The 90-night cap: renting your primary residence without crossing the line
Renting your primary residence on Airbnb is perfectly legal, but a strict cap limits the number of nights you can offer. Since the Loi Le Meur, that ceiling has tightened and city councils now actively enforce it. Here is how to stay compliant while maximising revenue on the window available to you.
90 nights, not 120: what the Loi Le Meur changed
Your primary residence is the home you occupy at least eight months a year. It can be let as a furnished tourist rental, but only for a limited time. Long capped at 120 days per year, that ceiling dropped to 90 days in every municipality that voted for it under the Loi Le Meur of November 2024. Paris, Lyon, Annecy and most high-demand zones have adopted the lower threshold. Beyond it, the dwelling is reclassified as a secondary residence, triggering the change-of-use requirement and, in many towns, a compensation obligation. The count runs on the calendar year and resets every 1 January. Always check your own municipality's rule: the exact cap and its start date vary from one city to the next.
How the count is actually enforced
The tally is based on nights actually let, not on calendar days blocked. Airbnb and other platforms automatically freeze your calendar once you hit 90 nights when your home is registered as a primary residence in an affected municipality. But the legal responsibility remains yours, especially if you list across several channels: a night sold on Booking and one on Airbnb both count. Since 2025, platforms report the annual night count per dwelling directly to city councils. Exceeding the cap exposes you to a civil fine of up to €10,000 per property. Keep your own consolidated, cross-platform register so you never rely on a single channel's count.
Maximising revenue on just 90 nights
A volume constraint calls for a value strategy. Concentrate your available nights on high-demand periods: school holidays, long weekends, festivals, sporting events, peak lakeside summer or peak mountain winter. Over those windows, aggressive dynamic pricing and a three-to-five-night minimum stay push revenue per night well above average. The goal is not to fill 90 nights at any price, but to sell the 90 most expensive nights of the year. A polished home, professional photography and five-star reviews justify a premium position that more than offsets the volume cap.
How SmartStay protects your cap
We track your consolidated night count across every platform in real time and automatically adjust your calendar so you never exceed your municipality's legal threshold. Our team verifies your council registration, your declaration number and your listing's compliance. We then concentrate your available nights on the most profitable periods through daily dynamic pricing. You delegate compliance and optimisation in a single move, and receive a monthly transfer with a clear breakdown. Staying legal and staying profitable are not conflicting goals: it is precisely our job.
Get a revenue estimate for your primary residence →