Energy-inefficient homes and the start of the 2026 academic year: Is renting out a room in your own home the legal solution for landlords?

Since 1 January 2025, the French rental property market has been experiencing unprecedented turbulence. With the implementation of the Climate and Resilience Law, letting entire properties rated G is strictly prohibited for main residence leases. This radical measure aims to eradicate what is commonly known as a "thermal sieve". Facing this situation, many landlords are at an impasse, fearing the upcoming deadlines. At Roomlala, we see the growing anxiety of our community of hosts every day. Fortunately, as the new academic year approaches, a legal and particularly advantageous alternative is emerging: renting a room in a homestay. But how exactly does the regulation apply regarding the 2026 Energy Performance Certificate (DPE)? Is this the miracle 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 in complete security.

Climate Law and thermal sieves: What changes with the 2026 DPE

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

Read also: Rent control 2026: Which new cities are taking the step for the start of the academic year?, Mobility lease 2026: The legal framework for renting your room with total flexibility and Porta 65 housing support in 2026: What young tenants and hosts need to know in Portugal

The notion of a "thermal sieve" in rentals is now at the heart of all property concerns. A property is described as a thermal sieve when it displays excessive energy consumption, resulting in exorbitant heating bills for the tenant and significantly degraded living comfort. The public authorities, via 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 external insulation or to completely change 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 regulations take on their full meaning. Students are the primary victims of this shortage of small spaces (studios and one-bedroom flats), which are historically the worst rated in the DPE. Faced with this alarming finding, 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 a flat rented in its entirety cannot be transposed 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 schedule for rental prohibitions

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

The impact on 2026 student rental regulations

The 2026 student rental regulations are bearing the brunt of these bans. The standard student lease, lasting 9 months, is considered by law to be a main residence lease. Consequently, it is subject to the same energy decency requirements as a standard lease. If you rent an independent studio rated G to a student for the 2026 academic year, you are acting illegally. The entire property must mandatorily 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 properties, even for periods reduced to the academic year.

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

It is in this tense legal context that renting a room in a homestay reveals its full potential. The "homestay" climate law benefits from a specific status, often unknown to the general public. The golden rule to remember is this: renting a room within your main residence is exempt from carrying out 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 overall DPE of your main residence that is authoritative. You do not need to have a surveyor come in to specifically evaluate the student's room. This administrative simplification is a real breath of fresh air for hosts.

Moreover, recent legislative news has strengthened the attractiveness of this model. The "Le Meur" law, promulgated in November 2024, has considerably tightened the rules governing furnished tourist rentals (such as Airbnb), notably by applying quotas and strict DPE obligations to them. However, a homestay room totally escapes this strict definition of a furnished tourist rental. By renting a room within your own main residence, you are not considered an operator of furnished tourist 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 strike 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 remain within the legal bounds. The nature of the rental contract you get your tenant to sign will directly determine the energy rules that will apply to your property. 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 offer. 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 overall property (your house or flat) remains subject to energy decency criteria. In 2026, your overall property must therefore not be rated G. On the other hand, if you opt for short-term rentals (a few weeks, month-by-month outside of a main residence, or occasional professional stays), you circumvent the strict DPE blocks related 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 overall property is subject to the DPE and must not be rated 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): totally escapes the constraints of the DPE and the quotas of the Le Meur law, ideal for thermal sieves.

Let's take the example of Sophie, owner of a house rated G in Lille. She cannot sign a 9-month student lease for the 2026 academic year. 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 law.

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 a homestay room, access to this room must mandatorily be via 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 the outside, the situation changes radically. In the eyes of the law, this room is reclassified as an entire property (an outbuilding or a studio). It immediately loses its protective status as a homestay room and finds itself subject to strict thermal sieve bans. If this outbuilding is rated G, letting it out as a main residence is totally prohibited in 2026. Therefore, ensure that your tenant shares your entrance door and circulates in the common areas of your home.

Mandatory decency criteria for a homestay room

While the regulation is more flexible on energy performance for short-term rentals or rooms smaller than 14 m2, it remains intransigent on basic decency criteria. Renting a room in your own home does not mean renting just anything. The legislator, through the fact sheets on Service-public.fr, imposes strict standards to ensure 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 standard and the easiest to verify.

Besides surface area, the habitability of the room is conditional on indispensable elements of comfort. The room must mandatorily have a window facing the outside, thus ensuring sufficient natural lighting and adequate ventilation to avoid humidity problems. A blind 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 property. 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 – indeed, this is the very principle of homestay accommodation – but they must not be subject to abusive restrictions.

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

• A 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: electricity up to standard and a functional heating system.
• Accessible sanitary facilities: free access to drinking water, toilets and a bathroom.

Let's take a concrete example to illustrate these obligations. Imagine that Marc wishes to rent an old maid's room located under the roof of his house. The room measures 12 m2 on the floor, but because of the roof slope, the area with a height exceeding 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 as is, 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 present no manifest risk to the physical safety or health of the tenant. 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 at ease in their personal space is the guarantee of a serene and successful cohabitation.

2026 Academic year: Combining legal compliance and tax advantages

One of the major assets of renting a room in a homestay, beyond the flexibility regarding the 2026 DPE, lies in its extremely incentive-based taxation. To encourage owners to open their doors and compensate for the student housing crisis, the French State maintains a particularly advantageous income tax exemption scheme. For the 2026 academic year, renting a room in your own home remains fiscally very 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 totally exempt from tax, they must not exceed 206 euros per square metre per year in the Île-de-France region, 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 completely 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 female student. The annual cap 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 a heavily taxed traditional rental.

Finally, keep in mind that these tax advantages are conditional on an accurate 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 upon a tax advisor to secure your approach 100%.

At Roomlala, we are convinced that this legal and tax framework makes the homestay room the solution for the future for owners facing the challenges of energy transition. Not only do you avoid the penalties related to thermal sieves 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 dematerialised 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, while offering a warm and legal living environment to the new generation of students.