Airbnb rental: conditions, regulations and procedures

Renting your primary or secondary residence on Airbnb can be a good way to make your real estate investment profitable. However, the owner must respect certain rules before renting out his house or apartment. Who has the right to do Airbnb? What are the prerequisites? What are the regulations in force in France? What are the steps to register your accommodation on the platform? Here’s what homeowners need to know.

Capital Video: Airbnb rental: conditions, regulations and procedures

What is Airbnb?

A seasonal rental platform

Airbnb is one of the most famous digital platforms for seasonal rentals. Created in 2008, it allows owners of furnished properties to rent their accommodation, or part of it, to travelers for a short period. Hosts on Airbnb offer a wide variety of accommodations, from shared rooms to private islands. There are four types of accommodation:

• entire accommodations (apartment, house, villa, cabin, castle, etc.),
• private rooms,
• hotel rooms,
• shared rooms.

One of the leaders in furnished tourist rentals

A real alternative to traditional hotels, Airbnb has become a key player in the rental of furnished tourist accommodation. According to a Deloitte study, published in 2024, 44 million travelers stayed in short-term rentals in 2023, generating more than 43 billion euros of economic impact in the cities and towns of France.

Who has the right to do Airbnb in France?

All French housing owners potentially have the right to put
all or part of their property rented on Airbnb. However, there are legal restrictions and
conventional. They relate to co-ownership law and may involve prior procedures with the town hall where the residence is located. For example, if the accommodation is part of a co-ownership and the co-ownership regulations include an exclusively bourgeois housing clause, it is not possible to put it on Airbnb.

Can a tenant sublet the apartment or house where they live?

In principle, according to law no. 89-462 of July 6, 1989, subletting is prohibited. However, if the tenant obtains written authorization from his landlord, he is entitled to sublet the rental property he occupies on Airbnb. He must also obtain approval for the amount of rent set. The price of the rent per square meter, in the context of subletting, cannot exceed that paid by the main tenant.

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What are the conditions to meet for Airbnb?

Comply with the regulations governing the rental of furnished tourist accommodation

Renting out your apartment or house on Airbnb means bringing it into the
category of rental of furnished tourist accommodation. Rules therefore come to apply.
Firstly, the property cannot be rented for more than 120 days per year (items
L324-1-1, D324-1 et seq. of the Tourism Code).

Make a change of use declaration

Otherwise, housing no longer falls into the same category and includes that of commercial premises. The owner is then required to make a declaration of change of use. In large cities, authorization must be obtained in advance. These reinforced obligations are valid for municipalities with more than 200,000 inhabitants as well as those in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne (article L. 631-7 of the Code of construction and housing).

Offer a compensation item

In order to limit the number of Airbnb rental companies, certain municipalities such as Paris are also planning
that the lessor must offer compensation. That is to say, he must buy another property which is not a home (a business for example) to transform it into a home, in the same geographical area. Please note, this is not the case for all municipalities. To know the
applicable regime, the owner must inquire directly with the services of the city concerned (article L. 631-7-1 of the Construction and Housing Code).

Can you rent your second home on Airbnb?

An owner can rent their second home on Airbnb provided:

• not to be present during the rental,
• not to rent the accommodation for more than 90 consecutive days to the same client,
• to request registration in the INSEE Sirène directory,
• to declare the furnished tourist accommodation to the town hall (the procedures vary depending on the place of residence).

Airbnb rental limit: what is the maximum number of days allowed?

Renting a property on Airbnb is limited to 120 days per year. Indeed, it is considered that a main residence must be occupied by its owner or tenant for at least eight months per year. Airbnb is required to verify this threshold. Thus, for certain large cities (18 in total in France) the platform sends a notification and prevents new reservations from being taken.

Guest rooms are not subject to this 120-day limit, since the owner stays at home. Likewise, there may be occasional exemptions in the event of a long illness of the owner, departure for professional reasons or force majeure.

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What are the penalties for exceeding the authorized number of rental days?

Please note, if the authorized number of days is exceeded (120), the property is subject to
either declaration or change of use depending on the municipality of location. Violators of the obligations in force may be fined up to 50,000 Euros (article L. 651-2 of the Construction and Housing Code). In the event of false declarations and fraudulent maneuvers (article L. 651-3 of the Construction and Housing Code), the offender risks a fine of up to 80,000 euros and a prison sentence of one year.

What are the new restrictions provided for by the so-called anti-Airbnb law?

The Le Meur law, known as “anti-Airbnb”, promulgated in November 2024, aims to encourage property owners to rent their accommodation for long periods, rather than furnished tourist accommodation via platforms such as Airbnb. It involves new restrictions.

Ban on renting thermal strainers

From January 1, 2025, owners of a second home will no longer be able to rent it on Airbnb if its energy performance diagnosis is classified G. If the accommodation is already rented on Airbnb and it is an F or G thermal strainer, the owner has ten years to increase his DPE to at least D.

Lowering the maximum number of rental days

The anti-Airbnb law also provides that mayors who wish will be able to lower the maximum number of days of tourist rentals for main residences to 90 days, compared to 120 today. They will also be able to set quotas for furnished tourist accommodation within their municipality. Finally, a registration number will be mandatory for each furnished tourist accommodation.

How to rent your property on Airbnb?

The steps to renting your accommodation on Airbnb are very simple. To do this, simply create an account on the platform, then write your ad. It must include a certain number of details:

• location of the property,
• number of pieces,
• price,
• equipment,
• booking options,
• photos…

Before publication, the host must provide Airbnb with a sworn declaration that the prerequisite obligations have been met. Please note, from January 2025, owners will have to present proof of address instead of the certificate, in order to limit fraud.

What is the procedure for an Airbnb registration at the town hall?

Make your declaration online

Some town halls require a prior declaration in order to be able to rent your property.
Airbnb. This is the case in around fifty medium and large cities, such as Paris, Bordeaux, Marseille or Nice. It is possible to make your declaration online at Service Public or on the official website of your municipality.

Indicate your registration number in Airbnb offer announcements

At the end of the procedure, the owner receives a registration number. He must indicate this in each rental offer announcement on Airbnb. Apart from the case of these cities, the other municipalities in France do not require any prior action.

To note : in the context of renting a second home, declaration is mandatory, regardless of the location of the accommodation.

How to declare your Airbnb income?

Airbnb income must be declared from the first euro each year. Owners whose income is less than 77,700 euros per year can choose the micro-BIC regime. They benefit from a 50% reduction on costs and charges relating to the rental of the furnished property.

From 2025, the so-called anti-Airbnb law lowers the tax deduction on rental income from unclassified furnished tourist accommodation from 50% to 30%. The rental income ceiling beyond which the owner is not entitled to this reduction is also reduced, from 77,700 euros to 15,000 euros.