Leaving a French rental property can become financially frustrating when a landlord keeps part or all of the rental deposit for marks, repainting, cleaning, a damaged appliance or an unexplained “repair”. For a British tenant, the dispute is often made harder by a move back to the United Kingdom, unfamiliar French documents, a closed French bank account and correspondence that gives a figure without showing how it was calculated. The label used by the landlord does not settle the issue: ordinary ageing is not automatically tenant-caused damage.

The French terms matter. A dépôt de garantie is the rental deposit. An état des lieux is the condition report made when the keys are handed over and returned. Vétusté means deterioration caused by normal use and the passage of time. The legal analysis turns on the lease, the entry and exit reports, the date the keys were returned, the cause of each defect, the age of each item, and reliable evidence of the reasonable cost of repair.

This guide focuses on a British person who rented a home in France, has returned the keys, and is challenging a deduction said to relate to wear and tear or damage. It explains how the deadlines work, what a landlord should prove, how to build an evidence bundle, and how to use a formal demand, conciliation and court proceedings if necessary. It does not cover the purchase of French property or company structures.

I. Can a French landlord keep a British tenant’s rental deposit for wear and tear?

A. What deadline applies, and what may be deducted from the deposit?

The first question is what the deposit was intended to secure. A rental deposit is not a final rent instalment and it is not a general fund for improving the property. It can be used for sums that the tenant genuinely owes under the lease or under the applicable law, including properly established rent or recoverable charges, and for tenant-caused damage. The amount retained must still be connected to a real obligation and supported by material that allows the tenant, an adviser or a judge to understand the calculation.

For an unfurnished home let as a main residence, article 22 of Act no. 89-462 of 6 July 1989 governs the deposit and its return. The French Act is commonly called the loi du 6 juillet 1989. The provision requires amounts retained to be properly supported, using the words sous réserve qu’elles soient dûment justifiées. In English, a deduction must be duly justified. A bare statement such as “redecoration”, a rounded estimate or a photograph without a comparison does not, by itself, explain why a particular sum is due.

The standard return periods are important. If the exit condition report conforms to the entry condition report, the landlord normally has one month from the return of the keys. If the two reports show differences, the normal period is two months. The longer period does not give the landlord an automatic right to retain the whole deposit without an account. The landlord should identify the difference, explain why it is the tenant’s responsibility, and provide a reliable basis for the amount claimed.

Article 22 also deals with collective-building charges. Where the property is in a co-owned building, the landlord may retain a provision within the statutory limit for the later reconciliation of charges, then regularise the account after the building accounts are approved. That mechanism concerns an anticipated charge reconciliation. It should not be used as a substitute for a damage calculation. A tenant should ask whether the sum is a charge provision, an unpaid rent balance, a repair deduction or a combination, because each category calls for different documents.

Late return has a separate consequence. The same article provides: À défaut de restitution dans les délais prévus, le dépôt de garantie restant dû au locataire est majoré d’une somme égale à 10 % du loyer mensuel en principal, pour chaque période mensuelle commencée en retard. The English meaning is that the deposit still owed to the tenant is increased by 10% of the monthly rent excluding charges for every commenced month of delay. The calculation is not a licence to claim 10% of an amount that was lawfully retained. It applies to the balance that should have been returned, subject to the statutory conditions.

The tenant’s forwarding address matters. The statutory increase may not apply in the usual way if the tenant failed to provide a new address. A British tenant who leaves France should therefore keep proof that the landlord received the UK address, the address of an agent, or another agreed address for the refund. If the landlord says the money could not be returned, ask when the transfer or postal payment was attempted and to which address. A dispute about the address should be dealt with expressly in the formal demand.

The date of key handover must also be proved. In Cass. 3e civ., 9 July 2020, no. 19-15.927, the official decision record refers to the key handover date as the relevant date, describing it as the seule cette date pouvant établir le retard de ce dernier dans l’exécution de son obligation de restitution du dépôt de garantie. The practical lesson is simple: keep a signed handover receipt, an agency email, a key-return appointment, a recorded delivery receipt, a message acknowledging receipt, or a judicial officer’s report. “I left on 30 June” is weaker than a document showing when the landlord received the keys.

