Own an apartment on the French Riviera and thinking of letting it to short-stay guests? Before your first booking, three obligations may apply: a declaration to the town hall, a registration number and, depending on your situation, a change-of-use authorisation. None of this is optional, and the rules were tightened considerably on 1 January 2026, especially in Nice. A missing declaration, or no registration number on your listing, can lead to administrative fines and even to the platforms taking your listing down.
This guide cuts through it all. It explains the practical difference between a main residence and a second home (the distinction that changes everything), how the registration number works, how change-of-use authorisation works, Nice's quotas and technical requirements such as the DPE (Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique, the French energy performance certificate). The aim is simple: you'll know exactly what to do, and in what order, before your first guest arrives. If you'd rather hand over the paperwork altogether, that's exactly what we take care of for our owners as part of our short-term rental management service.
Furnished holiday lets (meublés de tourisme): what exactly counts?
A meublé de tourisme (furnished holiday let) is a furnished property let to short-stay guests who don't live there, for a day, a week or a month at a time. That's the definition in the French Tourism Code (Code du tourisme, Article L.324-1-1). In practice, as soon as you let your apartment for short stays on a platform such as Airbnb, Booking or Abritel, you are running a furnished holiday let, whether it's a studio in Nice let for a few weekends or a two-bedroom apartment in Cannes let all summer.
That status comes with a set of baseline obligations that apply across France, and each town adds its own local rules on top. On the French Riviera, the towns under the most pressure (Nice above all) have brought in strict controls. So there are two levels to keep in mind: what applies to everyone, and what depends on your town and the type of property you own.
The basics: declaration, registration number, tourist tax
Three obligations apply to every furnished holiday let, whether it's your main residence or a second home:
- A prior declaration to the town hall, which leads to registration. In towns that require it (Nice and most Riviera tourist towns do), you must declare your furnished let before you start letting.
- The registration number, issued once you've made the declaration. It must appear on every listing, on every platform. Leaving it off is one of the most common reasons for penalties.
- The tourist tax (taxe de séjour), which you collect from guests and pay to the local authority. Platforms often collect it for you, but making sure it's applied correctly is still your responsibility. We explain how it works in our article on tourist tax on the French Riviera.
Main residence or second home: the distinction that changes everything
This is the most important point in the guide, and it decides how much paperwork you face. The rules treat a home you live in for most of the year very differently from a property you own to let out or to use now and then.
A main residence is the home you live in for at least eight months a year (unless work, health or force majeure keeps you away). A second home is any other property: a pied-à-terre, a buy-to-let, an inherited property, a second home you use a few weeks a year.
Main residence: 120 days a year in Nice
If you let your main residence while you're away, a lighter regime applies. In Nice, you can let it to short-stay guests for up to 120 days a year in total, with no change-of-use application. That's the limit set by the regulation adopted by the Metropolitan Council on 22 June 2026; the lower cap brought in at the start of the year no longer applies.
Even under this cap, you still have to declare your furnished let, show your registration number and collect the tourist tax. The cap only exempts you from the change-of-use procedure.
Second home: authorisation from the first night
For a second home, the rules are stricter. In Nice, a change-of-use authorisation is required from the very first night, however many nights you let.
Since June 2026, the authorisation has been granted for 5 years (up from 3 years). The property must have a DPE rating of A to E, meet the decent-housing standard and comply with the building's rules. Beyond that, there are two routes: compensation (converting premises used for something else into housing) and mixed letting (students in winter, holidaymakers in summer), which is exempt from the quotas.
| Criterion | Main residence (Nice) | Second home (Nice) |
|---|---|---|
| Change of use | Not needed up to 120 days a year | Required from the 1st night |
| Letting cap | 120 days a year in total | No cap, authorisation valid 5 years |
| Declaration and registration no. | Required | Required |
| Tourist tax (taxe de séjour) | Required | Required |
| Quotas by zone | Not applicable | Yes, in 4 areas |
The registration number, step by step
The registration number is the cornerstone of compliance. Without it, your listings break the rules and some platforms won't even publish them. Here's how to get one.
- Find your town's online service. In Nice, both the declaration and the change-of-use application go through the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur online service, under “Logement › Changement d'usage” (Housing › Change of use). Other towns (Cannes, Antibes, Cagnes-sur-Mer…) have their own portals.
- Gather your documents. The declarant's ID, the property's exact address, land registry references, the property's status (main residence or second home) and, for a second home in Nice, the technical documents required (DPE, confirmation that the building's rules allow it, etc.).
- Submit the declaration. For a main residence within the 120-day limit, the declaration counts as registration and you're given your number. For a second home, you submit the declaration together with the change-of-use application.
