This article is general information for owners of French property and is not tax or legal advice. The rules for short-term tourist letting changed with the loi du 19 novembre 2024 (the “loi Le Meur”) and continue to roll out through 2026; thresholds and local rules differ from one commune to the next. Always check with your mairie and a French accountant or notaire before letting.
Last Updated: June 2026
There is a particular kind of French daydream: you are away for August, or you only use the Paris flat on weekends, so why not let it on Airbnb and have the place pay for itself a little? It is perfectly legal to do that with your own résidence principale (principal residence) – but, be warned, France has wrapped the practice in a surprising amount of rope. There is a hard annual ceiling, a registration step that is about to become compulsory everywhere, a small business identity you have to create, and a tax return that lands the following spring. This guide walks through the rules as they stand in 2026, specifically for the homeowner letting their own main home occasionally. If you are weighing a dedicated buy-to-let short-term investment instead, that is a different animal with different rules, and we cover it in the full short-let playbook for investors; here we stay tightly on your primary home.
What Counts as a “Meublé de Tourisme” (and What This Guide Covers)
A meublé de tourisme (furnished tourist accommodation) is a furnished home let to a passing clientele who do not move in – guests who take it by the night, the week or the month and then leave. The defining legal line is duration: the let to any single client must not exceed 90 consecutive days in a calendar year. The place has to be genuinely habitable and equipped (furniture, bedding, a fridge, and the rest), and it is typically marketed through platforms such as Airbnb, Abritel or Booking. The framework sits in the code du tourisme (articles L. 324-1 and following).
The key qualifier for this guide: we are talking only about your principal residence, let now and then. In French law a home is your principal residence when it is occupied at least eight months a year by you, your spouse or a dependant, unless you are kept away by work, health or force majeure. That eight-month test is what separates the relaxed regime described here from the much heavier rules that apply to dedicated second homes and pure investment lets.
What Changed in 2026
Two shifts matter this year, both flowing from the loi du 19 novembre 2024 (“loi Le Meur”):
- Registration goes nationwide and compulsory. Until now, the déclaration en mairie that produces a registration number was only required in communes that had opted in. At the latest by 20 May 2026, prior registration becomes mandatory across the whole of France, handled through a single national portal rather than a patchwork of town-hall systems. The number it issues must appear in your listing, and platforms are required to block or remove ads that do not carry one.
- A higher micro-BIC ceiling for classified lets. The simplified micro-BIC tax threshold for a classified tourist let rises to 83,600 euros of annual receipts for 2026 income (up from 77,700 euros for 2025 income). The threshold for an unclassified let is unchanged at 15,000 euros. More on what that means below.
The same 2024 law also hands mayors a new stick: where a let home is found insalubre (unfit for habitation), the mayor can suspend the registration number and order the platforms to take the listing down. That power, too, takes effect at the latest by 20 May 2026.
The 120-Day Ceiling
Here is the rule every primary-residence host has to internalise: you may not let your main home for more than 120 days per year. A commune can set a lower cap by municipal decision, down to a floor of 90 days, and many tourist-pressured cities have done exactly that. The booking platforms are legally required to block listings once the applicable ceiling is reached, so this is not a limit you can quietly overshoot. (The count can be lifted only in narrow circumstances such as a professional posting, a health reason or force majeure.)
Two practical notes that the official guidance stresses. The rent itself is set freely – there is no price cap on a tourist let. But every seasonal-let contract must be in writing and state the price together with a descriptive inventory of the premises.
The Paperwork: Registration, SIRET and Permissions
Letting your home short-term turns you, in the eyes of the French state, into a micro-business. Three steps follow.
1. Declare to the mairie and get your registration number
In communes covered by the registration procedure, you must declare the activity to the town hall of the property’s location under article L. 324-1-1, III of the code du tourisme, which issues a number you are then obliged to quote in every advert. As above, this becomes universal across France by 20 May 2026, so even if your commune does not require it today, it will shortly.
2. Declare the start of activity and get a SIRET
When you begin letting, you must file a business-creation or start-of-activity declaration within 15 days of starting, online through the guichet unique at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr. This gives you a SIRET number and is where you flag the tax regime you have chosen.
3. Get the permissions you actually need
If you rent your home yourself (you are a tenant, not the owner), you need your landlord’s written consent first. If the building is a copropriété (co-ownership), check that the règlement de copropriété does not forbid tourist letting. The loi Le Meur tightened this corner: since 21 November 2024 a co-owner declaring as a tourist-let host must inform the syndic (building manager), and new co-ownership rules must now state explicitly whether tourist letting is allowed or banned.
Your Tax: Micro-BIC vs Réel
Income from a short furnished let is taxable, and it falls under bénéfices industriels et commerciaux (BIC, industrial and commercial profits), not ordinary rental income. You declare it with your annual return, and you choose between two regimes depending on your receipts.
The micro-BIC regime is the simple one: you report gross receipts and the tax office applies a flat allowance, after which you are taxed on the rest. The régime réel instead lets you deduct your actual costs and charges. Crucially, the allowance and the thresholds differ depending on whether your let is classified or not:
| Unclassified let | Classified let | |
|---|---|---|
| Micro-BIC allowance | 30% | 50% |
| Ceiling – 2025 income (declared 2026) | €15,000 | €77,700 |
| Ceiling – 2026 income (declared 2027) | €15,000 | €83,600 |
| Above the ceiling | régime réel applies automatically | |
A few details worth holding onto:
- You report micro-BIC income on form 2042 C-PRO; under the réel regime you file form 2031-SD and carry the result to your 2042 C-PRO.
