You have found the flat in Paris, Lyon or Bordeaux, the estate agent is pressing you to sign, and the landlord wants one month’s rent as a deposit, three months’ rent in advance and your last three British payslips. As a British tenant in France after Brexit, you are not negotiating under English rules. Your tenancy is governed by a protective French statute, the Act of 6 July 1989 on the landlord-tenant relationship, known as the loi du 6 juillet 1989, which caps the deposit, dictates what the lease must contain, gives you a penalty when the deposit comes back late, and forces the landlord through months of procedure before you can be made to leave. The lease is also your most valuable administrative document: rent receipts, called quittances de loyer, prove your address when you renew a residence permit, open a bank account and register for health cover. This guide explains what you sign and pay, when the money must come back, and exactly how you challenge an excessive rent, a deposit kept back, a notice to leave, called a congé, or an eviction case, including the Paris specifics on the rent cap and the local conciliation and court route.

I. Signing and paying: what your French lease must contain and what the deposit rules give you

A. How much deposit can your landlord demand, and when must it be returned to you?

The security deposit, called the dépôt de garantie, is the first place British tenants overpay. In England you are used to five weeks’ rent held inside an authorised deposit scheme. In France there is no scheme: the money sits with the landlord, and the statute controls the amount and the return deadlines instead. The rule for an unfurnished letting is strict: “Lorsqu’un dépôt de garantie est prévu par le contrat de location pour garantir l’exécution de ses obligations locatives par le locataire, il ne peut être supérieur à un mois de loyer en principal. Au moment de la signature du bail, le dépôt de garantie est versé au bailleur directement par le locataire ou par l’intermédiaire d’un tiers.” That is article 22 of the Act of 6 July 1989. One month of rent without charges, called the loyer en principal, is the ceiling for an empty flat; for a furnished flat the same article allows two months. Any demand above that, or a demand for three months’ rent in advance disguised as something else, is unlawful, and you should ask for the clause to be corrected before you sign.

The return deadlines are where the statute bites. If the check-out inventory, called the état des lieux de sortie, is identical to the check-in inventory, called the état des lieux d’entrée, the deposit must be returned within one month. If the comparison shows differences, the landlord has two months, because that time is meant for quotes and invoices for genuine damage. The landlord may only deduct sums you still owe, such as unpaid rent or charges, or sums the landlord has paid in your place, and every deduction must be proved with documents: invoices, quotes, the bailiff’s report. A lump sum labelled wear and tear, without paperwork, does not survive scrutiny. Keep this distinction in mind from the day you move in, because the comparison of the two inventories decides almost every deposit dispute at the end.

Late return carries an automatic financial penalty, and you do not need to prove any loss to claim it. The statute provides: “A 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. Cette majoration n’est pas due lorsque l’origine du défaut de restitution dans les délais résulte de l’absence de transmission par le locataire de l’adresse de son nouveau domicile.” That is the same article 22. In practice, a rent of 1,400 euros returned three months late generates 140 euros per month begun, which accumulates quickly. The condition is on you to leave a forwarding address, so always notify the landlord of your new address by letter with acknowledgement of receipt, called a lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception, on the day you hand back the keys.

Two situations surprise British tenants. First, the sale of the building does not wipe out your deposit. The statute puts the refund duty on the buyer: when let flats change hands, whether by gift or for payment, restitution of the deposit falls on the new landlord. The buyer of the flat becomes your landlord and owes you the deposit, even if the seller never passed the money on; the seller’s remedy is against the buyer, not against you. Second, in a block of flats, called a copropriété, the landlord closing the annual service-charge accounts may hold back up to 20 per cent of the deposit until the yearly statement is approved, then settles the balance within the month following that approval. That holdback must be justified by the accounts, and the parties may also agree to settle everything at once.

