Furnished tourist accommodation (Airbnb): the rules

Letting your property on a nightly basis on a platform such as Airbnb falls under furnished tourist accommodation (meublé de tourisme), an activity that is increasingly regulated. Declaration to the town hall, cap on the number of nights, change of use, taxation, tourist tax: this guide reviews all the obligations, including the major changes brought in by the law of 19 November 2024.

What is furnished tourist accommodation?

Furnished tourist accommodation is defined by article L324-1-1 of the Tourism Code (code du tourisme): it is a furnished villa, flat or studio offered for hire to a passing clientele who do not take up residence there and who stay for a day, a week or a month. It differs from conventional furnished letting (the tenant's main residence) and from bed-and-breakfast accommodation (chambre d'hôtes).

Furnished tourist accommodation may be the landlord's main residence (the home in which they live for at least eight months a year) or a second home: the rules differ significantly between the two cases.

Declaration to the town hall and registration number

Any letting of furnished tourist accommodation must be the subject of a declaration to the town hall. The law of 19 November 2024 generalised the declaration-with-registration procedure: the municipality issues a registration number that must appear on every listing, whatever the platform.

This number allows municipalities to check compliance with the caps and to suspend non-compliant listings. Letting without a declaration or without displaying the number exposes you to fines.

The 120-day rule for a main residence

When you let your main residence as furnished tourist accommodation, the letting is limited to an annual cap. This cap, historically set at 120 days per year, may now be lowered to as little as 90 days by the municipality, by resolution, since the 2024 law.

Platforms are required to automatically block listings that reach the cap in municipalities that have introduced registration. Exceeding the limit exposes the landlord to a civil fine of up to €15,000.

Change of use and authorisation (second home)

Letting a second home as furnished tourist accommodation on a repeated basis and for short periods constitutes a change of use of the residential premises. In the municipalities concerned (Paris, large cities, high-demand areas), this change of use is subject to prior authorisation from the town hall, under article L631-7 of the Construction and Housing Code (code de la construction et de l'habitation).

This authorisation may come with a compensation obligation: converting an equivalent floor area of offices or commercial premises into housing. In a co-ownership (copropriété), you must also check that the regulations do not prohibit furnished tourist accommodation activity.

Taxation, energy performance certificate (DPE) and tourist tax

Income from furnished tourist accommodation falls under industrial and commercial profits (bénéfices industriels et commerciaux, BIC), not property income. The 2025 Finance Act tightened the micro-BIC regime: the flat-rate allowance is lowered to 30% (revenue ceiling of €15,000) for unclassified furnished tourist accommodation, compared with 50% (ceiling of €77,700) for classified accommodation. Above these thresholds, or by election, the actual-expenses regime (régime réel) allows charges to be deducted and the property to be depreciated.

The 2024 law now requires an energy performance certificate (DPE) for furnished tourist accommodation and provides for the gradual exclusion of energy-inefficient properties (passoires thermiques). Finally, the landlord must collect the tourist tax (taxe de séjour) from travellers and remit it to the municipality — platforms most often collect it automatically.

What the 2024 law changes

The law of 19 November 2024, known as the Le Meur law, strengthens the oversight of furnished tourist accommodation: generalised registration, the option to lower the cap to 90 days, a less favourable tax alignment, a DPE requirement and increased powers for municipalities (quotas, zones reserved for main residences). Before starting out, it is essential to check the local regulations, which vary considerably from one municipality to another.