The landlord cannot normally treat the deposit as permission to stop paying rent during the notice period. The official Service-Public.fr guidance on the rental deposit explains that a tenant cannot unilaterally use the deposit to pay the final rent. If the last rent was paid, attach the bank evidence. If rent remains disputed, keep that dispute separate from the alleged damage. A landlord should not use one unexplained total to hide a rent calculation, a charge reconciliation and a repair claim in the same line.

The obligation follows the correct landlord. If the property was sold before the refund became due, identify who owned or managed it at the relevant dates. The decision in Cass. 3e civ., 24 October 2019, no. 18-15.279 is useful when the landlord’s account includes both a deposit and repair sums. The Court criticised an order for return which had not checked whether the sums allegedly owed for rental repairs exceeded the deposit, stating that the lower court had acted sans rechercher, comme il le lui était demandé, si les sommes dues par la locataire au titre des réparations locatives n’excédaient pas le montant du dépôt de garantie. A landlord cannot avoid a proper net calculation by choosing a convenient label.

That does not mean every retention is unlawful. If the tenant damaged a door, broke a fixture, left exceptional waste, or failed to pay an established contractual sum, a deduction may be justified. The question is whether the landlord can show the obligation, causation and amount. A tenant should challenge an unsupported deduction line by line rather than asserting that a landlord is never entitled to retain money.

The lease itself remains relevant. Article 1103 of the Civil Code states: Les contrats légalement formés tiennent lieu de loi à ceux qui les ont faits. In English, a contract lawfully made binds the parties as their law. The lease may contain a furniture inventory, a condition-report annex, a charge provision, an agreed depreciation schedule, or an address for notices. Those clauses cannot displace mandatory housing protections, but they can determine what was promised and what evidence should exist.

If the landlord has retained money because of damp, mould, a leak or a structural problem, examine the landlord’s own obligations. Article 6 of Act no. 89-462 provides that the landlord must deliver a decent home that does not present obvious risks to physical safety or health. Its text begins: Le bailleur est tenu de remettre au locataire un logement décent ne laissant pas apparaître de risques manifestes pouvant porter atteinte à la sécurité physique ou à la santé. A tenant is not responsible for every stain or failed seal merely because it appeared during the tenancy. The cause, notification history, ventilation, building condition and access for repairs may all matter.

The Brexit point is practical rather than a separate damage rule. A British national may now have a French residence status or a short-term tenancy history, but nationality does not convert a French residential deposit dispute into a UK tenancy dispute. The home, lease and landlord are in France, so the French legal framework usually governs the deposit. GOV.UK guidance on living in France is useful for the UK-side consequences of living or returning between the two countries; it does not replace the French rules on the deposit, condition reports or court procedure.

B. How can a tenant distinguish ordinary wear from chargeable damage?

The core document is the état des lieux, meaning the condition report. Under article 3-2 of Act no. 89-462, a condition report is prepared at key handover and return, in the same form and number of copies as the parties, and is established contradictoirement et amiablement par les parties ou par un tiers mandaté par elles. “Contradictoirement” means that both sides can participate and comment. “Amiablement” means that the report is prepared by agreement rather than as a unilateral assertion. If the parties cannot establish it in those conditions, a commissaire de justice, the French judicial officer authorised to make formal reports and serve documents, may be involved under the statutory process.

The entry report is the baseline. The exit report is the comparison. Read them together, preferably in a table with one row for each room and item. A description such as “paint slightly marked” at entry is not equivalent to “large fresh stain requiring full repainting” at exit. “Floor worn” is not equivalent to “three boards broken”. The wording, photographs, dates, signatures and reservations should be read before the landlord’s later invoice.

Ordinary wear and tear is called vétusté. It is deterioration caused by normal use and the passage of time, such as paint losing its brightness, a carpet becoming worn in a normal walkway, a seal becoming brittle, or an old appliance reaching the end of its useful life. Damage is different: a smashed door, a broken window caused by an identifiable incident, an appliance damaged by misuse, or an abnormal stain may be chargeable if the evidence supports the allegation. The distinction is factual, not decided by the landlord’s use of the word “repair”.