The courts apply these rules literally, as a 2023 decision of the Third Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation shows. In Cass. 3rd civ., 26 October 2023, no. 22-20.183, a property company had kept a 660-euro deposit and the tenants claimed the 10 per cent monthly penalty on top. The Court quashed the appeal ruling that had ordered the landlord to pay 660 euros for the deposit plus 1,188 euros in late penalties, holding that the retained deposit would be set against the sums the tenants themselves had been ordered to pay, and it dismissed the tenants’ claims for return and penalties. The lesson is balanced: the penalty is real, but a tenant who owes rent or repair sums cannot use the deposit timetable as a windfall, because the judge sets the deposit against proven debts. The same decision confirms a practical trap about inventories drawn up by a court officer, called a commissaire de justice, formerly a huissier de justice: “il résulte de l’article 3-2 de la loi du 6 juillet 1989 que, lorsque les parties n’ont pas été convoquées par lettre recommandée avec demande d’avis de réception adressée au moins sept jours à l’avance, celle qui a pris l’initiative de faire établir l’état des lieux par un huissier de justice ne peut obtenir le remboursement de la moitié de son coût.” If you call in a court officer for the inventory, summon the other party by registered letter at least seven days ahead, or you pay the whole bill yourself.

If your deposit is late or reduced without invoices, act in writing at once. Send a formal demand by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, keep copies of both inventories, the lease, the rent receipts and your forwarding letter, then take the file to the departmental conciliation commission, called the commission départementale de conciliation, which seeks an amicable settlement between landlord and tenant and is the expected first step before any judge in Paris and elsewhere. The procedure and the cases it handles are described on the official service-public page on the conciliation commission. If conciliation fails, the judge for tenant disputes, called the juge des contentieux de la protection, orders return plus the monthly penalty.

B. What must be in the lease, and why does the check-in inventory decide everything at the end?

Your lease, called the bail or contrat de location, must contain a list of compulsory particulars set by the statute, and anything missing weakens the landlord, not you. Article 3 of the Act of 6 July 1989 requires: “Le contrat de location est établi par écrit et respecte un contrat type défini par décret en Conseil d’Etat, pris après avis de la Commission nationale de concertation.” Expect the names of the parties, a description of the dwelling and its equipment, the agreed use as your main home, called the résidence principale, the term of the letting, the rent and its payment terms, the nature of the charges and how they are paid, and the amount of the deposit. An unfurnished letting runs for three years when the landlord is an individual and six years when it is a company; a furnished letting runs for one year, or nine months for a student. At the end of the term the lease renews itself on the same conditions unless a valid notice has been served, which is why landlords who want you out must follow the strict notice procedure described in the second part of this guide.

The landlord’s core duties are not negotiable and do not need to appear in the lease to bind him. Article 1719 of the Civil Code provides: “Le bailleur est obligé, par la nature du contrat, et sans qu’il soit besoin d’aucune stipulation particulière : 1° De délivrer au preneur la chose louée et, s’il s’agit de son habitation principale, un logement décent.” Handing over a decent home, maintaining it fit for the agreed use, and letting you enjoy it peacefully are duties of the contract itself. A clause making you accept a flat with no heating, dangerous wiring or persistent damp as seen is worth little against that duty, and a landlord cannot rely on the lease being void or terminated to have you expelled when the premises are unfit for habitation. Photograph every defect on arrival, report it in writing, and keep the messages: they become the evidence for a rent reduction or for works ordered by the judge.

British couples should know that the lease belongs to both partners far more often than the signature page suggests. Article 1751 of the Civil Code states: “Le droit au bail du local, sans caractère professionnel ou commercial, qui sert effectivement à l’habitation de deux époux, quel que soit leur régime matrimonial et nonobstant toute convention contraire et même si le bail a été conclu avant le mariage, ou de deux partenaires liés par un pacte civil de solidarité, dès lors que les partenaires en font la demande conjointement, est réputé appartenir à l’un et à l’autre des époux ou partenaires liés par un pacte civil de solidarité.” If only one of you signed but you live there as spouses, or as civil partners under a PACS who applied jointly, both of you hold the tenancy. On divorce the court can award it to one spouse, and on death the surviving spouse or partner who jointly holds the lease has an exclusive right to it unless expressly waived. For British couples married in England and living in France, this co-ownership of the lease interacts with your matrimonial regime, and the interaction is explained in our guide to which matrimonial regime owns your French home.

