inhabitants, it was necessary to set strict guidelines for short-term holiday lettings. Various legal instruments were adopted to this end.1 Therefore, the lessor (whether the lessor is the owner or simply a tenant of the accommodation offered under holiday letting – see hereinafter on the interest of this distinction) will have to comply with two main conditions, as follows: 1. The lessor must have made a prior declaration to the municipality, unless the accommodation constitutes his main residence – in which case holiday rentals would generally be permitted only up to 120 days per year pursuant to article L.324-1-1 of the tourism code.2 However, in Paris and other French cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, the prior declaration has been completed by a “letting permit”. This consists in an express authorisation to be obtained from the mayor to offer lawfully a specific accommodation for holiday rentals, which does not constitute the main residence of the lessor and will be rented more than 120 days per year. 2. When the holiday lettings constitute a regular activity, a formal request for a « change of use » of residential premises has to be effected. This is a very formal and strenuous procedure subject to local urbanism rules, whereby the municipality can decide under certain conditions to authorise, or not, such an activity in particular premises. In such a case, the properties will be deemed to be premises of commercial nature exclusively dedicated to holiday lettings and not anymore as residential premises that could be offered under long-term rental for housing for instance.3 This results from construction rules: in France a distinction is made between properties which are used as housing and properties which can be used for business, industrial purposes, etc.4 The legal scheme for holiday lettings is regularly amended and completed and now becomes quite complex for lessors. Failure to comply with the above-mentioned legal framework can give rise to a significant fine of the lessor pursuant to Article L.324-1-1 of the tourism code, for instance a fine of up to euros 5,000 in case of failure to make the requested declaration, up to 1 Law n°2016-1321 of 7 Oct. 2016 said « Loi pour une République Numérique » ; Decree n°2017-678 of 28 April 2017 ; law n° 2018-1021 of 23 Nov. 2018 portant évolution du logement, de l'aménagement et du numérique said « Loi ELAN ». 2 However, in a recent case, a French court decided that this limit of 120 days per year could be extended; in that case it appeared that the lessor was travelling more than 8 months per year for professional reasons, and the court decided to disapply the 120 days period. It referred to the exception set out in article 2 of the of the Law n°89-462 of 6 July 1989 which defined the “main residence” by reference to the duration of the stay. Paris, 29 Sept. 2022, n°21/20664. 3 Article L.631-7 French Construction and Housing Code. 4 NB: under French law holiday lettings are considered as a business activity and not as a civil activity (as would be long-term renting), whether this is carried out on a professional or nonprofessional basis.
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