Energy-inefficient properties and the 2026 deadline: Is renting out a room in your own home the legal solution for hosts?

Since 1 January 2025, the French rental property market has been experiencing unprecedented turbulence. With the entry into force of the Climate and Resilience Act, the renting out of entire homes classified as G is strictly prohibited for main residence leases. This radical measure aims to eradicate what is commonly known as an energy-inefficient rental property (passoire thermique). Faced with this situation, many landlords are at a standstill, fearing the upcoming deadlines. At Roomlala, we see the growing concern of our host community on a daily basis. Fortunately, as the student intake approaches, a legal and particularly advantageous alternative is emerging: renting a room as a homestay. But how exactly does the regulation apply in light of the 2026 Energy Performance Certificate (DPE)? Is this the magic solution for continuing to generate rental income without undertaking heavy energy renovation work? We decipher all the legal subtleties of this practice for you in order to support you with complete peace of mind.

Climate Law and energy-inefficient properties: What changes with the 2026 DPE

To fully understand the current challenges, it is essential to return to the foundations of the Climate and Resilience Act. Its objective is clear: to fight against energy poverty by gradually removing the most energy-intensive homes from the rental market. Since the beginning of 2025, it has been formally prohibited to sign a new lease or renew an existing lease for an entire home classified as G on the Energy Performance Certificate (DPE), provided it constitutes the tenant's main residence. This prohibition will extend to homes classified as F from 2028, further increasing the pressure on landlords. The 2026 DPE therefore marks a pivotal period where energy transition is no longer an option but a strict legal obligation for traditional landlords.

See also: Rent controls 2026: Which new cities are taking the step in time for the new term?, 2026 Mobility lease: The legal framework for renting out your room with total flexibility and Porta 65 housing support in 2026: What young tenants and hosts need to know in Portugal

The concept of an energy-inefficient rental property is now at the heart of all property concerns. A property is classified as energy-inefficient when it displays excessive energy consumption, resulting in exorbitant heating bills for the tenant and significantly degraded living comfort. Public authorities, through the Ministry of Ecological Transition, have implemented this restrictive calendar to force renovation. However, this policy of coercion has significant collateral effects. Many small landlords, lacking the financial means to carry out exterior insulation or completely replace their heating system, prefer to withdraw their property from the market. This creates unprecedented rental tension, particularly in large French university cities.

At Roomlala, we observe that this scarcity of supply directly impacts tenants looking for a roof. This is where the 2026 student rental regulation makes sense. Students are the first victims of this shortage of small spaces (studios and one-bedroom flats), which are historically the worst-ranked in the DPE. Faced with this alarming observation, the law has fortunately provided for differentiated legal frameworks depending on the nature of the rental. It is essential to understand that the drastic rules applying to an apartment rented in its entirety are not transferable in the same way when it comes to sharing your own living space. It is this fundamental legal nuance that opens up new perspectives for owner-occupiers.

The strict rental ban calendar

The government calendar leaves no room for doubt. After the rent freeze for energy-inefficient properties (classes F and G) in effect since 2022, the ban on renting out now affects G-rated homes in 2025. In 2028, it will be the turn of homes classified as F, then those classified as E in 2034. This calendar applies relentlessly to entire homes rented unfurnished or furnished as a main residence. For a landlord whose apartment is classified as G today, the year 2026 promises to be a blank year if they do not initiate work. They will not be able to sign a new standard 9-month student lease, nor a renewable one-year lease. The sanction for non-compliance is severe: the tenant can demand a reduction in rent, or even the completion of the work under a court-ordered penalty.

The impact on 2026 student rental regulation

The 2026 student rental regulation is feeling the full force of these bans. The standard 9-month student lease is considered by law as a main residence lease. Consequently, it is subject to the same energy decency requirements as a standard lease. If you rent an independent studio classified as G to a student for the 2026 intake, you are acting illegally. The entire property must necessarily justify a minimum F rating in 2026 for this type of contract. This is a crucial piece of information that we often remind our users of: the protection of the student tenant takes precedence, and the legislator makes no concessions on the energy performance of entire homes, even for durations reduced to the academic year.