- Show the number on every listing. Each platform has a dedicated field for it. A missing or wrong number is grounds for a penalty in itself.
This paperwork takes time, and a single mistake can delay your first booking by several weeks. Many of our owners leave this part to us: we put the application together, follow it through review and make sure the listings comply. To talk it through, get in touch for an estimate and let us handle the paperwork.
Change-of-use authorisation in Nice: zones, quotas and timetable
For a second home in Nice, change-of-use authorisation isn't just another form to fill in: in some zones, it's capped by quota. The Métropole sets a maximum number of authorisations each year, so owners are genuinely competing for them.
Quota zones
Four areas are affected: Vieux-Nice (Old Town), Riquier, Port and Mont Boron, Centre-Ville and Ouest. For 2026, no more than 691 authorisations will be granted across all four zones. Renewals, mixed letting and applications with compensation are exempt from the quotas.
Application timetable
For 2026, applications in quota zones are open from 1 September to 31 December 2026, online only at changementdusage.fr/nice. Complete, eligible applications are accepted on a first come, first served basis, so getting a complete file in early is still the best strategy. Nice's rules are covered in detail in our article on Airbnb regulations in Nice in 2026.
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Technical requirements for the property
To get change-of-use authorisation for a furnished holiday let in Nice, your property has to meet several technical requirements. In 2026, the one that matters most is energy performance.
- DPE rating of A to E required. To get the authorisation, your property's energy performance certificate (Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique) must be rated between A and E. Poorly insulated properties rated F or G are excluded. From 2034, the bar rises again (A to D). If your property rates poorly, you may need renovation work before you can let it.
- Decent housing. The property must meet the decent-housing standard (Decree 2002-120) and must not be subject to a dangerous-building order or an unfit-for-habitation order.
- Building rules. You must make a sworn statement that short-term furnished letting is allowed under your building's rules (règlement de copropriété). Some buildings ban it outright.
- Whole property only. One authorisation per property, and the whole property must be let (no separate contracts for individual rooms at the same time).
If you're subletting, you need your landlord's written consent and can't charge more than your own rent; subletting social housing (HLM) is strictly prohibited.
A way round the constraints: mixed letting
With change-of-use authorisation for second homes getting harder to obtain, a hybrid approach is catching on: mixed letting. The idea is to let the property to students or tenants on mobility leases for 9 months, then as a short-term holiday let for 3 months in summer (June-July-August or July-August-September). This arrangement, which depends on agreements signed with the City and the Métropole, lets you combine strong summer income with a useful role for the property the rest of the year.
It's an especially good fit for the French Riviera, where student demand is strong out of season and holiday demand soars in summer. We help owners set it up, notably through the bail mobilité (French furnished mobility lease, 1 to 10 months), on which our commission drops to 8%. To compare what your property could earn under each option, our rental income simulator gives you a first estimate in a few clicks.
Penalties for non-compliance
The rules on furnished holiday lets are backed by tough financial penalties. Letting without a declaration, without a registration number or without change-of-use authorisation (for a second home) can lead to administrative fines of several thousand euros per offence. Not showing the registration number on a listing, making a false declaration or going over the 120-day cap for a main residence are all grounds for action.
Checks have been stepped up: platform data is cross-checked, neighbours report lets, and the Mission Protection des Logements carries out inspections. On top of that, the platform may suspend or remove your listing. So compliance isn't just a matter of principle: it's what lets you run your property with peace of mind, for the long term.
Where to start
Before your first booking, work through the right questions in the right order. Is the property my main residence or a second home? Which town is it in, and what are the local rules? If it's a second home in Nice, which zone is it in, and are any authorisations still available? Is my DPE rated E or better? Do my building's rules allow short-term letting?
Once you've answered these, you'll know whether you come under the simple 120-day regime (main residence) or the more demanding change-of-use route (second home). Either way, the declaration, the registration number and the tourist tax remain your three basic obligations.
At Azur Hébergements, we handle all of this paperwork for our owners, alongside full rental management (listings, check-in, cleaning, pricing), for a commission of 20% of rent collected, excl. VAT (24% incl. VAT) on holiday lets, with no hidden fees. If you'd like us to take care of everything, or simply want an estimate of your property's income, let's talk. And for how these obligations apply in Nice specifically, read our full guide to Airbnb regulations in Nice in 2026.
Rules change and vary from town to town: always check what applies with the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur and, for anything tax-related, with your accountant.
Find out more about the change-of-use rules in Nice, our holiday rental management in Nice and our end-to-end holiday let management.