- If your receipts are under 305 euros, no income tax is due on them at all.
- If you hold the property in indivision (undivided co-ownership), you cannot use micro-BIC – the réel regime is mandatory (CGI, art. 50-0).
- Classifying your meublé de tourisme is voluntary, arranged through an accredited classification body, and it is what unlocks the 50% allowance and the higher ceiling.
The Other Levies: CFE, Tourist Tax, VAT, Social Charges
Income tax is only part of the bill. Four other items can apply.
Cotisation foncière des entreprises (CFE). Furnished letting is in principle a CFE-liable activity, though exemptions exist. Because it depends on your situation, the official guidance points you to the service des impôts des entreprises for the property’s area to confirm whether you owe it.
Taxe de séjour (tourist tax). In communes that levy it, this is collected from your guests and varies by commune and accommodation type. Depending on the setup, either you collect and remit it to the mairie, or – if you let through a platform – the platform collects it for you.
VAT. Letting a furnished home through a platform is, as a rule, exempt from VAT. It only becomes liable (at 10%) if your service starts to resemble a hotel – specifically, if you provide at least three of these four services: breakfast, regular cleaning, household linen, and a reception function (greeting guests in person or via a keybox with a code). And even then, if your turnover stays under the franchise en base threshold (CGI, art. 293 B), no VAT applies.
Social charges. Below 23,000 euros of annual receipts, your income is simply subjected to prélèvements sociaux through your normal return. Above 23,000 euros, you must register with URSSAF and pay social contributions, with the detail depending on your total income from the activity. This 23,000-euro line is the same threshold that, in the long-term world, helps separate the non-professional from the professional furnished landlord, a distinction we unpack in the furnished-lettings (LMNP) guide for non-residents.
Other Duties: Social Housing, DPE
Social housing is off-limits. Tourist letting from a logement social (social housing) is strictly forbidden, and a tenant who does it risks losing the lease on top of financial penalties.
The energy-rating (DPE) rule usually does not bite a primary residence. The loi Le Meur introduced an energy floor for tourist lets, but it is targeted: it applies to homes offered as a meublé de tourisme for the first time that also require a change-of-use authorisation in metropolitan France. For those, the diagnostic de performance énergétique must be rated A to E between 21 November 2024 and 31 December 2033, and A to D from 1 January 2034. A genuine primary residence let inside the 120-day cap does not normally trigger a change-of-use authorisation, so this energy floor generally does not apply to the situation in this guide. If you are unsure whether your commune treats your let as a change of use, ask the mairie before relying on that.
What It Means If You Are a Non-Resident Owner
If you live abroad but keep a French home you treat as your main residence, the same rules apply to you, with the income taxed in France as French-source BIC. The eight-month occupancy test is the thing to watch: spend too little of the year in the property and it stops being your résidence principale, which pushes you out of this relaxed 120-day world and into the far stricter regime for second homes and investment lets – the territory of change-of-use authorisations, the energy floor, and in many cities a compensation requirement. If your use of the property is closer to a holiday home or a pure rental play, read the rules through the lens of the investor short-let guide instead, and if you are still acquiring, the step-by-step purchase route for foreign buyers sets the groundwork.
The Bottom Line
Letting your own French home for a handful of weeks a year is genuinely allowed, and for many owners it is a tidy way to cover the taxe foncière and then some. But treat it as a small regulated business, not a casual favour to the holiday market: register and quote your number, respect the 120-day ceiling your commune sets, declare the income as BIC, and keep an eye on the side levies. Do that and the daydream is yours. Skip the paperwork and you risk a blocked listing, a tax adjustment, and – if the building rules forbid it – a quarrel with your syndic. The rope is long, but it is there for a reason.
FAQ
How many days a year can I rent my French primary residence?
Up to 120 days per calendar year. A commune can set a lower cap by municipal decision, down to a floor of 90 days, and booking platforms must block listings once the limit is reached. The cap can be exceeded only in narrow cases such as a professional posting, health reasons or force majeure.
Do I have to register my home, and by when?
Yes. You declare the activity to the mairie to obtain a registration number that must appear in your listing. Under the loi Le Meur, this prior registration becomes mandatory across all of France, through a single national portal, at the latest by 20 May 2026.
What is the difference between a classified and an unclassified let for tax?
Under micro-BIC, an unclassified tourist let gets a 30% allowance with a 15,000 euro ceiling, while a classified let gets a 50% allowance with a ceiling of 77,700 euros for 2025 income and 83,600 euros for 2026 income. Classifying is voluntary and done through an accredited body. Above the ceiling, the régime réel applies automatically.
What is the 90-day rule versus the 120-day rule?
They are different limits. The 90 days is the maximum a single guest may stay continuously for the let to count as a meublé de tourisme. The 120 days (reducible to 90 by a commune) is the maximum total your primary residence may be let across the whole year.
Will I pay social charges?
If your annual receipts are under 23,000 euros, the income is subject to social levies through your normal tax return. Above 23,000 euros, you must register with URSSAF and pay social contributions, with the detail depending on your total income from the activity.
I live abroad. Can I still use these primary-residence rules?
Only if the French home genuinely is your principal residence, meaning it is occupied at least eight months a year by you, your spouse or a dependant (save professional, health or force majeure reasons). If you spend less time there, it is treated as a second home or investment let, which carries stricter rules. Take French tax advice on your specific situation.