The age and starting condition of the item are essential. A landlord who replaces a ten-year-old carpet with a new premium carpet may have improved the property. The tenant should ask for the item’s age, the condition at move-in, the work actually required, the replacement invoice and any depreciation calculation. If a repair rather than replacement would have restored the item, ask why replacement was selected. If a new-for-old replacement is proposed, ask what allowance has been made for the years of prior use.

The grille de vétusté is a depreciation schedule. It may appear in the lease or be adopted through a local or sectoral agreement. It can set an initial life, a starting allowance and a yearly depreciation rate. It is not a universal answer to every dispute, and the actual contract and housing context must be checked. If there is no agreed schedule, the same practical questions remain: how old was the item, how was it maintained, what was its condition at entry, and what reasonable loss did the tenant actually cause?

Article 7 of Act no. 89-462 sets out important tenant duties. It says the tenant must répondre des dégradations et pertes qui surviennent pendant la durée du contrat, subject to exceptions such as force majeure, the landlord’s fault or an unrelated third party. It also requires the tenant to handle routine maintenance and rental repairs, except where the problem results from age, defective construction, a hidden defect, an accidental event or force majeure. The French text distinguishes abnormal deterioration from the ordinary consequences of time.

The Civil Code provides a related rule in article 1732: Il répond des dégradations ou des pertes qui arrivent pendant sa jouissance, à moins qu’il ne prouve qu’elles ont eu lieu sans sa faute. The tenant may need to show that a problem arose without fault, but the landlord still needs to identify the alleged loss and its cost. That rule is not a shortcut to a full refurbishment charge. It must be applied alongside the condition reports, the lease, the tenant’s notifications and the evidence about how the property was used.

Humidity is a common example. If the tenant failed to ventilate a bathroom and left a clearly preventable mark, the landlord may have a case. If the tenant repeatedly reported a leak, the building had a persistent defect, or the damp came from a roof or plumbing failure outside the tenant’s control, the analysis changes. Article 6’s duty to provide decent housing and article 7’s exceptions for age, construction defects and the landlord’s fault should be considered with the photographs and repair history.

Proof of the amount matters as much as proof of the cause. A quote can show an anticipated price; an invoice can show work billed; neither automatically proves that the tenant caused the defect or that the whole amount is recoverable. The official record in Cass. 3e civ., 4 July 2019, no. 18-12.905 reproduces reasoning that deductions for repairs should correspond to a serious assessment and be supported by external documents. The record uses the expression les sommes réclamées à ce titre devant correspondre à une évaluation sérieuse et être étayées par des documents externes. That is a useful evidential standard, but the full facts of the decision must be respected rather than reduced to a promise that every estimate will fail.

In Cass. 3e civ., 22 October 2015, no. 14-19.286, the official decision record discusses the difference between normal deterioration over a long occupation, humidity, and the landlord’s evidence for a claimed loss. The case is a reminder to ask whether the alleged defect is consistent with age and ordinary use. A tenant should not write only “this is wear”; the file should show why the condition is normal for the item’s age, why the entry report matters, or why an external cause is more plausible.

The burden of proof should guide the correspondence. Article 1353 of the Civil Code states: Celui qui réclame l’exécution d’une obligation doit la prouver. Réciproquement, celui qui se prétend libéré doit justifier le paiement ou le fait qui a produit l’extinction de son obligation. A landlord claiming a repair deduction should prove the relevant tenant obligation and the loss. A tenant who says the rent was paid, the damage pre-existed, or the sum was already reimbursed should prove that fact. The strongest challenge therefore identifies the disputed item, points to the document, and states the amount that remains unsupported.

The absence of a jointly signed exit report does not automatically decide the dispute. The parties may still rely on photographs, videos, messages, an agency report, an independent inspection, witness evidence or a commissaire de justice report. However, the evidential uncertainty may increase. A British tenant who has already returned to the UK should preserve original files with their creation dates and metadata where possible. Keep the untouched photograph as well as any cropped copy. A screenshot is useful, but the original message export or cloud record can show when the image was created and sent.

