Police registration in Morocco: declaring your guests in short-term rentals

In Morocco, what everyone calls the “fiche de police” is the record of the identity of the guests you host. For tourist establishments and the other forms of accommodation covered by law 80-14, the rule is written down: each guest shows an ID and signs an individual accommodation form on arrival, the operator declares their details online the same day and keeps the form for one year.

For a whole apartment rented on Airbnb by a private individual, the answer is less clear. This kind of rental does not clearly fit any category of the law, and some local authorities have set their own instructions, as Marrakech did in early 2025.

This guide separates what is settled from what is not, then gives you a routine so you are never caught off guard.

Information checked in October 2026 against the official texts: law 80-14 on tourist establishments and other forms of tourist accommodation (dahir 1-15-108, Bulletin officiel no. 6404 of 15 October 2015) and its implementing decree 2-23-441.

What law 80-14 says: declare, get it signed, archive

Chapter IV of law 80-14 has three articles on declaring guests. They apply to “any operator of a tourist accommodation establishment or of another form of tourist accommodation”:

• Article 36, the online declaration. Every day, the operator declares the details of their guests to the administration electronically (“télé-déclaration”), on the day of arrival, in compliance with personal data protection law.
• Article 37, the ID and the form. On arrival, the operator must ask guests to show an ID and to fill in and sign an individual accommodation form (“bulletin individuel d'hébergement”), whose template is set by regulation.
• Article 38, archiving. These operators are exempt from the guest register and from handing forms in, as required by the dahir of 11 January 1932 on furnished lets. In return, they archive the forms for one year and keep them available to the national police (DGSN) or the Royal Gendarmerie, on request.

Failing to meet any of these declaration or archiving duties is punishable by one to six months in prison and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 dirhams, or one of the two (article 48). For a repeat offence, the penalties are doubled (article 50).

Note the deadline: the day of arrival, not a batch at the end of the week. And the form is individual: companions count as much as the person who booked.

Who is covered: the clear cases and the grey zone

The clear cases. Law 80-14 covers the tourist accommodation establishments listed in its article 3 (hotel, hotel club, tourist residence, guesthouse or “maison d'hôtes”, riad, kasbah, gîte, pension, campsite) and the “other forms” of article 29: bivouac, alternative accommodation and homestay, where a private individual hosts tourists in the home where they live.

These activities require an authorisation: issued by the governor after provisional classification for a riad or guesthouse; requested from the local authority and valid five years, renewable, for a homestay (decree 2-23-441). If you run an authorised riad or guesthouse, there is no question: guest declaration applies to you.

The grey zone. A whole apartment that is not the owner's home and is rented on Airbnb or Booking.com does not clearly match any of these categories: a homestay assumes the host lives there. That is our reading of the text, and in April 2024, according to the press, the authorities themselves acknowledged that most of these rentals “escape” the tourism code.

Being outside law 80-14 does not mean being outside every rule. A legal expert quoted by Le360 in July 2026 considers that these furnished lets fall under the 1932 dahir, which requires declaring the activity and registering tenants with the security and tax authorities. We have not been able to read that text: treat it as an expert opinion, not a verified rule.

On the ground, instructions also come from the local authority. In Marrakech in January 2025, a commission led by the wilaya asked owners of furnished apartments to have occupants fill in a registration form, to log arrivals and departures like a hotel, and to send this data to the security services or the territorial administration, according to the local press, which cited no legal text. If you rent in Marrakech, start from there. In Agadir, we found no published procedure: ask the local authority for your neighbourhood.

Finally, the framework is moving. In July 2025 the Ministry of Tourism announced an order covering undeclared accommodation, including Airbnb-type rentals; in January 2026 the Housing Secretary of State said decrees limiting short-term rentals outside tourist zones were being prepared. As far as we know, none of these texts had been published by 5 October 2026.

In the grey zone, the prudent position fits in one sentence: collect the same details as an authorised establishment, keep them, and ask the local authority responsible for the property (the caïdat or local administrative office) what it expects from you. A lawyer familiar with tourism can help you settle your case.

