Published 4 October 2026, updated 23 October 2026. The short answer: in Nice, anyone who lets a furnished tourist rental must declare it before the first stay and obtain a registration number, whether the home is a main residence or a second home, and whether it is star-classified or not. The number is requested online, on the tourist-tax portal of the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur, and it must appear on every listing. This note takes up, for Nice only, what we verified on 3 October 2026 in our guide to the 2026 rules, town by town. It replaces neither the town hall, nor the Métropole, nor legal advice: the home’s compliance remains the owner’s.
Who needs a registration number in Nice?
Everyone who lets a meublé de tourisme. The definition comes from the French tourism code (article L. 324-1-1, I): a furnished home let to passing guests by the night, week or month, who do not make it their residence. The same guest cannot stay more than 90 consecutive days, the maximum length of a seasonal let (law no. 70-9 of 2 January 1970, article 1-1). A flat offered on Airbnb or Booking for short stays falls within that definition.
The rule has no exception: every tourist rental, classified or not, main residence included, must be declared to the town before the first stay. The law of 19 November 2024, known as the “Le Meur law”, extended declaration with a registration number to the whole of France, by 20 May 2026 at the latest. An owner who lets the home they live in for only a few weeks a year is therefore concerned, just like one who lets a second home all season.
Main residence or second home: what difference does it make?
For the number, none: it is required in both cases. What changes is everything around it.
A main residence is the home you occupy at least eight months a year. In Nice it may be let as a tourist rental for 120 days a year at most since 1 September 2026, without a change-of-use authorisation. That is the national rule, 120 days per calendar year: the 2024 law allows towns to lower it to 90, and Nice did so from 1 January to 31 August 2026 (city council decision no. 1.6 of 23 May 2025), before returning to 120 days by decision no. 5.2 of 19 June 2026. How 2026 is counted is to be checked with the town.
A second home needs, on top of the number, a temporary change-of-use authorisation issued by the Métropole. There is one per owner and per tax household; it is valid five years, non-renewable and non-transferable to another property. Beyond that, the options are compensation or the “mixed letting” scheme. The file requires an energy certificate (DPE) less than ten years old, issued after 30 June 2021, rated A to E (A to D from 2034).
One point is often confused: the registration number and the change-of-use authorisation are two separate things. Holding one does not replace the other.
How is it done?
In Nice, the registration number is obtained on the tourist-tax portal of the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur, which handles the tourist tax and the registration numbers of its towns on a single portal: taxedesejour.ofeaweb.fr/ts/metropole-nca, under “My accommodation” (Mes hébergements), then “Create a number” (Créer un numéro). The same portal is used for the three yearly tourist-tax declarations.
The number has 13 characters. It goes on every listing, on every platform; the platforms remove listings without one.
For a second home, the change-of-use authorisation is requested from the Métropole, whose page on the procedure for individuals (in French) is our source for the above. We do not list the supporting documents or the steps of the file here: the Métropole is the authority, and the question should be put to it.
If the home is in a co-owned building, two precautions are added. Read the building’s rules first, because a “bourgeois occupancy” clause or a ban on any commercial activity can close the door. And a co-owner who declares a tourist rental must inform the managing agent; the subject then goes on the agenda of the next general meeting.
What changes in 2026?
A good deal in a single year, which explains the questions we receive.
- The main-residence ceiling in Nice went down to 90 days a year on 1 January 2026, then back to 120 days on 1 September 2026 (decision no. 5.2 of 19 June 2026).
- Declaration with a registration number is extended to the whole of France, by 20 May 2026 at the latest. The fine for failing to declare, €5,000 at most before May 2026, can now reach €10,000.
- A national online service is due to issue the number in time; it is announced, depending on the town, for the last quarter of 2026. Until then each town keeps its own procedure, and numbers already issued remain valid.
- The 2026 change-of-use regulation (decision no. 2.1 of 22 June 2026) puts four districts of Nice under quota: Vieux-Nice, Riquier – Port – Mont Boron, Centre-Ville and Ouest. It provides for 691 authorisations for 2026, and first applications are accepted only from 1 September to 31 December 2026.
For the owner of a second home in one of those four districts, the calendar therefore matters as much as the file.
What are the penalties without a number, or beyond the ceiling?
The penalties are set by the national texts. These are maximum amounts.
| Breach | Penalty |
|---|---|
| No declaration with registration | Administrative fine up to €10,000 (€5,000 before May 2026) |
| False declaration or false registration number | Administrative fine up to €20,000 |
| Main residence let beyond the ceiling (120 or 90 days) | Civil fine up to €15,000 |
| Change of use without authorisation | Civil fine up to €100,000 per home, plus a penalty of up to €1,000 per day and per m² for as long as the breach lasts |
The most immediate consequence is simpler: without a number, the platform removes the listing.
Where to check before the home goes online?
Council decisions change, and a dated article is only good for its date. Before letting, check the rule at the source: with Nice town hall or the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur, on the Métropole’s page on tourist rentals, and on the Service-public.fr sheet on turning a second home into a holiday let for the national framework. The links are below; the official pages are in French.
For our part, before a home goes live, we check four points with you — the co-ownership rules, the declaration and the number, the day ceiling or the change of use, the energy certificate — and we tell you whom to ask. We put the registration number on every listing and we keep the calendar so that a main residence stays within its ceiling. We do not file change-of-use applications on your behalf, and we do not give legal or tax advice.
In the other towns, from Villeneuve-Loubet to Cannes, the rules are not the same: they are set out, with their sources, in the guide to the 2026 rules.
Sources
- Law no. 2024-1039 of 19 November 2024 on the local regulation of tourist rentals (Légifrance, in French).
- Service-public.fr, turning a second home into a holiday let, checked 21 May 2026.
- Practical guide 2025 to tourist-rental regulation, Housing ministry, September 2025.
- Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur: tourist rentals, 2026 regulation and decision of 19 June 2026 (120-day ceiling); procedure for individuals; tourist-tax portal.
Further reading: the 2026 rules, town by town · Airbnb management in Nice · what your home could earn.
This note describes the rules as we verified them on 3 October 2026, and on 23 October 2026 for the main-residence ceiling, from the sources cited. It is not legal or tax advice; council decisions change, and every home must be checked with Nice town hall or the Métropole before it is let.