Change of use in Lyon: when it is required, and how to get it

What it is

Letting a home to short-stay guests, repeatedly and for short periods, gives it a use other than housing. In Lyon that requires the mayor's authorisation, issued after the district mayor's opinion (article L631-7 of the French Construction and Housing Code).

This authorisation is separate from the registration number. The City keeps repeating it: the number is not an authorisation. See our guide on the registration number.

Your main home is not concerned

The home you live in for at least eight months a year can be let without a change of use. It still needs the online declaration and stays under Lyon's cap of 90 nights a year.

Beyond that cap, or if you do not live there, the rules change entirely.

Lyon's rules, plainly

They come down to four cases, set by the city regulation of 10 July 2023.

• In the city-centre perimeter: compensation from the very first square metre, for everyone. The compensating premises must be inside that perimeter and in the same district.
• Outside it, from 35 sq m up: compensation from the first square metre as well.
• Outside it, under 35 sq m, for an individual: authorisation without compensation, personal, for one property only in the whole city, and for nine years, not renewable.
• For a company: compensation in every case.

The city-centre perimeter is shown on the City's official map. Two buildings a few streets apart can fall under different rules: check the exact address before buying.

What compensation means

Compensating means giving an equivalent floor area back to housing: turning into a home premises that had another use on 1 January 1970 — an office, a shop — and that has never been used as compensation before.

• in the same district;
• of at least equivalent floor area, with a tolerance of 5% at most;
• ground floors are excluded, unless raised;
• the new home must be decent and meet the county health regulation;
• both operations happen at the same time.

Failing that, it is possible to buy commercial-use rights from someone who holds them. And if your flat comes from a split made less than ten years ago, compensation is based on the original lot's area.

The energy performance certificate

Since 21 November 2024, a change of use requires a property rated between A and E. The threshold tightens to D in 2034. A poorly rated home cannot obtain the authorisation, however sound the compensation.

The procedure

The file goes to the City of Lyon housing service, 198 avenue Jean-Jaurès, 69007 Lyon, or by email. It contains the form, the plans, the co-ownership rules, the energy certificate, and the compensation documents where relevant.

Missing documents must be supplied within a month. After that, silence from the administration for two months on a complete file counts as approval. If building work is needed, the planning application runs alongside.

In a co-owned building

The City's authorisation does not settle the co-ownership rules. If they forbid the activity, no authorisation is granted. Since the French law of 19 November 2024, a building whose rules already forbid any commercial activity can ban tourist lettings by a reinforced majority, without needing unanimity.

And in every case the managing agent must be told of your declaration: they put the matter on the agenda of the next general meeting.

What you risk

• up to €100,000 per property converted without authorisation;
• a daily penalty of up to €1,000 per square metre, until the home returns to housing use;
• up to €100,000 as well for anyone assisting the operation — an intermediary, a service provider;
• one year in prison and €80,000 for a false declaration.

The city regulation, written in 2023, still shows €50,000 for the first of these: the law of 19 November 2024 doubled it. It is the law that applies.

That is why we ask, before taking on a property, for your registration number and — if it is not your main home — your authorisation. A provider who looks away takes on its own liability.

And in the neighbouring towns

Lyon's rules stop at the city limits. Villeurbanne, for instance, requires no change of use and asks for a simple declaration form, with no registration number. These rules move fast: call the town hall concerned before you commit.

The tourist tax, on the other hand, is the Metropolis's business everywhere — see our guide.