You have found the flat, passed the letting agent’s selection committee and signed the lease, and now you live in Paris as a British tenant in a legal system that protects occupiers far more strongly than English law ever did. That protection cuts both ways: the lease you signed is almost certainly governed by mandatory French rules you cannot contract out of, the deposit you paid obeys strict ceilings and refund deadlines, your rent may be capped by the Paris rent-control system, and your landlord can only recover the flat through a formal notice procedure that judges enforce to the letter. Since Brexit you go through all of this as a third-country national, which changes the paperwork in your rental file and makes every deadline matter more, because a dispute about your flat can easily spill over into questions about your right to stay in France. This article explains the whole tenancy from signature to exit in the order you will live it.

In the first part, it covers the rules that apply before and during the tenancy: which lease you signed and what the landlord was entitled to ask you, and what you pay each month in a city with rent caps. In the second part, it covers what happens when things go wrong: how you give notice and recover your deposit with penalties for late refund, and how eviction works, from the notice to quit to the winter truce, with the defences a tenant can raise. Every decisive point is tied to the exact statute or decided case behind it, so that you can check each statement and use it in a letter, a conciliation hearing or a court filing.

I. Before and during the tenancy: the lease you sign and the rent you pay in Paris

A. Getting the keys: which lease governs your flat, what the landlord may ask and how much deposit you pay

Almost every flat you rent as your home in Paris falls under the same statute: the loi n° 89-462 du 6 juillet 1989, the Act of 6 July 1989 that governs residential tenancies. Its provisions are a matter of public policy (ordre public), which means any clause in your lease that contradicts them is simply unenforceable, even if you signed it without reading it. The Civil Code supplies the foundation underneath: article 1709 of the Civil Code defines the letting of things as the contract by which one party grants another the enjoyment of a thing for a time for an agreed price, in the original French: “Le louage des choses est un contrat par lequel l’une des parties s’oblige à faire jouir l’autre d’une chose pendant un certain temps, et moyennant un certain prix que celle-ci s’oblige de lui payer.” Everything the 1989 Act adds sits on top of that definition, which is why French judges read leases through the statute first and the contract second.

The first question is which lease you signed, because duration and deposit depend on it. An unfurnished letting (location vide) runs for a minimum of three years when the landlord is an individual and six years when it is a company, and a furnished letting (location meublée) runs for a minimum of one year, or nine months for a student lease (bail mobilité aside, which is a separate short-term regime). At expiry the lease renews itself automatically (reconduction tacite) unless one side serves formal notice, so in practice most Paris tenancies simply continue on the same terms until somebody acts. If your agent handed you a one-year contract for an unfurnished flat, that term is wrong and the three-year minimum applies regardless; check thebox ticked on your contract, because landlords and agents do make this mistake and the correction favours the tenant.

Before signature comes the rental file (dossier de location), and this is where Brexit changed daily life. French law strictly limits what a landlord may ask you: a closed list fixed by decree sets out the permitted identity, address, occupation and income documents, and anything outside that list, from bank statements to medical details, cannot lawfully be demanded. As a British citizen you will routinely be asked for your passport and, where relevant, your visa or residence permit (titre de séjour), because the landlord wants proof that you are entitled to live in France for the duration of the lease. That request is normal practice for a foreign tenant; what is not normal is a landlord who asks for documents beyond the statutory list or who rejects your file solely because your guarantor lives in London. A UK-based guarantor (garant) is frequently refused in practice, not because the law forbids foreign guarantors but because a landlord who may one day have to sue wants a debtor with seizable assets in France. Anticipate this before you apply: the state-backed Visale guarantee, bank guarantees (garantie bancaire) and advance payment structures exist precisely for tenants whose personal guarantor does not satisfy the landlord, and arranging one before the viewing shortlist stage puts a British applicant on equal footing with a French one. Readers sorting out their residence paperwork first will find the visa and permit sequence explained in our guide to French long-stay visas and residence permits for British newcomers after Brexit, which is worth reading before you assemble the file.

