This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change and individual situations differ. Always confirm the current position with a qualified professional before acting.
The booking ended on Saturday, the cleaner arrived to find the guests still there, and by Monday the message from inside your flat in Nice was that they had nowhere else to go. Until this summer the answer to that message was the same one every French landlord knows: a commissaire de justice, a court date, months of waiting. Since 20 August 2026 there is a second answer. The loi n° 2026-798 du 18 août 2026, known as the loi Ripost, lets the owner of a meublé de tourisme (a registered holiday let) ask the préfet to order the overstaying guest out, and to have them removed by the police if they ignore the order. No judge is involved and the clock runs in hours and days.
That is the part the press reported in July, when the Assemblée nationale voted the article. What happened next matters as much. On 14 August the Conseil constitutionnel kept the eviction but threw out the criminal penalties parliament had attached to it, so the guest who will not leave can be put on the pavement but cannot be prosecuted as a squatter. This article sets out what the law now says, how the procedure runs for a foreign owner managing from abroad, where the new power stops, and why the problem it solves is, on the government’s own figures, close to nonexistent.
What the loi Ripost changed, in one article
The loi Ripost is a public-order omnibus whose sixty-odd articles mostly concern nitrous oxide, motorbike rodeos, illegal raves, fireworks mortars and police powers. Article 14 is the one that concerns property owners. It rewrites article 38 of the loi DALO of 5 March 2007, the provision that created the prefectoral fast-track against squatters. We explained that fast-track, its history and its “domicile” trap in our guide to French squatter law, so here we cover only what moved.
Two things moved, and the first is that the procedure now applies to a person who stays on after “the expiry of a rental contract for a meublé de tourisme within the meaning of article L. 324-1-1 of the code du tourisme”, which is new in kind. Since 2007 the fast-track had only ever been available against someone who got in by force, threats or trickery. A guest who arrived with a booking confirmation and a lockbox code entered lawfully, and until August the law treated their refusal to leave as a civil dispute for the courts. Second, the same prefectoral route now covers premises “for commercial, agricultural or professional use”, so a squatted shop, barn or office can be cleared the same way as a squatted house. The Senate added that in May and the Assemblée kept it.
The government’s stated target was narrow: “to make it easier to evacuate squatters who remain in holiday lets that were initially rented lawfully”, in the words of the Senate’s impact study. The housing minister, Vincent Jeanbrun, had promised the measure in October 2025 after a widely reported case in Savigny-le-Temple, south of Paris, where a guest who had booked a studio for a week in August 2025 refused to leave at check-out and changed the lock.
The procedure, hour by hour
Article 38 as it now reads sets four conditions before the préfet can act, and they are the same four that apply to a classic squat. You must have filed a criminal complaint (plainte). You must prove the premises are your home or your property, which for a holiday let means the titre de propriété or the last taxe foncière notice. If the occupation stops you producing the deeds, the préfet has 72 hours to ask the tax office to confirm your title. And you must have the unlawful occupation recorded by a police officer, the mayor or a commissaire de justice (bailiff). For an overstaying guest the useful extra document is the booking itself, because the trigger is the expiry of a holiday-let contract, so the confirmation showing the check-out date is your evidence that the contract has ended.
Source: article 38 of loi n° 2007-290 as amended by loi n° 2026-798, art. 14 · theenglishinvestor.com
Once the request is received the préfet has 48 hours to decide, after “consideration of the personal and family situation of the occupant”. The statute allows refusal on only two grounds: the conditions above are not met, or there is an overriding public-interest reason. A refusal must be reasoned and sent to you without delay. If the order is made it carries a deadline to leave of at least 24 hours. Where the flat is not your domicile, which is the case for most investment holiday lets, that deadline becomes seven days, and an urgent application by the occupant to the administrative court suspends the order while the judge looks at it. Once the deadline passes with the guest still inside, the préfet “must proceed without delay” to forced evacuation, unless you yourself object in the meantime.
Two words in that sequence decide which track you are on. The law says domicile “whether or not it is your main residence”, so a second home you actually use is your domicile and gets the 24-hour deadline. A flat you bought to let and have never slept in is your property but not your domicile, and gets seven days plus the possibility of a court challenge. That distinction predates Ripost and it is the one most foreign owners get wrong.
What the Conseil constitutionnel struck out, and what it kept
As voted, article 14 had a second paragraph. It extended the two squatting offences of the Code pénal, article 226-4 (three years and €45,000 for forcing your way into someone’s home) and article 315-1 (two years and €30,000 for forcing your way into any residential, commercial, agricultural or professional premises), to a guest who stays on after a holiday-let contract expires. That is the “two years and €30,000” the July press coverage led with.
In decision n° 2026-915 DC of 14 August 2026 the Conseil constitutionnel struck that paragraph out in full. Its reasoning was technical: the same facts would have been punishable under two different offences carrying different penalties, which breaches equality before the criminal law. The upshot for an owner is that the overstayer faces the eviction but no prosecution for the overstay itself. A person who breaks into an empty holiday flat is still a squatter under 315-1. A person who booked it, paid, and then refused to leave is not.