At the end of the tenancy, the comparison of the two inventories decides what the landlord may keep, and the law protects you against charges for age and wear. Article 1755 of the Civil Code provides: “Aucune des réparations réputées locatives n’est à la charge des locataires quand elles ne sont occasionnées que par vétusté ou force majeure.” Faded paint after six years, a carpet worn where everyone walks, sealant yellowed by time: that is vétusté, plain ageing, and it stays with the owner. Damage beyond normal use, such as a burnt worktop, a door forced open or holes left by wall plugs pulled out with plaster, stays with you. Because the boundary is factual, the check-in inventory must be ruthlessly precise: note every stain, scratch, missing shelf and faulty blind, test every tap, shutter and appliance, and insist that the wording reflects reality rather than the formula in good condition. An entry inventory signed without comment creates a presumption that you received everything in good order.

Finally, budget for two recurring duties that surprise newcomers. Your lease will require you to hold home insurance, called the assurance habitation, covering fire, water damage and your liability to neighbours, and you must send the certificate each year; an uninsured tenant risks termination proceedings. And the service charges, called the charges locatives, are usually paid as a monthly provision with a yearly reconciliation against the building accounts, which is why you should ask to see the last two reconciliations before signing. Keep every rent receipt from the first month: those quittances prove your address for the residence permit renewal, as explained in our guide for British newcomers applying for a French visa and residence card, and for opening or defending a bank account, as explained in our guide to French bank refusals and the right to an account.

II. Fighting back: an excessive rent, a deposit kept back, a notice to leave and eviction proceedings

A. How do you contest a rent above the Paris cap, a deposit kept back or charges you dispute?

If you rent in Paris, your rent is probably capped, and many British tenants pay above the cap without knowing it. Since July 2019, leases signed or renewed in the capital must respect reference rents set by prefectoral order, with a lower and a higher figure depending on the type of letting, the number of rooms and the construction period. Since July 2019, residential leases and mobility leases signed or renewed in Paris must respect reference rents set by prefectoral order, with a lower and a higher figure depending on the type of letting, the number of rooms and the construction period. See the official service-public page on Paris rents, which also links the simulator that computes the cap for your exact address and flat type. Compare your rent without charges against the higher reference rent shown for your category. A landlord may add a supplement, called a complément de loyer, only for genuinely exceptional features of the flat, such as a remarkable view, a large terrace or top-floor period features, and that supplement must be named and justified in the lease; a standard renovated kitchen in the Marais is not exceptional.

When the rent exceeds the cap, the procedure rewards tenants who act early. You can challenge the rent when the lease is proposed, when it is signed, or within the months that follow through the conciliation commission and then the judge, who can cut the rent down to the higher reference rent and order repayment of the excess. Write first to the landlord or the managing agent, called the administrateur de biens, enclosing the simulator result and asking for the rent to be brought within the cap and the excess repaid. If the answer is no or silence, file with the Paris conciliation commission with the lease, the simulator printout and proof of the flat’s characteristics. Keep paying the contractual rent while you challenge it: withholding rent turns you into the party in breach and hands the landlord the termination procedure described below. The same discipline applies to a deposit kept back without invoices and to charges you dispute: contest in writing, pay what is clearly due, and let the commission then the judge decide the rest.

Charges deserve their own audit every year. Most leases use the provision system: you pay a monthly estimate and the landlord reconciles once a year against the building’s actual recoverable expenses, sending the statement, called the décompte, with supporting documents available for inspection. Only the expenses on the statutory recoverable list can be passed on, major works and the landlord’s management fees stay with the owner, and the reconciliation must arrive within a reasonable time. Check the statement line by line, ask for the invoices behind any sharp increase, and remember the 20 per cent holdback rule on the deposit while the final statement is pending. A forfait, or fixed lump sum for charges agreed once and for all, is only lawful for furnished lettings; for an empty flat, a landlord who calls the charges a forfait is simply mislabelling a provision, and you can demand a proper reconciliation.

