Paris 90-Night Cap for Principal Residences

Paris principal-residence hosts may let their main home for short stays up to 90 nights under the cap as cut by loi Le Meur from 120 nights. The cap applies to principal residences in Paris, not to every Paris property: second homes follow change-of-use rules instead, and the distinction decides which regime a host must follow. A Paris host should therefore start by classifying the property correctly, then track nights against 90, then keep records that prove the count if the city asks.

The cap's purpose is housing: a main home let for most of the year would cease to function as a main home. Ninety nights leaves room for holidays and work trips away, while preventing a principal residence from becoming a full-time short-let business. Hosts who plan around that purpose, letting while genuinely away, will find the cap workable; hosts who plan to let a principal residence year round will hit it quickly.

A principal residence is the home where the host habitually lives. Evidence typically includes living there for most of the year, having personal and administrative life centred there, and not having another main home. Hosts should not claim principal-residence status for a property they rarely occupy, since the city can test the claim against occupancy, tax and administrative records. Misclassification risks both cap and change-of-use consequences.

Mixed living patterns need honest description. A host who splits time between two homes should identify which is the principal residence on the facts, not on preference, and should seek guidance if the split is close. A property that is genuinely a second home should follow the second-home route, even if that route is more demanding, because the principal-residence cap does not authorise second-home letting.

Count nights let, per property, against 90, and confirm the counting year and any exclusions on the Paris portal before relying on a tracker. A common error is counting nights booked rather than nights let, which overstates use when cancellations occur, or counting calendar nights advertised rather than nights occupied. Another error is starting the year on the wrong date, which can make a host appear under cap in one count and over cap in another. Get the year start and the counting rule in writing from the official source and build the tracker to match.

Track monthly, not annually. A monthly update takes minutes and shows the remaining balance while there is still time to adjust, for example by blocking dates or shifting to longer stays where lawful. An annual count discovered in December leaves no room to adjust and may already show a breach. Keep the tracker with stay records so any night can be traced to a booking reference.

When the tracker approaches 90, block further short-let nights for the counting year on all platforms, and do not take direct bookings that would breach the cap. A cap is a limit, not a target with a grace period, and nights beyond it are breaches even if they were booked in good faith before the count was checked. If bookings already exist that would exceed the cap, seek guidance promptly on how to handle them, rather than letting them run and hoping the count is not checked.

Platforms may also enforce caps through their own systems, by blocking dates or warning hosts. Platform enforcement is a help, not a guarantee: a host who lets through several platforms or directly may exceed the cap even if one platform blocks dates, because no single platform sees the total. The host's own tracker, combining all channels, is the only complete count.

A second home in Paris does not gain 90 nights by calling itself a principal residence. Second homes in Paris face change-of-use authorisation requirements, covered in the second-home guide in this cluster, and letting a second home without that authorisation is a separate breach from exceeding a cap. Hosts with both a principal residence and a second home in Paris need two files, two regimes, and two trackers where applicable.

That separation also affects guests and neighbours. A second home let without authorisation may draw complaints that trigger a city investigation, which will examine classification first. A host who can show correct classification, declaration and cap tracking for a principal residence, or authorisation for a second home, will answer that investigation far more easily than a host whose files blend the two.

Before listing in Paris, confirm classification, declaration and Declaloc number, cap tracker setup, condo and lease permission, and guest information for the building. Before each season, recheck the cap counting rule and the tracker's year start, since city guidance can change. Keep stay-level records for every night, so the cap count is provable, not estimated.

This guide is general information only for Paris principal residences, last verified on 26 October 2026. Verify the current counting rule and city steps on service-public.fr and the Paris official portal before acting, and do not apply Paris rules to another city.