Then comes the deposit (dépôt de garantie), and here the statute is brutally simple. Article 22 of the Act of 6 July 1989 provides that where a deposit is stipulated, “il ne peut être supérieur à un mois de loyer en principal”, meaning it cannot exceed one month’s rent excluding charges for an unfurnished letting. For a furnished letting article 25-6 of the same statute allows two months by way of exception: “Par dérogation à l’article 22, le montant du dépôt de garantie exigible par le bailleur est limité à deux mois de loyer en principal.” Any deposit above those ceilings is unlawful, and no deposit at all may be demanded where rent is payable more than two months in advance. Count the figure on your lease against these ceilings now, because an excessive deposit paid at signature is recoverable and its presence colours every later dispute about deductions.

Finally, the inventory of condition (état des lieux) drawn up on arrival and departure decides nearly every deposit dispute before it starts. The statute requires one to be established free of charge by both sides, and the Civil Code attaches a presumption to its absence: article 1731 states “S’il n’a pas été fait d’état des lieux, le preneur est présumé les avoir reçus en bon état de réparations locatives, et doit les rendre tels, sauf la preuve contraire.” In plain terms, with no entry inventory you are presumed to have received the flat in good decorative repair and must return it in that state unless you prove otherwise. Never accept keys without a careful room-by-room inventory with dated photographs, and keep the entry and exit reports together: when a landlord later claims damage, the judge simply lays the two documents side by side, as the Amiens decision examined in Part II shows, and deductions that cannot be anchored in a difference between the two reports fail.

B. Paying the rent in Paris: the rent cap, the lawful supplement and the charges you can refuse

Paris is a rent-controlled city (encadrement des loyers), and the rent on your lease is not simply whatever the parties agreed. Each dwelling has a reference rent (loyer de référence) and a ceiling rent (loyer de référence majoré) fixed by annual prefectoral order according to area, age, size and furnished status; the base rent in your lease must sit at or below the ceiling. Above that ceiling the landlord may only add a rent supplement (complément de loyer) for genuine characteristics of location or comfort that justify it by comparison with similar flats in the same area, and the supplement and its justification must be written into the lease. The governing provision is article 140 of the ELAN Act of 23 November 2018 (Loi n° 2018-1021), as quoted by the Paris court below, and judges quote it in full when a tenant challenges the extra amount: “Un complément de loyer peut être appliqué au loyer de base tel que fixé au A du présent III pour des logements présentant des caractéristiques de localisation ou de confort le justifiant, par comparaison avec les logements de la même catégorie situés dans le même secteur géographique.” The same article then lists defects that kill any supplement outright, including damp, single-glazed draughty windows, faulty drainage, degraded wiring and poor energy ratings: “Aucun complément de loyer ne peut être appliqué lorsque le logement présente une ou plusieurs des caractéristiques suivantes : des sanitaires sur le palier, des signes d’humidité sur certains murs, un niveau de performance énergétique de classe F ou de classe G”, alongside overlooking within ten metres, flooding, evacuation problems and bad orientation of the main room.

A Paris judgment of February 2026 shows exactly how this control bites. In a case before the Paris protection judge (juge des contentieux de la protection du tribunal judiciaire de Paris, RG 25/05963, judgment of 26 February 2026), a lease signed on 19 September 2024 for a flat in Paris set a base rent of 1,037 euros plus a supplement of 303 euros justified by phrases such as ideal location near transport, one-way street, old-world charm with exposed beams, double glazing, fitted open kitchen and clever layout. The tenant seized the Paris conciliation commission on 16 November 2024, obtained an opinion on 19 February 2025 that the listed features did not justify the supplement, and then sued to cancel the 303 euros and compel the landlords to sign an amendment removing it. The lesson for a British tenant is practical and immediate: marketing adjectives are not legal justification, and a supplement of nearly thirty per cent above the base rent for generic Paris charm is precisely the kind of clause the commission and then the judge will strip out. If your own lease carries a supplement, compare the stated justification against the statutory exclusion list first, then seize the commission départementale de conciliation within three months of signature; the commission route costs nothing and, as this case shows, its opinion carries real weight in the courtroom that follows.