For tenants in Paris and the inner suburbs, three local points change the practical picture. First, the Paris conciliation commission handles a heavy volume of rent-cap and deposit files, so file early with a complete bundle and keep the filing receipt. Second, the court that hears tenant cases for the capital is the judicial court of Paris, called the tribunal judiciaire de Paris, where the protection judge sits; representation by counsel is not compulsory but the files that succeed are the documented ones, with lease, inventories, letters, receipts and photographs in chronological order. Third, the local housing advice agency, called the ADIL, explains the procedures and helps you frame the demand before conciliation. And throughout, treat every rent receipt as an administrative asset: a full year of quittances, a current lease and proof of insurance make the residence-permit renewal file and the bank file far stronger, which is why these documents are worth keeping in both paper and scan from the first month.

B. What happens when your landlord serves notice to leave or starts eviction proceedings?

A landlord who wants the flat back must serve a formal notice, and an informal email asking you to leave has no legal effect. Article 15 of the Act of 6 July 1989 sets the framework: “Lorsque le bailleur donne congé à son locataire, ce congé doit être justifié soit par sa décision de reprendre ou de vendre le logement, soit par un motif légitime et sérieux, notamment l’inexécution par le locataire de l’une des obligations lui incombant.” The notice must state its ground, failing which it is void: “A peine de nullité, le congé donné par le bailleur doit indiquer le motif allégué et, en cas de reprise, les nom et adresse du bénéficiaire de la reprise”. For a repossession for personal use, called a reprise, the beneficiary can only be the landlord, the spouse, the civil partner, a long-standing partner, or close ascendants and descendants, and the landlord must show that the repossession is genuine and serious. The notice period for the landlord is six months before the end of the lease term: “Le délai de préavis applicable au congé est de six mois lorsqu’il émane du bailleur.” A notice served late simply takes effect at the next term. Your own notice as tenant is shorter, three months as a rule and one month in tight housing areas, called zones tendues, which include Paris and most of the inner suburbs, so check the applicable period before you send anything and always serve your notice by the formal channels.

The notice to sell, called the congé pour vendre, carries extra traps for landlords and extra rights for you. It must state the price and conditions of the planned sale, failing which it is void, and it counts as an offer to sell to you first. The Court of Cassation stated the rule in Cass. 3rd civ., 18 February 2009, no. 08-11.615: “lorsqu’il est fondé sur la décision de vendre le logement, le congé doit, à peine de nullité, indiquer le prix et les conditions de la vente projetée ; que le congé vaut offre de vente au profit du locataire”. You then have two months to accept, and a further two months, or four if you need a mortgage, to complete. The same decision limits who can complain about a partial sale: “la nullité du congé pour vendre tirée de ce que l’offre de vente ne porte que sur une partie des lieux loués ne peut être soulevée que par le locataire”. Only you, not a third party, can invoke that particular defect, which confirms that the notice-to-sell procedure is built around your pre-emptive right. Read every congé for the price, the description of exactly what is offered, the ground relied on and the service method; a missing price, a vague ground or service by ordinary email is a ground for annulment before the judge.

Joint ownership adds a consent requirement that defeats many notices. In Cass. 3rd civ., 23 January 2025, no. 23-21.610, a property company owned a flat in co-ownership, called indivision, with two individuals, and served a notice to sell. The Court recalled the civil rule that acts disposing of co-owned property need every co-owner’s consent, then applied it to the notice: “Il résulte du second que le congé vaut offre de vente au profit du locataire.” Because the notice counts as an offer to sell the whole flat, quashing followed: “sans constater le consentement de chaque indivisaire à la délivrance d’un congé pour vente au locataire, la cour d’appel n’a pas donné de base légale à sa décision.” If your landlord is several co-owners, an heir group or a family company holding the flat with others, check that every co-owner agreed to the notice; a notice decided by a bare majority of co-owners is vulnerable. The same logic reaches company landlords: verify who signed and with what authority.