The STDN platform: what is confirmed and what is not

Confirmed: there is an online declaration platform for accommodation professionals, STDN (www.stdn.ma), launched in 2019 by the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of the Interior, the DGSN and the Royal Gendarmerie. The site was online on 5 October 2026.

Not confirmed: that a private host without a tourism authorisation can register on it, or must. Nor did we find a national declaration platform open to private hosts. Be wary of articles claiming that every Airbnb host must use STDN: nothing we could verify says so. Without an authorisation, follow the procedure the local authority gives you.

What details to collect for each guest

The law requires an ID and a signed form, but leaves the content of the form to a regulatory template: ask the authority that will receive your declarations for the current version. In practice, collect at least enough to identify each occupant and trace their stay:

• surname and first names, as shown on the ID;
• nationality and date of birth;
• type and number of the document shown (national ID card or passport), with its expiry date;
• country and address of residence, phone or email;
• planned arrival and departure dates, and the unit occupied;
• the same details for each companion, not just the person who booked, and at least the age of children.

Children's ages matter elsewhere too: under-12s are exempt from tourist tax, as our guide to tourist tax in Morocco explains.

Article 36 also requires compliance with personal data protection: ask only for what you need, store IDs in one secure place, and keep passport photos from circulating on the whole team's phones.

A simple routine, from check-in to archive

Declaring is painful at the front door, passports in hand, in front of a tired traveller. It becomes routine when the details arrive before the guest does. A routine that works, authorised property or not:

1. At booking, send an online check-in link: each guest enters their identity and their companions'.
2. 48 hours before arrival, check the file is complete: number of occupants matching the booking, readable IDs, children's ages filled in. Send a reminder if not.
3. On arrival, compare the original ID with the details received and have the form signed if your activity requires it.
4. The same day, make the declaration: online declaration for an authorised establishment, the procedure given by the local authority otherwise.
5. After departure, file the form and the stay's details in one place, searchable by date, and keep them for at least one year.
6. Every quarter, check three random stays: is the file complete, the declaration done, the document findable in two minutes?

RentDari's online check-in handles the first two steps: before arrival it collects the identity and contact details of each guest and their companions, and keeps the file attached to the booking, in the same link as the contract (see our short-term rental contract template). RentDari sends nothing to the police or the commune: it saves you copying passports, and the declaration stays your job. The module is included in every plan, including the Free plan.

Costly mistakes

• Assuming the platform handles it. Law 80-14 puts the duty on the operator. An Airbnb or Booking.com booking is not a declaration.
• Registering only the person who booked. A group of four means four identities to collect.
• Declaring the next day. The text says the day of arrival: prepare a late arrival in the afternoon.
• Archiving nothing. Without an archive, you cannot prove a declaration was made.
• Trusting an “Airbnb law” read on a blog. Many articles announce caps, registration numbers or fines that are not in the texts. Airbnb-specific rules have been announced, not published.

Frequently asked questions

Is the fiche de police mandatory for an apartment rented on Airbnb?

For an authorised establishment or a homestay, yes (articles 36 to 38 of law 80-14). For a whole apartment rented by a private individual, the text is not clear, but some local authorities already require it, as in Marrakech. Collect identities in every case and ask your local authority for the procedure.

What are the penalties for failing to declare?

For operators covered by law 80-14: one to six months in prison and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 dirhams, or one of the two (article 48), doubled for a repeat offence (article 50). We have not verified the penalties that apply outside this law.

Can I register on STDN as a private host?

This is not confirmed. The platform was designed for accommodation professionals: ask your local authority before creating an account.

Should I ask a couple for a marriage certificate?

In 2024, the Minister of Justice stated that no text allows hotels to demand a marriage certificate, and hotels received verbal instructions to that effect. Article 490 of the Penal Code is still cited as a risk, however, and we found nothing specific to private rentals. For a specific case, ask a legal professional.

This article is general information on Moroccan law, current at the date stated; it is not legal advice. For your situation, contact the local authority or a legal professional.