Apartment Leases in France: What Tenants Need to Focus On

After signing a contract with your French landlord, both parties are bound by legal rights and responsibilities outlined by law. The good news is that the legal system is highly tenant-friendly. 

The rental contract covers all aspects, such as the length of your lease, your responsibilities and entitlements clauses regarding rent and security deposit, and penalties for any breaches of the agreement. Therefore, reviewing and comprehending all terms before signing the rental contract is crucial.

In France, a typical rental contract includes:

• • Names of tenant and landlord;

• • Address of the rented apartment;

• • If booked from the agency, the address of the rental agency;

• • Start and end date of the contract;

• • Contract renewal possibilities;

• • Obligations and responsibilities of tenant and landlord;

• • Rent and deposit;

• • Insurance information;

• • A clause about rent increase;

• • Clauses about fines;

• • Bank address to pay the rent;

• • Inventory of the apartment;

• • Utility information (if it’s included in the rent);

• • Check-in and check-out information;

• • Information on notice periods for ending the contract.

Types of leases for furnished rentals

When renting an apartment in France, it’s essential to understand the type of lease you’re entering into.

There are different types of leases for apartments. Here are some common ones you may come across:

1. The furnished residential lease (Bail habitation meublé)

This lease type applies when you plan to use the apartment as your primary residence, i.e., to live in the property. Usually, the contract automatically renews after each term. You can legally end the lease only if you decide to do so or if the landlord provides a good reason. Tenants sign this lease for a minimum of one year.

2. The unfurnished rental lease

It is considered unfurnished if a rental property lacks the necessary amenities to enable its occupants to eat, sleep, and live decently and properly in the demands of everyday life.

An unfurnished property has a three-year period if the owner is an individual or family. In the following cases, the lease may be shorter (minimum 12 months):

• • The tenant is a student.

• • The renter moved temporarily because of changes at work.

• • The renter is retired.

• • The lessee is expected to vacate.

3. The student lease (Bail d’étudiant)

This is a type of bail habitation meublé lease.

 Landlords and students can reduce the minimum term from a year to nine months when they sign a lease.

4. A Bail Mobilité 

Bail Mobilité, or the Mobility Lease, is a rental contract that covers only a short tenancy period. You can use it for as little as one month and up to ten months. This lease is for people visiting France temporarily for employment or study.

Please keep in mind that Bail Mobilité is not the same as tourist-oriented vacation rentals (like Airbnb).

It is an excellent substitute for the typical French rental leases, which last for nine months for short-term and twelve months for long-term rentals.

Nevertheless, unlike regular rental leases, mobility leases are not renewable after the first ten months. If the tenant requests an extended stay in the property, the landlord must offer a standard long-term rental lease instead.

Mobility leases can be extended as long as the total term is under ten months. For example, if a renter with a Mobility lease rents an apartment for five months and wants to stay an additional three months, he can do so, provided the landlord permits it. In this instance, the landlord extends the Mobility lease.

However, if the tenant wanted to stay for an additional six months or eleven months, that would not be possible.

Prospective tenants who can benefit from the mobility lease have to prove that they are:

• • In vocational training;

• • Within higher education;

• • In an apprenticeship contract;

• • In internship;

• • Enclosed by voluntary enlistment as part of a civic service;

• • On a professional transfer or temporary assignment (temporary workers or seasonal workers).

5. A Civil Code lease 

A Civil Code Lease is a lease based on the French Civil Code’s requirements. This type of lease can be exempt from numerous regulations, making it less strictly regulated than conventional leases. Also, you can use it only for your secondary residence.

The Civil Code lease applies to individuals seeking to rent a pied-à-terre or second home. Still, companies can also use it to rent for corporate purposes or provide housing for their employees. In this instance, the lease is called a company lease (bail de société).
This lease is of interest to embassies frequently.

