Guest Declaration for French STR 2026: Mairie Télédéclaration

Guest Declaration for French STR 2026: Mairie Notification and Télédéclaration Rules

Loi Le Meur (Law no. 2024-1039 of 19 November 2024) and EU Regulation 2024/1028 both require French short-term rental hosts to track their rental activity and periodically declare it to the mairie and to the tax authority. From 20 May 2026, the EU regulation applies in full: your property data must be filed and kept up to date via a national téléservice, platforms transmit your booking activity to the authorities every month, and undeclared or misdeclared activity exposes you to fines that can reach around 10,000 EUR. This guide explains exactly what a foreign owner must declare, to whom, when, and how to do it all remotely.

Many UK and US owners assume that once they have obtained the numéro d'enregistrement, the paperwork is finished. It is not. The initial déclaration en mairie is only the entry ticket. In 2026 the French system rests on continuous reporting: the mairie wants to know how many nights you rent, the DGFiP (French tax authority) wants your gross income, the commune wants its taxe de séjour, and the new EU single digital entry point wants your property data refreshed every year. Each layer has its own deadline and its own penalty.

The Three Layers of Declaration in France

What English speakers loosely call "guest declaration" covers three separate French obligations. Confusing them is the most common compliance mistake foreign owners make:

Obligation	Who receives it	Frequency	Typical sanction
Déclaration en mairie (numéro d'enregistrement)	Mairie (town hall)	Once, then updated when data changes	Up to 5,000 EUR per dwelling
Télédéclaration of rental activity (nights, periods)	Mairie / national téléservice	Annual, or on request within set deadline	Up to around 10,000 EUR for non-disclosure
Income declaration (CERFA 2042 C Pro / 2042 NR)	DGFiP	Annual (May-June filing)	10% surcharge plus interest, audit risk
Taxe de séjour collection and remittance	Commune	Per stay; remitted per commune schedule	Back-payment plus penalties
Fiche individuelle de police (foreign guests)	Kept on file for authorities	Each check-in of a non-French guest	Administrative sanction on inspection

Note that France, unlike Spain or Italy, does not require you to register every guest with the national police through an online portal. The French fiche individuelle de police applies to foreign guests and is kept by the operator rather than transmitted automatically, but the trend under EU Regulation 2024/1028 is clearly towards more systematic data flows, so keep a clean guest register from day one.

What Loi Le Meur Changed About Reporting

Before the Loi Le Meur, the numéro d'enregistrement was mandatory only in communes that had opted in. The law reversed the default: every commune must enforce the registration regime by the end of 2026 unless the municipal council explicitly opts out. In parallel, the law strengthened the mairie's information powers. The mairie can now demand from any host a statement of the number of nights the property was rented during the current and previous year, and you must answer within the deadline stated in the request (typically one month).

This nights count is not a formality. It is how communes police the 120-night annual cap on residence principale rentals, lowered to 90 nights in Paris from 1 January 2026 and expected to be lowered in Lyon, Bordeaux, Annecy and other tension-zone communes. For a foreign owner, the property is almost always a residence secondaire, so the cap itself usually does not apply to you, but the reporting obligation does: if the mairie asks for your rental calendar, silence or a false answer is what triggers the fine, not the volume of rentals itself.

EU Regulation 2024/1028: Full Application From 20 May 2026

Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 on data collection and sharing for short-term rental services was adopted in April 2024 with a 24-month transition. From 20 May 2026 it applies in full across all 27 member states. For France this means:

• Single data sheet: each property has one harmonised file containing the host's identity, the exact address, GPS coordinates, property type, capacity (beds, bedrooms, bathrooms), surface in m², amenities, the 13-character numéro d'enregistrement and, where relevant, the Atout France classement.
• Annual update: the data sheet must be refreshed at least once a year via the national téléservice. Letting it go stale is itself a sanctionable breach.
• Data consistency: the capacity, surface and amenities you show on Airbnb must match what you show on Booking.com and what is on file with the authorities. Mismatches are flagged automatically.
• Platform reporting: Airbnb, Booking.com, Abritel/Vrbo and the other platforms transmit monthly activity data (nights booked, guest numbers per stay) to the national authority, which in France is coordinated by the DGCCRF with interconnection to the DGFiP and the mairies.
• 48-hour takedown: listings without a valid registration number are removed within 48 hours of detection.

The practical consequence for you: the authorities no longer depend on your honesty to know your rental activity. The platforms tell them. Your job is to make sure your own declarations match what the platforms report.

How to File the Télédéclaration Remotely

The initial déclaration and subsequent updates are filed online in virtually every enforcing commune. Paris, Lyon, Nice and Marseille each run their own portal; smaller communes increasingly plug into the shared national téléservice being deployed for the EU regulation. The interfaces are French-only, so a non-resident owner has two options: work through the forms with translation support, or appoint a French mandataire with a simple power of attorney.

