Whether you are a landlord or a tenant, there are rules when it comes to renting out or letting tourist accommodation.
Rent a primary residence
If the accommodation that you plan to rent out to tourists is your main residence, you can rent it freely, without necessarily requesting legal authorization, for a maximum period of 4 months per year. But this is an exception only valid for the owner-occupant only.
Subletting
In the event that you are a tenant, you are legally required to submit a written request to your landlord before you sublet your accommodation. If you do not follow this rule, the lessor is able to terminate your lease agreement, for illegal subletting. On the other hand, if the owner allows you to sublet your house, you must offer exactly the same rent as yours.
The formalities to follow
For your safety, you must also respect some formalities:
- Establish a rental contract
- Complete a registration at the town hall as a tourist furnished rental company
- Declare your activity at the tax office
- Request an authorization from the condominium to rent furnished accommodation
The exceptions
Note that there are special cases, such as cities with more than 200 inhabitants, where it is absolutely necessary to make a declaration of change of use. Indeed in Paris as in Nice, the municipality can consider your accommodation as a commercial space, in the same way as a hotel room. In this case, “compensation” is needed to legalize this change.
Concretely, it is a question of buying back “virtual” square meters of premises transformed into housing in a single geographic area. Generally, these square meters are around 1 euros per square meter, in the center of Paris.
Rental management platforms
In recent years, large cities have also required landlords or tenants wishing to invest in a vacation rental to register on the Internet. This mainly involves posting ads on rental management platforms such as Abritel, Airbnb and others. The goal is to better control the owners of furnished properties, the rules of the 4 month rental, taxation, etc.
Seasonal rentals, however, do not necessarily require insurance. But this can always be integrated into the rental contract as a precaution.
