration number | €20,000 |
| Exceeding the commune day limit | €15,000 |
| Change of use without authorisation | €100,000 |
Since 2025, co-owners in an apartment building can amend the building rules to prohibit furnished tourist rentals by a two-thirds majority vote. Previously, unanimity was required, which made bans nearly impossible. Check your building's rules before you list: Paris will not authorise a listing your building forbids, and no platform may advertise a listing without a declaration number.
New lets in housing-pressure zones need a DPE energy rating of class E or better, rising to class D nationwide by 2034. On the tax side, the allowance on short-term rental income has been cut, and classified (classé) properties now carry a clear advantage. An unclassified flat faces the least favourable treatment the law offers.
Registration admin, energy upgrades, tax changes: these are fixed costs. You pay them whether the booking came through Booking.com, Airbnb or your own website.
The platform commission is different. It is a variable cost, around 15% on Booking.com, and it is the one you can actually cut. A direct booking website does not remove the compliance burden, but it stops the platforms taking their cut on top of it. Our Booking.com commission guide shows what that cut looks like in pounds per year.
Take a French apartment grossing €30,000 a year through the platforms at an assumed 15% commission.
Platform commission: €4,500 a year, every year, on top of Declaloc paperwork, energy upgrades and fines risk.
That €4,500 is the part of the bill you can do something about.
Law No. 2024-1039 of 19 November 2024, France's national short-term rental regulation law. From 20 May 2026, every meublé de tourisme must hold a national Declaloc registration number, displayed on all listings.
The national cap for tourist rentals of a primary residence is 120 days a year, but communes in housing-pressure zones can cut it to 90 days. Paris did so from 1 January 2025. Over the limit: up to €15,000.
Up to €10,000 for failure to register, up to €20,000 for false declaration, and up to €100,000 for operating without the required change-of-use authorisation.
Yes. Since 2025, a two-thirds majority of co-owners can amend building rules to prohibit furnished tourist rentals. Unanimity is no longer required.
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Last checked: 15 October 2026. General guidance only, not legal or tax advice. Confirm registration, day caps and energy requirements with your mairie and a French tax adviser. Sources: Légifrance: Loi n° 2024-1039 du 19 novembre 2024 (short-term rental regulation); Service-Public.fr: new rules for tourist rentals; Rental Scaleup: Declaloc May 2026; Your Overseas Home: 2026 restrictions.