A landlord may also claim for work discovered after the tenant’s departure. Ask when the issue was first seen, who had access to the property, whether contractors entered, whether a new tenant moved in, and whether an owner or agent inspected it before work began. These questions do not prove that the claim is false, but they test causation. The tenant’s responsibility is not an automatic guarantee for every event occurring after the keys were returned.

II. How can a British tenant challenge a rental-deposit deduction in France?

A. Which evidence and formal demand should be sent first?

Begin with a chronology. Record the lease start date, deposit amount, entry-report date, notice date, key-return date, forwarding-address date, last rent payment, deadline for the refund, date of the landlord’s calculation and every request made afterwards. Note whether the property was furnished or unfurnished, whether the lease was for a main residence, and whether the landlord was the owner, an agency or a managing company. If the home was sold, add the sale and handover dates if known.

Next, create a deduction schedule. Use one row for each allegation and these columns: landlord’s wording; room or item; entry-report wording; exit-report wording; dated photograph; alleged cause; invoice or estimate; age of the item; amount claimed; amount accepted; amount disputed; and reason for dispute. This makes a vague “€1,800 for repairs” into separate questions. It may reveal that one line is a reasonable cleaning cost, another is ordinary wear, and a third has no supporting document at all.

Collect a complete evidence bundle:

1. the signed lease and every annex, inventory and depreciation schedule;
2. the entry and exit états des lieux, including reservations, amendments and signatures;
3. original photographs and videos of the property at move-in and key return;
4. the key-return receipt, appointment message, postal proof or agency acknowledgement;
5. rent and charge payment records, including the final payment;
6. the landlord’s itemised calculation, invoices, estimates, contractor reports and insurance documents;
7. messages reporting leaks, damp, broken equipment or defects during the tenancy;
8. evidence of cleaning, maintenance and repairs paid for by the tenant;
9. proof of the forwarding address and bank details supplied for the refund; and
10. the owner’s, agent’s and property manager’s names and addresses.

Keep the French documents in their original form. Add an English working translation below each important passage and label it as a working translation unless a qualified translator prepared it. Do not rewrite an invoice or condition report to make its meaning more favourable. If the document says “remise en état”, explain that it usually refers to putting something back into an appropriate condition, then test the actual work, cause and cost. “Nettoyage”, “réparation” and “remplacement” are not interchangeable categories.

Send a short request for the missing material before making a final accusation. For every deduction, ask the landlord or agency to provide the legal or contractual basis, the entry and exit comparison, the explanation of causation, the invoice or estimate, the date of the work, the age of the item and the depreciation applied. If part of the retention is accepted, say so precisely and reserve the balance. A line-by-line request is more useful to a conciliator or judge than a general statement that the whole account is unfair.

When the refund deadline has expired or the response is inadequate, use a mise en demeure. This is a formal demand that puts the recipient on notice; it is more than an ordinary reminder. Article 1344 of the Civil Code provides that Le débiteur est mis en demeure de payer soit par une sommation ou un acte portant interpellation suffisante. The letter should identify the lease, deposit, key-return date, forwarding address, amount returned, amount retained, each disputed line, the evidence attached, the balance requested and the deadline for payment.

Use a delivery method that can be proved. In France, a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt is a lettre recommandée avec avis de réception. Send the demand to the landlord’s address in the lease, the managing agent, and any new address disclosed after a sale. Send a PDF by email as a convenience, but keep the postal receipt, tracking record, acknowledgment, email headers and exact attachment. If a UK address is involved, write the dates in words as well as numbers. “04/09” can be misunderstood as 4 September or 9 April.

The formal demand should request a defined result. It may seek the full outstanding balance, or the balance after accepting one documented deduction. Include the statutory 10% increase where the conditions are met, but show the calculation rather than writing only “penalty”. Do not confuse that statutory increase with legal interest or additional damages. If the landlord’s delay has caused a separate proven loss, obtain advice before adding it to the principal claim.