Beyond the rent itself, check the service charges (charges récupérables) every year. Article 23 of the 1989 Act allows the landlord to recover only the charges linked to services, upkeep and taxes connected with your private use plus a share of collective costs, either on itemised provision with an annual adjustment (régularisation annuelle) or, for small buildings, as a fixed lump sum (forfait). Demand the yearly statement with invoices: charges are the most quietly inflated line in Paris tenancies, and unjustified items must be repaid. Repairs follow a parallel split. The landlord’s core duties are stated in article 1719 of the Civil Code: to deliver the dwelling, and where it is your main home a decent dwelling (“un logement décent”); to maintain it fit for the agreed use (“D’entretenir cette chose en état de servir à l’usage pour lequel elle a été louée”); and to ensure your peaceful enjoyment (“D’en faire jouir paisiblement le preneur pendant la durée du bail”). Day-to-day minor repairs and upkeep (réparations locatives) listed in the 1987 decree fall to you, while structural work, wear and tear (vétusté), faulty installations and anything affecting decency stay with the landlord, and a clause reversing that split is void. Your mirror duty is in article 1728: “D’user de la chose louée raisonnablement, et suivant la destination qui lui a été donnée par le bail”, to use the flat reasonably and as agreed, and to pay rent on time. Energy performance now overlays all of this: a flat rated F or G can no longer support any rent supplement, as the quoted article shows, and the worst-rated homes are being phased out of the rental market altogether, so check the energy report (diagnostic de performance énergétique) attached to your lease before you commit, especially in older Paris stock.

II. When things go wrong: leaving the flat, recovering your deposit and resisting eviction

A. Giving notice and getting your money back: the one-month and two-month refund clock and the ten per cent penalty

Leaving is the tenant’s easiest right in French law. Article 12 of the 1989 Act provides: “Le locataire peut résilier le contrat de location à tout moment, dans les conditions de forme et de délai prévues à l’article 15.” You may terminate at any time, for any reason or none, provided you serve formal notice (congé) by registered letter with acknowledgement, bailiff’s writ or hand delivery against signed receipt, and observe the notice period: three months as a rule, reduced to one month in the situations the statute lists, which include dwellings in tight housing markets (zones tendues), and Paris is one of them. A British tenant leaving Paris therefore usually owes only one month’s notice, but serve it in the correct form and keep the proof, because the notice period runs from receipt and every day of defective service is a day of extra rent.

The refund clock starts when you hand back the keys, and the statute runs two different deadlines. Article 22 continues: “Il est restitué dans un délai maximal de deux mois à compter de la remise en main propre, ou par lettre recommandée avec demande d’avis de réception, des clés au bailleur ou à son mandataire, déduction faite, le cas échéant, des sommes restant dues au bailleur et des sommes dont celui-ci pourrait être tenu, aux lieu et place du locataire, sous réserve qu’elles soient dûment justifiées. A cette fin, le locataire indique au bailleur ou à son mandataire, lors de la remise des clés, l’adresse de son nouveau domicile.” Two months, less any sums duly proved with invoices or quotes, and you must leave your forwarding address at key handover. Where the exit inventory matches the entry inventory, the deadline shrinks to one month (article 22): “Il est restitué dans un délai maximal d’un mois à compter de la remise des clés par le locataire lorsque l’état des lieux de sortie est conforme à l’état des lieux d’entrée, déduction faite, le cas échéant, des sommes restant dues au bailleur et des sommes dont celui-ci pourrait être tenu, en lieu et place du locataire, sous réserve qu’elles soient dûment justifiées.” This is why the photographs and the two inventories from Part I matter so much: a clean exit report buys you the one-month deadline automatically.

Miss the deadline and the statute punishes the landlord with an automatic penalty that needs no proof of loss. The Amiens protection judge restated the rule in a judgment that every tenant should read before writing a demand letter (juge des contentieux de la protection du tribunal judiciaire d’Amiens, RG 25/00042, judgment of 7 April 2025): “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.” Ten per cent of the monthly rent for each month of delay begun, unless the tenant forgot to give the new address. In that case the tenancy had ended on 3 December 2022 after a notice to quit for sale, the 550-euro deposit should have been returned by 3 February 2023, and the tenant sued for the deposit plus 825 euros of accrued penalties. The judge then did exactly what judges always do: it compared the entry and exit inventories, found the bedroom floor downgraded from very good to fair and the garden from good to poor, and measured each deduction against that comparison, rejecting anything the landlord could not evidence. So the method for your own exit is fixed: return the keys with a forwarding address, diary the one-month or two-month deadline, send a formal demand the day after it expires citing article 22 and the ten per cent penalty, and if payment still does not come, seize the commission départementale de conciliation under article 20 before suing the protection judge. For a British tenant who has already moved back to the United Kingdom, that sequence can be handled by correspondence and representation, but the deadlines run identically whether you live in Paris or in London.

