Paris student faces €20,000 Airbnb fine after renting out flat
Court rules internship was not a 'professional obligation'
A student in Paris is facing a €20,000 fine after renting out her apartment while she completed an internship.
The woman, who has not been named, rented out her apartment for longer than allowed under Paris’s strict rules on Airbnb rentals.
She went to Amsterdam for an internship in 2019, and rented out the apartment for 253 nights. In 2020, she travelled to London for a university course, renting out her Paris apartment for 152 nights.
This exceeded the maximum number of nights permitted in the French capital.
Until January 1, 2025, it was illegal to rent out accommodation on Airbnb and similar platforms for more than 120 days a year. The limit has since been reduced to 90 days.
The student had rented out her apartment for a total of 400 nights between 2019 and 2020.
Appeal turns on wording of the law
She was initially taken to court by the City of Paris, but won both in the Paris court and on appeal after arguing that she had a “professional reason” for renting out the property.
However, the City appealed to the Cour de cassation, France’s highest criminal and civil court, arguing that renting out a main residence as a furnished let for more than 90 days per year is punishable by a fine of up to €10,000 per year – €20,000 in the woman’s case.
The decision ultimately came down to language.
The woman had argued a “professional reason” (motif professionnel) but the law requires a “professional obligation” (obligation professionnelle).
The court ruled that she was not legally obligated to take an internship or a course of study, so it was not a professional obligation, unlike, for example, an employee being transferred abroad by their employer.
France tightens tourist rental rules
It comes as France, like many European countries, is toughening regulations on tourist rentals.
Rules that came into force in May 2026 require all furnished holiday lets, such as Airbnbs, to have a registration number from the mairie.
This was not previously compulsory in all communes, although some larger towns and cities had already introduced it.
Paris has also recently cracked down on lockboxes, which are usually placed outside buildings, after similar efforts in Lille (Nord), Annecy (Haute-Savoie), Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine), and Nice (Alpes-Maritimes).
Renters can open lockboxes with a code to access the property’s keys, bypassing the need to meet the owner in person.
The boxes are already technically banned in public spaces in Paris because of their appearance and potential security threat, but this does not appear to have stopped their spread.