 6. Holiday Lease

This is mainly for vacation rentals that are short-term or Airbnb-style rentals.
It is non-renewable and has a maximum duration of 120 days or roughly four months. Furthermore, because this lease is date-to-date, you may prolong it, if necessary, provided it doesn’t exceed ninety days beyond the initial expiration date.

Section 2: Terms in Rental Contract

If the property is the tenant’s primary residence, a formal tenancy agreement, or a contrat de location or bail, is required.
Certain clauses are obligatory in a tenancy agreement.

1. The lease agreement needs to include the tenant’s name and property information, the start and end dates of the tenancy, the kind of property usage, the rent and deposit amounts, and the property size (only for unfurnished rentals).

2. The lease agreement also specifies the day the tenant pays the rent.

3. Furthermore, the landlord has to include a technical report on the rental and a Dossier de Diagnostic Technique (DDT). The DDT also includes the apartment’s energy performance report, or diagnostic de performance énergétique (DPE). The report should cover the overall condition of the electrical installation. Failing to do so could result in a fine.

Learn more details on the preparation of a French tenancy agreement.

Security deposit

The landlord usually demands a damage deposit, which can offset the property’s dilapidations and rent arrears.

This damage deposit is as a dépôt de garantie.

The law regulates the amount of the deposit: it is one month’s rent for unfurnished properties and two months’ rent for furnished flats.

Your landlord will ask you to pay a security deposit after you sign your rental contract and before you move in.

Unless otherwise stated, the tenant can’t use the deposit to pay last month’s rent.

You will receive your security deposit 60 days after moving out unless the property is damaged, in which case the landlord will retain the deposit to pay for the costs.

What are the differences between a deposit and a security deposit in the case of rental?

The deposit is an amount that the guarantor will pay in case the tenant fails to pay, and it is not refundable.

The tenant, not his guarantor, pays the security deposit. The landlord collects this sum at the lease’s signing and returns it to the tenant.

Forbidden clauses

A surprising number of clauses are forbidden by law, such as requiring tenants to pay their rent by standing order or directly from their salaries and any requirement to take out an insurance policy that the landlord suggests.

Additionally, it is against the law for a landlord to turn away pets from a vacation rental or an annual tenancy.

Legally, a contract must specify the rent and other charges that are due each month. In addition to rent, fees are paid for services like trash disposal, common area cleaning, and water and heating.

Receiving a RIB from your landlord and setting up a monthly direct debit is an easy way to pay your rent. The document includes your account information and the national bank account ID, also known as the RIB number, and is referred to as your banking ID details or Relevé d’Identité Bancaire (RIB).

Want to know what should not be in lease? Check out this detailed guide Prohibited clauses in residential lease.

Note: If you specifically request one, your landlord must provide you with a quittance de loyer (rent receipt). In France, the renter may request that the landlord provide a rent receipt. The rent receipt serves as evidence of payment, proving that you paid the rent on schedule and were not in arrears.

Many tenants are unaware of their rights when signing a rental agreement, sometimes leading to their signing something unfair or illegal. So, we’ve assembled a guide outlining every tenant’s rights in France.

Duration of rental agreement in France

Generally, you can rent furnished flats for up to a year through short-term contracts. Unfurnished apartments need long-term rental agreements of a minimum of three years from an individual landlord or six years from a firm. Contracts for student rentals may be for the entire academic year.

Tenancy agreement renewal

As the lease’s expiration date draws near, you might wonder, “What now?” If your contract allows renewals, you can extend your stay. The lease can easily be renewed if neither party doesn’t want to cancel the tenancy—unfurnished rentals for an additional three or six years and furnished leases for one more year.

Even after your lease has ended, you are entitled to continue living in the property if the landlord hasn’t given you six months’ notice. In this instance, there is no need to draft a new contract because your current one will automatically renew for the duration of your original contract, and there’s no need to prepare a new one.

Rent increases

Are you aware of how rent adjustments work in France? Landlords might be able to increase rent each year, but only if they adhere to government guidelines