Change of use: when do you need authorisation to let furnished tourist accommodation?

Letting a second home to short-stay guests often amounts to a change of use for furnished tourist accommodation, subject to the mayor’s prior authorisation. The rule comes from the French construction and housing code, but its application varies widely from town to town: demanding compensation in Paris, temporary authorisation in Aix-en-Provence, Gassin or Les Allues, quotas and zones in Nice, just the national baseline in Courchevel. Here is how to find out whether your property is concerned and how to prepare a solid application.

Change of use for furnished tourist rentals in France: the principle set by law

Article L631-7 of the French construction and housing code makes the conversion of residential premises to another use subject to prior authorisation, in order to protect the housing stock. The same article states that letting furnished residential premises, repeatedly and for short periods, to short-stay guests who do not take up residence there constitutes a change of use within the meaning of the code. That is precisely how a second home offered on Airbnb, Booking or Abritel works. An owner considering entrusting their apartment to a luxury concierge in Paris therefore faces this question before any thought about hospitality. The procedure does not apply everywhere: it applies automatically in certain cities and elsewhere only if the town has introduced it. Identifying it early avoids building an unrealistic project.

What the law means by residential premises

The code takes a broad definition: residential premises means any dwelling and its annexes, for example a maid’s room or a studio attached to a villa. The question of proof is central, because it is the legal use of the premises that counts, not its current layout. Premises are deemed residential if they were so between 1970 and 1976 or at any time in the last thirty years (notaires.fr). Commercial premises follow their own logic: Paris now makes their conversion into furnished tourist accommodation subject to a specific prior authorisation (rules of April 2025, paris.fr). Before buying, have the notary establish the use history of the unit, which determines the whole application file that follows.

Why a second home is directly concerned

A second home is, by definition, not occupied by its owner for at least eight months a year. As soon as it is let several times a year to guests who do not take up residence there, it falls within the scope of changement d’usage (change of use), however often you stay there yourself between two lets. Non-resident status changes nothing: the apartment of a family living abroad remains a second home within the meaning of the code. Local rules generally target repeated short-term letting from the very first night, like those of Chamonix, in force since 1 May 2025. Mixed use creates no exception: it is repeated letting to short-stay guests that triggers the obligation.

The main residence, exempt under conditions

The regime differs when the property is your résidence principale (main residence), that is, a home occupied at least eight months a year. Letting it as meublé de tourisme (furnished tourist accommodation) requires no change of use authorisation as long as it stays within the limit of 120 days a year, a cap any town can lower to 90 days by reasoned council decision since 1 January 2025 (law of 19 November 2024). Paris has applied this threshold since January 2025, Antibes since July 2025. Exceeding it is only allowed for professional obligations, health reasons or force majeure, and the Cour de cassation ruled on 16 April 2026 that studies or an internship were not enough. Beyond the cap, the property is treated as a dwelling changing use, with a civil fine of up to €15,000 for exceeding the limit (ministry leaflet, 2025).

Change of use authorisation in France: the towns concerned

The procedure applies automatically in towns of over 200,000 inhabitants and in the three departments of the inner Paris suburbs. Elsewhere, it only exists if the town has introduced it by council resolution, which previously required a high-pressure housing area or a prefectoral order. The Le Meur law of 19 November 2024 removed this lock: any town can now create a local change of use regime without the prefect’s authorisation, and add quotas to it. The landscape is therefore changing fast, including in resorts and villages with no specific rules so far, where a council resolution can change everything from one season to the next. Here is the situation observed in several destinations, based on the municipal acts and pages consulted.

Paris and the major cities

Paris illustrates the most demanding regime. A second home can only be let there as furnished tourist accommodation with an authorisation backed by compensation: other premises in the same administrative district must be converted into housing, for an equal floor area, double in the enhanced compensation area, or even triple in districts with more than 50 registration numbers per 1,000 main residences (rules 2025 DLH 44). The bioclimatic PLU (local urban plan), in force since early 2025, also restricts the creation of new furnished rentals across much of the centre, a perimeter to be checked for each address. In Nice, a first set of rules suspended by the urgent applications judge in January 2026 gave way to a new text in force since 1 September 2026, with a quota of 691 authorisations across four zones for 2026.

Tourist towns that have adopted the procedure

Outside the major cities, many high-end destinations adopted the procedure even before the Le Meur law. In the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, Saint-Tropez, Ramatuelle, Gassin and Grimaud have applied it since 2018 or 2019, following prefectoral orders; Gassin and Grimaud grant renewable three-year authorisations. In the mountains, Les Allues, the town that includes Méribel, introduced a prior temporary authorisation in January 2024 for properties let as short-term furnished rentals, including those already let, and Chamonix followed in May 2025. In the Basque Country, the conurbation requires compensation in 24 towns, including Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Conversely, Courchevel, Megève and Gordes had not, to our knowledge as of 17 October 2026, adopted any local regime beyond the national baseline.

Checking your town’s situation

The only reliable source remains the local act: the resolution of the municipal or intermunicipal council, the attached rules and, where applicable, the prefectoral order. The “furnished tourist accommodation” page of the town hall website, the DéclaLoc portal or the tourist tax online service generally link to these documents. Be wary of summaries published online by commercial players, which often contradict each other: in Cannes, quotas were announced in August 2025 without any adopting resolution found to date, and Antibes only launched studies in 2025. The local urban plan also deserves a careful read, as some towns create areas in it where new builds are reserved for main residences, such as Saint-Tropez in zones UB3a and UC3.

