Paris has some of Europe’s toughest short‑term rental rules. If you’re hosting an entire home that’s your primary residence, you can only book it for 90 nights per calendar year. Friction starts when you go beyond that limit or list a secondary residence, because you move into change‑of‑use territory with compensation costs and, since the 2024 Loi Le Meur, far heavier fines. Under the recent EU laws, City Hall also gets monthly booking data from platforms, so compliance is no longer a guess, it’s tracked.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Paris’ short-term rental rules and regulations, and what operators need to do to stay compliant.
In Paris, you can let your primary residence (entire home) for up to 90 nights a year, which is a local cap that took effect on 1 January 2025. Anything beyond that — and any secondary residence, regardless of nights — requires change‑of‑use authorization with a ‘compensation’ payment to offset the housing you’re taking out of the residential stock. Unauthorized use now carries fines up to €100,000 per unit under the 2024 Loi Le Meur, which is a French law for regulating short-term rentals and gives additional power to local towns.
A meublé de tourisme is a furnished unit — flat, house, studio — let to transient guests for exclusive use on a short‑stay basis. The clean split most hosts miss is this: the 90‑night cap applies to entire‑home lets, but a private room let within your own occupied home isn't a meublé de tourisme at all, so it isn't capped.
National rules allow a primary residence to be let up to 120 nights per year. The Loi Le Meur lets cities set a lower figure. Paris used that power and cut the local cap to 90 nights per year.
However, this cap only applies to a primary residence. Secondary or investment properties aren’t capped, instead they need change‑of‑use authorization from day one.
If the property is not your primary residence, Paris treats short‑term letting as a commercial use. Before you list, you need an autorisation de changement d’usage from City Hall to convert the unit’s legal use from residential to hotel‑type accommodation. This sits on top of the separate duty to obtain and display a registration number.
Authorization is conditional on “compensation,” which means you must offset the loss of residential floor area by converting an equivalent surface of non‑residential space into housing in the same arrondissement.
In practice, hosts buy “compensation titles” reflecting that converted surface, and the costs are market‑driven by arrondissement and building rather than being set by the city.
Short-term rentals within your primary residence need to be registered online, at which point you’ll be given a 13-digit registration number. Publishing a listing on an online platform without a registration faces a penalty of a fine up to €5,000. However, registration is not required for rooms rented within a private residence.
Under the EU regulations that took effect earlier in 2026, platforms have to collect and verify registration numbers where they’re required, and share listing data with the authorities regularly.
Loi Le Meur doubled the maximum civil fine for unauthorised change of use to €100,000 per unit for procedures opened after 19 November 2024. Paris also publishes a penalty schedule for specific breaches.
Early case law under the higher ceiling is still forming as of 2026, but courts have already imposed six‑figure totals on multi‑unit operations, including a record €585,000 fine on a “société civile immobilière (SCI) that had converted an entire 9th arrondissement building into eleven Airbnb units.”
Paris short‑term rental regulations come down to three levers. First, the 90‑night cap on entire‑home primary residences with a room in a private home sitting outside the cap. Second, change‑of‑use for secondary homes with compensation costs that vary widely by arrondissement. Third, enforcement with teeth: a €100,000 per‑unit ceiling under Loi Le Meur, monthly platform data, and a dedicated city brigade. If you’re staying under 90 nights on your primary home, register and keep clean records.
If you’re eyeing an investment unit, run the numbers on compensation and building rules before you list. For operations, start with quiet hours and a clear house manual; add an environment sensor like Minut that measures noise levels so you can stop problems early and keep a timestamped record when you need proof.
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If it’s your primary residence and you’re letting the entire home, the 90‑night cap applies and you don’t need change‑of‑use as long as you stay under that limit. If it’s a secondary residence, you need change‑of‑use with compensation from the first night.
Yes. Copro bylaws can restrict or prohibit tourist rentals, especially where “residential‑only” clauses apply.
Since 20 May 2026, platforms must transmit monthly activity data for every listing to a national portal. Paris then acts on that data to enforce its 90‑night cap and change‑of‑use rules.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or compliance advice. Regulations change and local interpretations vary. Always consult official city and county resources, and qualified counsel before making operational or investment decisions.