The Conseil upheld the eviction itself, on the reasoning that a holiday let is residential premises that may be the owner’s own home, so clearing it protects the owner’s privacy and property. It attached one reservation, and it concerns the other extension. The fast-track may be used against a squatted shop, barn or office only where the occupant has not made it their domicile. An occupant who is living in a disused warehouse, in other words, keeps the protection of the ordinary court route. That reservation is now part of the law’s meaning and binds every préfet.
| Occupant | How they got in | Route to remove them | Criminal exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squatter in your holiday flat | Broke in, or lied their way in | Article 38 fast-track: 48 h decision, 24 h or 7-day deadline, police | Art. 226-4 or 315-1: up to 3 years and €45,000 if the flat is your domicile, 2 years and €30,000 otherwise |
| Holiday-let guest who stays on after check-out (from 20 August 2026) | Lawful booking, contract expired | Article 38 fast-track, same timings, booking confirmation as proof the contract has ended | None for the overstay itself, after decision 2026-915 DC |
| Residential tenant who stops paying | Lease under the loi du 6 juillet 1989 | Court only: commandement de payer, six-week clause résolutoire, hearing, commandement de quitter, winter truce | None |
| Squatter in a shop, barn or office | Broke in | Article 38 fast-track, unless the occupant has made it their home (Conseil constitutionnel reservation) | Art. 315-1 |
Where the new power stops
The trigger is the expiry of a contract for a meublé de tourisme. Article L. 324-1-1 of the code du tourisme defines that as a furnished home offered to a passing clientele who do not make it their home, for stays by the day, week or month, and the same guest cannot be let more than 90 consecutive days in a calendar year. That definition carries three consequences for an owner. A stay booked through a platform with a check-out date fits. A furnished flat let for nine months to a student does not, because that is a residential lease under the 1989 law and the tenant is protected by the full eviction procedure, winter truce included. And a “guest” who has been in the flat for eight months, paying monthly, with post arriving in their name, will argue before the administrative judge that the arrangement was never a holiday let at all, and a seven-day deadline gives them the time to do it. The fast-track was built for the guest who overstays a fortnight, and that is where it is safe to use.
Nothing in article 38 mentions the trêve hivernale, the winter ban on evictions that runs from 1 November to 31 March. The ban lives in the code of civil enforcement procedures and applies to court-ordered evictions. The prefectoral route is administrative and sits outside it, which is one reason the fast-track was so contested in the debates. We have found no ruling yet on an August 2026 case, so treat that as a reading of the text, with no settled practice behind it yet.
One more limit is practical, because the préfectures apply this procedure rarely. Figures the housing ministry gave Le Monde covered 27 prefectures over the year to August 2024: 456 requests, 94 of them concerning the applicant’s own home, with 82 percent granted. A later sample of 13 prefectures over four months showed 79 requests and 77 percent granted. Those are the numbers for classic squats across the whole of France. For overstaying holiday guests the Senate’s impact study is candid: France has an estimated 1.2 million meublés de tourisme, and “there are no statistical data recording the phenomenon of squatting in holiday lets”. Le Monde’s search of the regional press found about ten cases in ten years. A lawyer who acts for short-let owners told the paper the law was one “of anticipation”. That is a fair description.
What a foreign owner should do with this
Keep the paperwork that the procedure will ask for, before you need it. A copy of the titre de propriété and the latest taxe foncière notice in a cloud folder your agent or a trusted neighbour can reach. The booking record with the check-out date, which the platform will show but which is easier to hand to a gendarme as a PDF. The name and number of a local commissaire de justice, since the occupation report is the step that takes longest to organise from abroad, and a mayor’s report is a legal alternative in a small commune where the mairie knows you.
Then use the procedure only for what it is for. A guest who is three days over a two-week booking is the case the law was written for, and a plainte plus the article 38 request is now the fastest legal route in France. A “guest” who has been in place for months is a dispute about the nature of the contract, and the fast-track will either be refused or suspended by the administrative judge. For that case, and for any lawful tenant, the court route in our eviction timeline is still the only one. Finally, remember that the platform rules, the 120-day cap on letting your own home and the registration regime have not changed. The law makes it easier to remove a rare bad guest. It does nothing about the far more common ways a holiday let goes wrong, which start with the town hall rather than the tenant.
FAQ: overstaying guests and the loi Ripost
Can I have an Airbnb guest who refuses to leave removed without going to court?
Yes, since 20 August 2026, if the flat is a meublé de tourisme and the booking has expired. You file a complaint, prove ownership, have the occupation recorded by the police, the mayor or a commissaire de justice, and apply to the préfet, who decides within 48 hours.
Is an overstaying guest a squatter under French criminal law?
No. Parliament tried to say so, but the Conseil constitutionnel struck that paragraph out on 14 August 2026. The guest can be evicted by the préfet but faces no prosecution for the overstay itself. Someone who breaks into the flat remains a squatter under articles 226-4 and 315-1 of the Code pénal.
How long does the prefectoral eviction take?
The préfet must decide within 48 hours of receiving the request. The order gives at least 24 hours to leave if the flat is your domicile, main or second home, and seven days if it is not. After that the préfet must have the premises cleared without delay. In practice, allow one to two weeks from the day the booking ended.
Does the winter truce protect an overstaying guest?
The trêve hivernale applies to court-ordered evictions under the code of civil enforcement procedures. Article 38 is an administrative procedure and does not refer to it. That is what the text says, and there is no case law yet on the August 2026 version.
Does the new law apply to a furnished flat let to a student or a long-stay tenant?
No. It applies only to a meublé de tourisme within article L. 324-1-1 of the code du tourisme, let to a passing clientele for days, weeks or months. A furnished residential lease, a bail mobilité or a student let is governed by the loi du 6 juillet 1989 and can only be ended through the courts.
