Airbnb 2025: new rules in town

The year 2025 marks a major turning point for short-term rentals in France. After several years of public debate, studies, legislative proposals and complaints from angry local residents, France’s major cities are taking a tougher stance. The aim? Strike a balance between accommodating travelers and maintaining a housing stock that is accessible to residents.

In this article, we take a comprehensive and accessible look at the new Airbnb regulations in 2025, with concrete examples from Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice and other cities. Fasten your seatbelts: even if it’s all very administrative, we’re going to try to make it digestible… and even a little friendly!

• Limit the housing shortage in city centers.
• Prevent the conversion of housing into “quasi-hotels”.
• Controlling the conversion of second homes into furnished tourist accommodation.
• Strengthen tax control, in particular through platform transparency.
• Create a more level playing field for “amateur” hosts versus professionals.

This text, passed at the end of 2024, gives communes more possibilities to regulate meublés de tourisme. In particular, it allows:

• reduce the ceiling from 120 to 90 days for principal residences,
• increase the number of restricted zones,
• introduce quotas or bans according to neighborhood,
• increase penalties.

This law, combined with local political will and geographical contexts, creates a highly heterogeneous landscape from city to city. Paris doesn’t work like Nice, Lyon doesn’t have the same problems as Biarritz, and Marseille has adopted its own logic.

Paris has long been the city symbol of the Airbnb conflict. In 2025, the trend is confirmed: the mayor’s office wants to drastically limit the supply of furnished tourist accommodation to win back housing for its residents.

In Paris, principal residences can now be rented for only 90 days per calendar year.
This is a significant reduction on the 120 days previously authorized.

Because some hosts were skirting the rules by splitting stays, or multiplying declared properties, or using several platforms at once. The city has therefore decided to :

• better cross-referencing of data,
• reinforce automated controls,
• penalize overtaking more quickly.

Since the cap was introduced :

• the number of ads in some arrondissements fell slightly (notably in the 3rd, 4th, 11th and 18th arrondissements),
• of owners have switched to long-term furnished rental, which is more stable,
• some “super-hosts” have had to rethink their business model.

And good news for Parisians: according to several municipal studies, pressure on housing has stabilized slightly in certain neighborhoods.

Lyon has had a fairly strict policy on Airbnb for several years. In 2025, it is further strengthening this approach.

1. Mandatory declaration to the town hall.
2. Obtain a registration number, which must appear on all ads.
3. Mandatory change of use in the case of a second home or a rental exceeding the set limits.
4. Ceilings can be adapted to specific neighborhoods (Presqu’île, Vieux-Lyon, Guillotière, etc.).

The owner of a T1 apartment in Vieux-Lyon wishing to rent out 200 nights a year must :

• request a change of use,
• provide precise supporting documents,
• sometimes compensate by putting another property back on the residential market.

In other words, it’s no longer just a formality.

In Marseille, the municipality has opted for a simple but effective tool: compulsory registration.

All hosts must register their accommodation on the official platform. A unique number is generated, and without it, no advertisement can be legally placed online.

In 2025, the mayor’s office began :

• check declared tourist taxes,
• identify inconsistencies between platforms and municipal registers,
• penalize hosts who fail to meet their obligations.

• Significant professionalization of hosts,
• fewer illegal ads,
• and a better perception of the phenomenon by residents, who had previously grown weary of the nuisance.

Each city now adapts its rules to its own context.

Nice has several zones:

• very touristy areas where the change of use is almost systematic,
• buffer zones where the mayor’s office can limit the number of permits,
• quiet” zones where guests have a little more room to maneuver.

Students who temporarily sublet their accommodation must now obtain a specific authorization, valid for one year only.

Between 2018 and 2023, Bordeaux experienced an explosion in tourist rentals.
By 2025, the city :

• imposes quotas,
• prohibits certain conversions of second homes to Airbnb,
• clearly favors residential housing.

As seaside resorts, these towns have had to :

• protect the housing stock for local residents,
• limit the number of new furnished tourist accommodation units,
• impose stricter rules in the most sought-after areas.

Here too, hosts often have to deal with short-term permits, requests for change of use or compensation.

Even if each city has its own specific characteristics, certain rules apply throughout France.

Whether you’re in Marseille, Paris or Nantes, you need to declare your property if you’re renting it out on a short-term basis.

Indispensable for avoiding fines and keeping your ad online.

• 90 days in cities that have adopted the new limits,
• 120 days elsewhere.

It’s the most misunderstood rule… and the most costly if you make a mistake.

• income declaration,
• tourist tax collection,
• greater attention to transparency (platforms transmit data).

Here are a few simple tips to help you continue renting with peace of mind

Rules change quickly, and sometimes from one neighborhood to the next.

A clear timetable, clean accounts and good administrative follow-up can save a lot of trouble.

Fewer nights available?
Bet on :

• a better quality of welcome,
• consistent pricing,
• longer stays.

It’s often a good compromise between :

• profitability,
• tranquility,
• legal compliance.

In 2025, major French cities aren’t looking to eliminate Airbnb rentals, but to frame them.
For hosts, this means less improvisation and more structure – sometimes restrictive, but also clearer.

One thing’s for sure: vacation rentals are not dead. It’s evolving.
And those who adapt now will continue to welcome travelers and tourists… legally and without unpleasant surprises in the mailbox.