Renting a homestay room: An exception to the DPE rule?

It is in this tense legal context that renting a homestay room reveals its full potential. The homestay climate law benefits from a special status, often unknown to the general public. The golden rule to remember is this: the rental of a room within your main residence is exempt from the need for an individual DPE for the room itself, provided that the surface area of the rented room is less than 14 square metres. In this specific case, it is the global DPE of your main residence that counts. You do not need to bring in a surveyor to specifically assess the student's room. This administrative simplification is a real breath of fresh air for hosts.

Furthermore, recent legislative developments have strengthened the attractiveness of this model. The Le Meur law, enacted in November 2024, has considerably tightened the rules governing tourist-furnished accommodation (such as Airbnb), by notably applying quotas and strict DPE obligations to them. However, a homestay room completely escapes this strict definition of tourist-furnished accommodation. By renting a room within your own main residence, you are not considered an operator of tourist-furnished accommodation within the meaning of this new law. This means that for short-term rentals, you are exempt from the new DPE-related rental bans that hit traditional investors. This is a major legal opportunity to generate additional income without being blocked by increasingly punitive local regulations.

At Roomlala, we encourage this practice because it promotes social cohesion and optimises the use of existing built space. Rather than leaving a room empty, the host makes it available to a tenant, thus participating in the collective effort against the housing crisis. However, it is essential to structure your rental project well to stay within the bounds of legality. The nature of the rental contract you have your tenant sign will directly determine the energy rules that will apply to your home. This is not a legal loophole, but an intelligent application of the texts in force, designed to protect the host's home while offering a flexible accommodation solution.

Student lease vs. Short-term rental: What is the difference regarding the DPE?

It is crucial to distinguish the type of lease you are offering. As mentioned previously, if you opt for a standard 9-month student lease, the room becomes the student's main residence. In this scenario, the entire property (your house or apartment) remains subject to energy decency criteria. In 2026, your global property must therefore not be classified as G. On the other hand, if you opt for short-term rentals (a few weeks, month-to-month outside of main residence, or occasional professional stays), you circumvent the strict DPE blocks linked to the main residence.

Here are the major differences to remember according to the type of contract:

• The 9-month student lease: constitutes the main residence. The entire property is subject to the DPE and must not be classified as G in 2026.
• The mobility lease (1 to 10 months): designed for temporary stays, it offers greater flexibility in the face of strict main residence bans.
• Short-term rental (tourist or occasional): completely escapes the constraints of the DPE and the quotas of the Le Meur law, ideal for energy-inefficient properties.

Let's take the example of Sophie, owner of a house classified as G in Lille. She cannot sign a 9-month student lease for the 2026 intake. However, she can absolutely rent her room by the month via Roomlala to workers in training or international students on short language stays, because these contracts do not constitute a main residence within the meaning of the 1989 Act.

Beware of the independent entrance trap

This is one of the major points of vigilance that we insist on at Roomlala. For the room to be legally considered as a homestay room, access to this room must necessarily be through the main entrance of your residence. If you have converted a room on the ground floor or in your garden with an independent entrance door leading directly to the street or outside, the situation changes radically. In the eyes of the law, this room is reclassified as an entire home (an outbuilding or studio). It immediately loses its protective status as a homestay room and finds itself subject to the strict bans on energy-inefficient properties. If this outbuilding is classified as G, renting it out as a main residence is completely prohibited in 2026. Therefore, ensure that your tenant shares your front door and moves through the common areas of your home.

Mandatory decency criteria for a homestay room

While the regulation is more flexible regarding energy performance for short-term rentals or rooms under 14 m2, it remains intransigent on basic decency criteria. Renting a room in your own home does not mean renting out just anything. The legislator, through Service-public.fr, imposes strict standards to guarantee the health and safety of the tenant. As a responsible platform, Roomlala ensures that every listing respects these fundamental prerequisites. The first criterion concerns the dimensions of the room. The rented room must offer a living area of at least 9 square metres, with a ceiling height of at least 2.20 metres. Alternatively, a living volume of 20 cubic metres is tolerated, but the 9 m2 rule remains the most common and easiest to verify.