B. Facing eviction: the notice to quit, the judge’s grace periods and the winter truce

Your landlord cannot end the tenancy casually and can never change the locks himself. Article 15 of the 1989 Act allows the landlord’s notice (congé) only on three footings: “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.” Repossession for himself or a close relative (reprise), sale (vente), or a genuine and serious ground such as persistent breach, and on pain of nullity the notice must state its ground and, for repossession, name the beneficiary. For sale the notice must give price and terms and operates as an offer to the sitting tenant, who holds a right of first refusal. Certain elderly low-income tenants are additionally sheltered from sale and repossession notices unless rehousing is offered, a protection worth checking for retired British residents.

Judges enforce these formalities mercilessly, and the Court of Cassation’s published ruling on notices to quit proves it. In Cass. com., 7 October 2020, no. 19-10.685, published in the Bulletin, the Court held: “Il résulte du premier de ces textes que lorsque le bailleur entend résilier un bail d’habitation relevant des dispositions d’ordre public de la loi du 6 juillet 1989 pour vendre le logement donné à bail, il doit, en respectant un délai de préavis de six mois, délivrer un congé qui, à peine de nullité, doit être motivé par sa décision de vendre le logement et indiquer le prix et les conditions de la vente projetée, le congé valant offre de vente au profit du locataire.” Six months’ notice, stated decision to sell, price and terms, offer to the tenant, all on pain of nullity, and so mandatory that even a court-appointed liquidator selling the flat free of occupation must comply. When you receive a notice to quit in Paris, your first reflex should therefore be forensic, not emotional: check the ground, the six-month calculation, the price and terms for a sale notice, the named beneficiary for repossession, and the method of service. A defective notice is void and the tenancy continues, and Paris courts annul them routinely.

If the ground is unpaid rent, the procedure runs through a fixed sequence with a built-in rescue window. The lease must contain the standard forfeiture clause (clause résolutoire), but article 24 delays its effect: “Cette clause ne produit effet que six semaines après un commandement de payer demeuré infructueux”, and the payment order itself must state the six-week deadline, the monthly rent and charges, the debt breakdown and a warning of proceedings, failing which it is void. Only then can the landlord summon you before the protection judge, who may grant enforcement grace periods (délais de grâce): article 1343-5 of the Civil Code provides that “Le juge peut, compte tenu de la situation du débiteur et en considération des besoins du créancier, reporter ou échelonner, dans la limite de deux années, le paiement des sommes dues.” Up to two years to pay in instalments, suspending enforcement, with penalties frozen. And even with an eviction order in hand, the landlord faces the winter truce (trêve hivernale): article L. 412-6 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Proceedings states “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 physical eviction from 1 November to 31 March unless proper rehousing is secured, with only narrow exceptions for squatters who forced entry by deceit, threats or force. For a British tenant the practical defences therefore stack: challenge the notice for nullity, negotiate a clearance plan before the hearing, ask the judge for time to pay with supporting evidence of income and efforts, and use the truce months to stabilise. Never ignore a summons because you plan to leave France anyway: an eviction order carries costs and a damages award that follow you, while a defended case very often ends in a supervised repayment schedule and a tenancy saved.

Conclusion

Renting in Paris as a British tenant after Brexit means living inside one of Europe’s most protective tenancy regimes at the cost of mastering its paperwork: the 1989 Act dictates your lease length, caps your deposit at one or two months’ rent, controls your rent against the Paris ceiling, refunds your deposit within one or two months under a ten per cent monthly penalty, and forces any landlord who wants the flat back through a notice, a judge and, in winter, a four-month wait. The cases in this article show judges applying those rules exactly as written, from the Amiens penalty for a late deposit to the Paris cancellation of a 303-euro supplement to the Court of Cassation voiding any sale notice that forgets its price. Keep your inventories, diary every deadline from key handover, challenge defective notices in writing, and use the free conciliation commission before litigating. The statute does the heavy lifting, but only for the tenant who invokes it in time.