Have the following ready before you start:

• Your SIRET number (obtained via the INPI Guichet Unique, free of charge, 10 to 30 working days)
• Your numéro d'enregistrement and the date it was issued
• The cadastral reference of the property (from cadastre.gouv.fr)
• Surface, number of rooms, maximum guest capacity
• Your DPE rating and the certificate date (10-year validity)
• The rental calendar for the reporting period: dates, number of nights, number of guests per stay

A French phone number for SMS verification is often needed. A virtual French number from a VoIP provider works. Keep PDF confirmations of every filing; in a dispute, the burden of proving you declared on time is effectively on you.

The Guest Register: What Data You Must Keep

Even though France does not operate a real-time police check-in portal for STR, you should maintain a guest register that lets you answer any mairie or DGFiP request within the deadline. For each stay, record:

• Arrival and departure dates and total nights
• Number of adults and number of children (children are usually exempt from taxe de séjour)
• Lead guest name and, for foreign guests, the data required on the fiche individuelle de police (identity, nationality, date of birth)
• Booking platform and gross amount received
• Taxe de séjour collected (or a note that the platform collected it automatically)

If you use a channel manager or PMS (Smoobu, Lodgify, Beds24 and similar tools), most of this register builds itself from the booking data. Export it once a quarter and archive it. Keep records for at least three years, which matches the standard French tax reassessment window, and longer if you file under the régime réel.

Taxe de Séjour: The Declaration Most Owners Get Wrong

The taxe de séjour is a per-person, per-night tourist tax set by each commune. On Airbnb it is collected and remitted automatically in most French municipalities. On Booking.com and on direct bookings, collection is often your responsibility. Two traps catch foreign owners:

• Mixed channels: if Airbnb remits automatically but you also take direct bookings, you must still declare and remit the tax for the direct stays. A nil or partial declaration when the commune can see platform activity is an audit flag.
• Classement changes: the rate depends on your classement category. If you obtain or lose stars, the applicable rate changes and your declaration must reflect it from the effective date.

Remittance schedules vary by commune, commonly quarterly or twice per year. The commune's portal generates a declaration form listing nights and guests; the figures must reconcile with your guest register and with what the platforms report under the EU regulation.

Fines and Enforcement in 2026

The enforcement picture has hardened considerably. The figures below combine the Code du tourisme sanctions with the new EU-derived penalties applied through the DGCCRF:

• Renting without a numéro in an enforcing commune: up to 5,000 EUR per dwelling.
• Failing to answer a mairie request for your nights count, or providing false information: fines in the range of 10,000 EUR for non-disclosure. This is the sanction that specifically targets the reporting obligation rather than the registration itself.
• Listing with an invalid or missing number after 20 May 2026: platform takedown within 48 hours, plus DGCCRF fines per non-compliant listing that can reach five figures.
• Incorrect data in the single data sheet: per-property fines, with the amount scaled to the seriousness of the discrepancy.
• Income under-declaration: DGFiP cross-references DAC7 platform reports (threshold: 2,000 EUR or 30 transactions per year) against your CERFA filing. Discrepancies trigger a 10% surcharge, late interest and potentially a full audit.

A Remote Owner's Annual Declaration Calendar

Put these on a recurring calendar and delegate the on-the-ground parts to your conciergerie or mandataire:

• January: collect the annual income statements Airbnb and Booking.com send under DAC7. Reconcile against your own register.
• Per commune schedule (often quarterly): taxe de séjour declaration and remittance for non-platform bookings.
• Before 20 May: annual update of the single data sheet on the national téléservice; verify the numéro displays correctly on every platform.
• May-June: income tax filing (CERFA 2042 C Pro, or 2042 NR for non-residents), micro-BIC or régime réel.
• On any mairie request: respond with your nights count within the stated deadline, never ignore the letter.
• On any change: capacity, surface, ownership or classement changes must be notified to the mairie promptly, not at the next annual update.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to declare every individual guest to the mairie?

No. The mairie declaration concerns the property and the rental activity (nights, periods), not each guest identity. Guest-level data lives in your own register and, for foreign guests, on the fiche individuelle de police kept on file. What you must be able to do is answer an official request for your rental figures accurately and on time.

My commune never enforced registration. Am I exempt from all of this?

Not for long. Loi Le Meur makes the registration regime the default in every commune by the end of 2026, and the EU single data sheet applies regardless. The DGFiP income declaration and DAC7 cross-checks already apply everywhere.

Can Airbnb's automatic reporting replace my own declarations?

No. Platform reporting is a control mechanism for the authorities, not a filing made on your behalf. You remain personally responsible for the mairie télédéclaration, the taxe de séjour remittance where applicable, and the annual income return. The platform data is what your declarations are checked against.

What happens if my declared nights differ from what the platform reported?

Small, explainable differences (a cancelled stay, a direct booking) are normal, which is why your register matters. Large unexplained gaps invite a mairie information request and a possible DGFiP audit. Reconcile the figures before you file, not after the letter arrives.

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