In just a few years Airbnb has become a dominant platform in the holiday rental market. As we have demonstrated in our study on Airbnb France, the Airbnb market is experiencing very strong growth in France.
What are the benefits of letting your apartment or house through Airbnb?
Letting your apartment or house on Airbnb enables you to generate more rental income and this is why an increasing number of owners are letting their property on Airbnb.
Indeed, letting through Airbnb enables you to generate more rental income, whether this is for owners who leave their main residence to go on holiday or for those who let a second home year-round. It is for this simple and good reason that an increasing number of owners are letting out their property on Airbnb.
Letting my apartment or house through Airbnb
Holiday rentals management can be time-consuming and represents a considerable amount of work.
This explains the existence of Airbnb management services for holiday rentals. It can be a smart move to assign the management of your property over to an Airbnb management service who will ensure they look after your guests and any logistics related to the reservations.
This is precisely what we offer at BnbLord: we manage apartments let through Airbnb, whether this is in France in the Alps, Biarritz (Basque Coast), Bordeaux (Aquitaine Region), Lyon, Marseilles, Montpellier, Paris, Strasbourg or Toulouse, or even Portugal in Lisbon and Porto.
Is it legal to let your entire property on Airbnb?
French legislation is not so restrictive, in fact, far from it! Let's examine the situation. By letting out your entire property on Airbnb, you enter the category of "tourist accommodation", which concerns furnished houses, resorts, apartments and studios let to a transient customer base. There are several different scenarios we can look at:
Letting your main residence on Airbnb
A main residence in Belleville, Paris, managed by BnbLord.
A main residence, or primary residence, is defined as accommodation that is occupied for at least 8 months of the year, excluding professional obligations, force majeure or health problems.
There is no declaration to be made to the council in this case and it is completely legal to let your property through Airbnb, in Paris and elsewhere.
Letting your second home in Paris
A second home in the Latin Quarter, Paris, let through our service.
Letting a second home year-round on Airbnb, whether a pied-à-terre or a rental investment, is completely legal in the vast majority of French towns and cities. In fact, there are only two real exceptions, which are Paris and Strasbourg.
Letting your second home in Paris through Airbnb
In Paris, legally letting out a second home during the holiday season implies, at least in theory, a change in use of your property so that, from an administrative perspective, it becomes a commercial space.
The process for a change in use consists of purchasing what is called a "commerciality" for your accommodation. The commerciality consists of compensating for the loss of available space in the residential rental market - since you are putting your property up for holiday lets - by purchasing space from those who are doing the opposite and are transforming commercial space into housing.
We explain on our blog what commerciality is and why it is strategic to acquire it.
In practice, few owners undertake this process because, at first glance, the cost appears too great. This can be true, depending on the arrondissement, but this does not take account of the fact that holiday lettings also enable you to generate more rental income, more than double on average in Paris, and that the cost of the commerciality is relative. Everything is a question of ratios
Furthermore, if your profitability is higher during the holiday season, it will be more likely that, if you decide to put your property up for sale, you can do so at premium because it will be that much more appealing to potential investors in the property market. Our last legal Airbnb, which has a commerciality in place, sold in less than 2 weeks! We recommend you adhere to municipal regulations and invest in the change of use if your property has good potential for holiday lettings. BnbLord can support you in completing the process, so don't hesitate to contact us!
Letting your second home in Strasbourg through Airbnb
In Strasbourg, legally letting your second home to tourists requires a co-ownership authorisation. After the third residential property put up for tourist rentals, the principle of compensation applies.
We invite you to consult the very thorough and easy-to-follow guide which Strasbourg town council has produced on this subject.
Letting a commercial premises or offices through Airbnb
A commercial premises reconfigured into an apartment and managed by BnbLord.
The rental of offices or commercial premises that have been transformed into accommodation for holiday lettings is being used increasingly as an investment tool. It is completely legal and simply requires a change of purpose.
This strategy can be a smart move, in particular if you do have investment in mind. We are finding that an increasing number of actors in the property sector in Paris are buying up commercial spaces, open floor areas, hotels or office buildings to turn them into apartments. These operations are more profitable than investing with the aim of creating standard rental agreements and mean that paying compensation or purchasing a commerciality is avoided.
Letting a room on Airbnb
A room near the Eiffel Tower managed on Airbnb by BnbLord.
French legislation is relatively flexible around Airbnb and letting a room in your home never implies any particular specific constraints. It is worth noting that letting a room on Airbnb is almost as profitable as letting a studio, so if this interests you then delay no more!
Letting on Airbnb is possible, profitable and mostly legal so why not give it a try through BnbLord? Find out more about our Airbnb rental management offer!