Temporary authorisation or compensation: the change of use regimes

Where the procedure exists, two broad families of authorisation coexist. The first, temporary authorisation, allows letting for a limited period without compensation, under the conditions set by the local rules. The second, authorisation with compensation, requires an equivalent or even larger floor area to be returned to the housing market, and the same town may well combine both regimes. Obtaining authorisation does not exempt you from the declaration: in some towns, the furnished tourist accommodation registration number is even issued with the authorisation decision, as in Les Allues, or only after it, as in the Basque Country. The future national online service, expected in the fourth quarter of 2026 (service-public.gouv.fr), does not change this two-tier compliance: authorisation on one side, registration on the other.

Temporary authorisation, personal and time-limited

Temporary authorisation is granted to a person, for one dwelling and for a fixed period. The rules consulted set three renewable years in Gassin, Grimaud, Chamonix or Aix-en-Provence, where renewal is limited to five times, and five non-renewable years in Nice. The law allows towns to set a maximum number or share of temporary authorisations, up to five years per authorisation (ministry leaflet, 2025). This permit is personal and non-transferable: if the property is sold, the buyer must file their own application, with no guarantee of obtaining it if a quota has been reached. Several towns also limit the number of authorisations per owner, to just one in Nice, Chamonix or Saint-Jean-de-Luz. For an investor, this fragility weighs on the project’s value at expiry or on resale.

Compensation, a long-term logic

Compensation means simultaneously converting into housing premises with another use, an office or shop for example, or buying droits de commercialité (commercial use rights) from a third party. Each set of rules sets the ratio and the perimeter: same administrative district in Paris with increased coefficients, same town in the Basque Country, equivalent floor area in Nice. Unlike temporary authorisation, compensated authorisation is attached to the premises and not to the person, which makes it permanent and transferable with the property. Its cost, however, is high and varies greatly with the local market. The Conseil d’État confirmed on 11 June 2026, regarding the Basque Country, that rules imposing compensation are lawful if they meet an overriding reason in the public interest, such as a housing shortage, and are not disproportionate.

Individual or company: different treatment

Temporary authorisation was long reserved for individuals; the Le Meur law now lets towns open it to legal entities, but each set of rules makes its own choice. Aix-en-Provence still reserves it for individuals, whereas the Grand Annecy rules, in force since 1 June 2025, expressly cover legal entities. Nice grants only one authorisation per individual owner, with compensation applying beyond that. Holding a property through an SCI, a French property holding company, can therefore close off access to temporary authorisation and require compensation, with tax consequences that go well beyond change of use alone. The question should be settled before acquiring or contributing the property, with the notary and the accountant: a structure that makes sense for succession may prove incompatible with the intended holiday letting.

Obtaining change of use authorisation: procedure and penalties

The application is filed with the mairie (town hall), usually the planning department, or with the intermunicipal body when it handles processing, as in the Basque Country. Towns equipped with a DéclaLoc portal often allow online filing, notably Saint-Tropez. Authorisation must be obtained before the first let, and Chamonix requires it from the first night. The timetable is therefore worked backwards from the target season, factoring in processing times and, in Nice, the filing windows open from 1 September to 31 December 2026 for the year’s quota. The chosen concierge can help gather the documents, but the application remains the owner’s. Before filing, carefully check the following points, which determine whether the application is admissible.

• The applicable local rules are identified, with their term, quotas and conditions.
• The residential use of the unit is established by the title deed or notarial history.
• The DPE is rated between A and E.
• The co-ownership rules do not prohibit tourist letting.
• The filing timetable fits the target season.

The documents to gather

Each town publishes its own list, but some documents come up every time: proof of ownership, address and exact floor area of the dwelling, number of rooms, plans and, for any new application in mainland France, a DPE, the energy performance certificate, rated between A and E (ministry leaflet, 2025). From 1 January 2034, furnished tourist rentals that are not the owner’s main residence will have to reach at least class D. For an apartment, the co-ownership situation also counts: some building rules prohibit any commercial activity, and a ban on furnished tourist rentals can now be voted by the double majority of article 26. The owner must also inform the syndic (building managing agent) that the property is being let.

Processing times and the town hall’s response

The rules consulted often set a processing time of two months from the complete file, in Gassin or Grimaud for example, where the authority’s silence counts as approval at the end of that period. An incomplete file suspends this period, and failure to respond to requests for documents may count as refusal. In towns with quotas, an admissible application may also be placed on a waiting list, as in Grand Annecy. For a purchase, these timescales weigh on the schedule: a chalet bought in spring with the intention of letting it at Christmas should have its application filed on completion, or even prepared during the preliminary contract period. Once the decision is obtained, note its expiry date and send a copy to the concierge managing the property.

Penalties for letting without authorisation

Letting without authorisation where it is required exposes you to a civil fine of up to €100,000 per unit, plus a daily penalty of up to €1,000 per day and per square metre until the premises return to residential use (ministry leaflet, 2025). Agreements concluded in breach of the regime are automatically void, and a false declaration is punishable by one year’s imprisonment and an €80,000 fine. An intermediary who assists the fraud also risks €100,000, the ministry leaflet explicitly mentioning concierge companies. Conciergerie.luxe introduces owners free of charge to luxury concierge companies, which alone provide the agreed services: they check the property’s compliance before anything goes online. This is general information, up to date as of October 2026, to be confirmed for your situation with a notary or lawyer.

Frequently asked questions about change of use for furnished tourist rentals

The Conciergerie.luxe editorial team

Our guides help owners of high-end properties understand short-term rentals in France: regulations, tax, and choosing and overseeing a concierge company. They are for information only and do not replace advice from a legal or tax professional.