A clear demand can follow this order:

1. state that you were the tenant under the attached lease and returned the keys on a specified date;
2. state the deposit, the amount returned and the exact amount retained;
3. list each deduction and compare the entry report, exit report and photographs;
4. explain whether the item is ordinary vétusté, pre-existing, caused by a building defect, unsupported, or overstated by a new-for-old replacement;
5. request the balance, the applicable statutory increase and the missing documents by a clear date; and
6. state that conciliation and court remedies will be considered if the account is not corrected.

Keep the bundle numbered. A practical index can use “01 Lease”, “02 Entry condition report”, “03 Exit condition report”, “04 Key return”, “05 Photos”, “06 Deduction calculation”, “07 Payment records” and “08 Formal demand”. If the files are too large for email, use a secure link and keep a local copy. The aim is to make the disputed fact and the missing proof immediately visible.

Be careful with a document called “solde de tout compte” or “quittance”. It may be intended as a final settlement rather than a simple receipt. If you accept a partial refund, state whether the payment settles one identified line only and whether the remaining claim is reserved. Do not sign a broad waiver until you understand whether it releases the statutory increase, repair dispute and costs as well as the principal balance.

The demand should also address the correct recipient. If an agency collected the deposit but the owner is responsible for the legal refund, write to both and ask them to identify their roles. If the property changed hands, attach the relevant ownership or management information. A tenant should not lose time because the former owner and new owner each say that the other person must pay.

The firm’s French rental-deposit information is available at this page about a French rental-deposit dispute. It can be used as a starting point for organising a file, but the outcome still depends on the lease and evidence in the individual case.

B. What happens if the landlord refuses to pay after the formal demand?

The first escalation is usually an amicable route. A conciliateur de justice is a court-appointed volunteer who helps parties seek an agreement. The official Service-Public.fr information on the departmental conciliation commission explains the role of that commission, commonly called the commission départementale de conciliation or CDC, and the documents that should accompany a request. The CDC route is free and can be useful for a deposit dispute, although it does not replace a court order if no agreement is reached.

Prepare the conciliation file as carefully as the court file. Include the lease, both condition reports, the deposit proof, the landlord’s calculation, the formal demand, proof of delivery, photographs, payment records and a one-page calculation of the sum requested. State the disputed issues in neutral terms: “the invoice does not identify the item”, “the entry report records the mark”, “the amount is a new-for-old replacement with no depreciation”, or “the key-return date is documented by the attached receipt”. Neutral wording does not weaken the claim; it makes the evidence easier to assess.

The parties should record any agreement in writing. State the amount, the payment date, the bank details, the items resolved and whether the settlement is final. If the landlord offers a partial payment, compare it with the undisputed balance and the late-return calculation. A settlement can be sensible where the evidence is mixed, but the tenant should know what rights are being released.

Some French civil claims require a documented attempt at amicable resolution before court. Article 750-1 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides, subject to exceptions, that certain applications must be preceded by an attempt at conciliation, mediation or a participatory procedure. It states that the court may declare the claim inadmissible if that step has not been completed. The provision is particularly relevant to some claims not exceeding €5,000. Check the current threshold, exceptions and evidence required for the precise claim before filing; a formal demand is important, but it is not always identical to a documented conciliation attempt.

If no agreement is reached, a claim may be brought before the competent French court. Residential lease disputes usually involve the court linked to the property and the tenant-protection jurisdiction, but the correct route depends on the amount, the parties and the relief requested. A British tenant living in the UK should not assume that a UK small-claims procedure will determine a French residential deposit governed by French law. Check territorial jurisdiction, service, language and the available filing process before issuing a claim.

An ordinary disputed deduction will not always be suitable for an emergency application. In urgent cases, where the requested measure does not face a serious dispute or where the existence of a dispute justifies immediate action, article 834 of the Code of Civil Procedure allows the relevant judge to order interim measures. The text refers to measures that ne se heurtent à aucune contestation sérieuse ou que justifie l’existence d’un différend. A genuinely contested question about causation, depreciation or the value of repairs may require a full examination rather than an assumption that an emergency route will decide the merits.