Beyond surface area, the habitability of the room is conditioned by essential comfort elements. The room must necessarily have a window facing the outside, thus ensuring sufficient natural light and adequate ventilation to avoid humidity problems. A windowless room, even a spacious one, cannot legally be rented as a bedroom. Furthermore, the tenant must have free and permanent access to the essential amenities of your home. This includes access to drinking water, electricity, a functional heating system, as well as decent sanitary facilities (toilet and bathroom). These facilities can be shared with you—in fact, this is the very principle of homestay living—but they must not be subject to abusive restrictions.

To summarise, here are the essential decency criteria for renting your room legally:

• Minimum surface area: at least 9 m2 with a ceiling height of 2.20 m.
• An opening to the outside: mandatory presence of a window for ventilation and natural light.
• Access to utilities: electrical installations up to standard and a functional heating system.
• Accessible sanitary facilities: free access to drinking water, a toilet, and a bathroom.

Let's take a concrete example to illustrate these obligations. Imagine that Marc wants to rent out a former maid's room located under the eaves of his house. The room measures 12 m2 on the floor, but because of the roof slope, the area where the height exceeds 2.20 m is only 7 m2. Legally, this room does not meet the 9 m2 living area criterion (Carrez Law) and therefore cannot be rented in its current state, even if it has a window and electricity. It is the owner's responsibility to ensure the compliance of their property before posting it online.

It is also fundamental to recall that the room must not present any obvious risk to the tenant's physical safety or health. At Roomlala, we insist on the importance of checking the condition of electrical sockets, the absence of pests, and the good sound insulation of the room. A tenant who feels safe and comfortable in their personal space is the guarantee of a serene and successful cohabitation.

2026 Student intake: Combining legal compliance and tax advantages

One of the major assets of renting a homestay room, beyond the flexibility regarding the 2026 DPE, lies in its extremely incentive-based taxation. To encourage owners to open their doors and overcome the student housing crisis, the French state maintains a particularly advantageous income tax exemption scheme. For the 2026 student intake, renting out a room in your own home remains very fiscally attractive, provided that certain annual rent caps are respected. These caps are re-evaluated each year by the tax administration. In 2026, for the rents received to be completely exempt from tax, they must not exceed 206 euros per square metre per year in Île-de-France, and 152 euros per square metre per year in the rest of France.

It is important to understand how this calculation applies to optimise your profitability legally. This cap concerns the rent excluding charges. Let's take a concrete use case: You live in Bordeaux (rest of France) and you rent a 15-square-metre room to a student. The annual ceiling to benefit from the exemption amounts to 15 m2 multiplied by 152 euros, i.e., 2,280 euros per year. This corresponds to a maximum monthly rent excluding charges of 190 euros. If you set your rent at this amount or below, you will not have to pay a single cent of tax on this rental income, and you will not even have to declare it in your standard property income. This is a considerable net financial advantage compared to heavily taxed traditional rentals.

Finally, keep in mind that these tax benefits are conditional on a precise declaration. Even if you are exempt from taxes thanks to compliance with the caps, it is sometimes necessary to mention this income in certain sections of your annual tax return, depending on the evolution of tax forms. We recommend that you always consult the tax notice for the current year or call on a tax advisor to secure your approach 100%.

At Roomlala, we are convinced that this legal and fiscal framework makes the homestay room the solution for the future for owners facing the challenges of the energy transition. Not only do you avoid the sanctions linked to energy-inefficient properties if you opt for the right short-term rental formats, but you also benefit from a significant tax boost. Our platform simplifies all your procedures: from secure connection with trusted tenants to the signing of digital contracts adapted to your specific situation. By anticipating the 2026 DPE rules today, you transform a legislative constraint into a real human and financial opportunity, all while offering a warm and legal living environment to the new generation of students.