Unpaid rent triggers a separate, highly formal track that gives you time to pay and to seek help, provided you use it. Article 24 of the Act of 6 July 1989 provides: “Tout contrat de bail d’habitation contient une clause prévoyant la résiliation de plein droit du contrat de location pour défaut de paiement du loyer ou des charges aux termes convenus ou pour non-versement du dépôt de garantie. Cette clause ne produit effet que six semaines après un commandement de payer demeuré infructueux.” The termination clause, called the clause résolutoire, sleeps until a formal payment order, called a commandement de payer, served by a court officer, has gone unpaid for six weeks, and that order is void unless it states the exact deadline, the sums due and the warning that you may seek payment time or housing aid. If a guarantor, called a caution, stands behind you, the same article protects that person: “le commandement de payer est signifié à la caution dans un délai de quinze jours à compter de sa signification au locataire. A défaut, la caution ne peut être tenue au paiement des pénalités ou des intérêts de retard.” British parents who guaranteed a student child, or a bank that issued a guarantee, should check that fifteen-day service carefully.

During those six weeks, the system pushes you towards prevention bodies rather than straight to court. The payment order is reported to the local body coordinating eviction prevention, and the judge hearing the case must verify that conciliation was attempted and that the prevention machinery was engaged; company landlords face an additional two-month waiting period after seizing that body before they can even summon you to court. Apply at once for housing benefit, called the aide au logement, contact the social services, and ask the judge for time to pay, called des délais de paiement, which can suspend the termination clause for up to three years while you clear the arrears. Never ignore a summons: the judge who sees an absent tenant grants the termination, while the judge who sees a tenant paying, applying for aid and proposing a plan usually grants time.

Even with a court order against you, eviction in France is slow and seasonal, and the order itself can be challenged on appeal or opposed on procedural defects. Article L. 412-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures provides: “Si l’expulsion porte sur un lieu habité par la personne expulsée ou par tout occupant de son chef, elle ne peut avoir lieu qu’à l’expiration d’un délai de deux mois qui suit le commandement, sans préjudice des dispositions des articles L. 412-3 à L. 412-7”. After the two months, the judge can still grant additional grace periods, and every winter the procedure stops: Article L. 412-6 of the same Code states: “Nonobstant toute décision d’expulsion passée en force de chose jugée et malgré l’expiration des délais accordés en vertu de l’article L. 412-3, il est sursis à toute mesure d’expulsion non exécutée à la date du 1er novembre de chaque année jusqu’au 31 mars de l’année suivante, à moins que le relogement des intéressés soit assuré dans des conditions suffisantes respectant l’unité et les besoins de la famille.” No lawful eviction with state assistance runs between 1 November and 31 March unless you have been rehoused. Use each stage to negotiate: a repayment plan, a voluntary departure date with the deposit returned on time, or a smaller flat from the same landlord all cost less than an enforced eviction for both sides.

Conclusion

Renting in France as a British tenant after Brexit means living inside a statute that does most of the protecting if you feed it the right paperwork. Sign a lease that states the rent, the charges system and a deposit of no more than one month for an empty flat, photograph the check-in inventory as if your money depended on it, because it does, and leave a forwarding address the day you return the keys so the 10 per cent monthly penalty for late return runs in your favour. In Paris, test every proposed rent against the reference rents before you sign, and challenge the excess through conciliation and then the judge while continuing to pay. When a notice arrives, read it against article 15: the ground, the six months, the price and conditions for a sale, the consent of every co-owner. When rent arrears build, treat the payment order as a six-week window to pay, claim aid and ask for time, and remember that the two-month period after the order and the winter standstill from November to March are part of the procedure, not favours. Keep the lease, the receipts, the letters and the photographs together from the first month, and each of those documents will serve twice: once for the landlord or the judge, and once for the prefecture, the bank and the health fund that ask every British resident in France to prove where home is.