The claim should set out the facts and remedy in a way the court can follow. Identify the lease, the property, the deposit, the key-return date, the contractual return deadline, the landlord’s deductions, the documents supporting or contradicting each line, the formal demand and the amount requested. Explain whether you seek the balance, the statutory 10% increase, interest, additional proven loss or costs. Avoid asking for a full replacement cost if the evidence supports only a repair or depreciated value; credibility is part of the case.

Article 1231-6 of the Civil Code deals with delay in payment. It provides: Les dommages et intérêts dus à raison du retard dans le paiement d’une obligation de somme d’argent consistent dans l’intérêt au taux légal, à compter de la mise en demeure. This is a separate legal concept from article 22’s 10% monthly increase. The two calculations should not be presented as interchangeable or automatically cumulative in every situation. A lawyer can check the dates, the principal balance and the way the court should be asked to apply them.

The court may also consider recoverable procedural costs. Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure states that the judge may order the party who loses or bears the costs to pay the other party a sum for expenses not included in the formal costs. An award is not automatic and the amount is not guaranteed. Keep invoices for translation, service, legal advice and other necessary expenses, but do not treat article 700 as a promise that every expense will be reimbursed.

The 2020 Supreme Court decision mentioned above is particularly useful for proving the refund date. The 2019 decision no. 18-15.279 is useful when a landlord combines repair claims with the deposit balance. The 2019 decision in Cass. 3e civ., 4 July 2019, no. 18-12.905 is relevant to the need for serious supporting material. The 2015 decision in no. 14-19.286 helps frame ordinary deterioration and humidity questions. Cite those decisions for their facts and reasoning, not as a substitute for comparing the actual entry report, exit report and invoice in your file.

If the landlord claims more than the deposit, treat the additional demand separately. A landlord may allege that the tenant caused a loss exceeding the amount retained. The return of a part of the deposit does not necessarily end every claim, and retention of the deposit does not prove the additional loss. Ask for the same evidence: the contractual duty, causation, entry and exit comparison, photographs, repair or replacement documents, age of the item, depreciation and payment records. Do not ignore a formal demand for the extra amount, even if the original deposit dispute is still unresolved.

Living in the UK creates practical issues but does not make a well-documented claim impossible. Use a stable email address, preserve a French or UK address for service, monitor registered mail, and ask in advance whether a conciliation meeting or hearing can be handled remotely. If a document is served in French, arrange a reliable working translation and mark every response deadline in a calendar. Keep a copy of every submission exactly as sent, including attachments and delivery proof.

Before filing, test the file against five questions:

1. Can you prove the date the keys were returned?
2. Can you show what changed between the entry and exit reports?
3. Can you explain why the change is damage rather than vétusté or a building defect?
4. Can you test the claimed amount against repair evidence, age and depreciation?
5. Can you prove that the correct landlord, agency or successor received the demand?

If one answer is missing, obtain that evidence or explain the gap. The most common avoidable mistakes are sending only an angry email, failing to provide a forwarding address, mixing the final rent with the repair account, accepting a new-for-old invoice without checking the entry report, and waiting until a procedural deadline has passed. A photograph can show a condition, but it may not show when it arose, who caused it or what a reasonable remedy costs. Combine photographs with reports, messages, dates and payment records.

Conclusion

A French landlord may retain a rental deposit for damage for which the tenant is responsible, but a deduction for ordinary wear and tear is not automatically valid. The landlord’s account should fit the lease, the entry and exit condition reports, the tenant’s legal duties, the age and condition of the item, and reliable evidence of the reasonable cost. The one-month or two-month return deadline, the 10% monthly increase for a late balance, the forwarding address and the date of key return can materially change the calculation.

For a British tenant, the strongest response is evidence-led. Preserve the French documents, compare each item line by line, challenge unsupported or new-for-old charges, separate rent from damage, and send a formal demand with proof of delivery. If the landlord refuses to correct the account, conciliation and the French court process remain available. Moving back to the UK is a logistical complication, not a reason to surrender an unjustified deduction.

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