France: Strengthened tourist rental laws have been announced to come into force in France from 1 January 2025, following months of debate in the French Parliament.
Earlier this month, lawmakers in France’s parliament [the Assemblée Nationale] passed a bill aimed at strengthening short-term rental accommodation to combat the country’s affordable housing shortage.
The bill was first unanimously approved by the French Sénat [the upper house of the parliament] before the Assemblée Nationale [lower house] adopted the legislation by a large majority. The far-right Rassemblement National [RN] group also voted against the bill.
The laws will affect all short-term and seasonal rental home owners in France, including those letting out their properties on platforms like Airbnb, people who run gîtes [cottages] and second home [holiday home] owners.
They principally cover changes to tax breaks, mandatory energy performance diagnosis, and extended powers for mayors in their municipalities across France.
From the start of January 2025, all short-term rental property owners will need to be able to provide proof that the property they are renting out is their primary residence and that it is registered with the mandatory national online service. They must also provide their tax notice drawn up in their name, as well as the full address of the property being rented out.
The legislation will cut tax breaks for non-classified short-term holiday rentals from 50 per cent to 30 per cent with a cap of €15,000, while the tax allowance for furnished tourist accommodation will be slashed from 71 per cent to 50 per cent, with a cap reduced to €77,700. The new rates will apply to rental income received from 1 January 2025.
All new short-term rental listings in so-called “tense zones” [where there is a shortage of properties, and which can lead to higher prices and rents] and which are applying for authorised changes of use must provide proof of an up-to-date and official energy performance diagnosis [DPE]. In 2025, the properties must achieve at least an ‘F’ rating, and by 2028, they must commit to achieving a rating between ‘A’ and ‘D’ from 2034 for all current and future furnished tourist accommodation.
The system will only apply in mainland France, and owners will have ten years to comply with the 2021 Climate and Resilience Act.
Mayors will be able to request a valid DPE from an owner at any time and the owner will have two months to comply or face an administrative penalty of €100 per day. Owners renting out tourist accommodations that do not meet satisfactory DPE ratings may be liable for fines of up to €5,000 per property that is falling short of the law’s demands.
Meanwhile, municipalities will be able to set quotas for how many tourist rentals will be authorised and determine how many properties used as main residences can be constructed.
Those same municipalities will be able to set limits of up to 90 days per calendar year for which any main residence can be rented out to tourists, dropping from the current limit of 120 days. Those who exceed the maximum number of days a main residence is rented out for could be given a civil fine of up to €15,000 for non-compliance.
Mayors will be handed additional powers to issue fines of €10,000 if a tourist rental is not registered with the national online service in France and a maximum of €20,000 for those who falsely declare that they are registered and / or use a fake registration number on their property listing.
Finally, any co-owners of tourist rentals in France will also be required to declare their position with the mayor / municipality from 2025. However, new co-ownership regulations may or may not prohibit a property being rented out to tourists.
