Every year, thousands of British citizens rent their first French home: a flat in Paris while a house purchase goes through, a cottage in the Dordogne for a trial year, a studio for a child studying at a French university. Renting in France feels familiar until the day something goes wrong. The landlord keeps the whole dépôt de garantie (security deposit) for repainting that was already due. A congé (formal notice to leave) arrives by recorded delivery, giving six months to vacate a home you thought was yours for years. Or a letter headed commandement de quitter les lieux orders you out within two months. At that moment, British reflexes mislead: there is no holding deposit scheme, no section 21 equivalent that works the way you expect, and no lawful self-help eviction. French residential letting is governed almost entirely by one statute, the loi n° 89-462 du 6 juillet 1989, applied by a specialist housing judge, the juge des contentieux de la protection, and policed by a Court of Cassation that hands down tenant-friendly rulings every year. Since Brexit, British tenants rent as third-country nationals, often on tight timetables linked to a visa or a carte de séjour, which makes every procedural deadline bite harder. This guide explains, with the exact statutory wording and the most recent case law, how to get your deposit back when you leave, how to test whether your landlord’s congé is valid, and how to delay or stop an eviction.
I. Getting Your Deposit Back When You Leave Your French Rental
Deposit disputes are the single most common conflict between French landlords and departing tenants, and British leavers are particularly exposed: they often hand back the keys in a hurry, forget to give a forwarding address, and discover the problem months later from the United Kingdom. French law, however, is precise and generous to tenants who know the timetable.
A. How Long Does Your Landlord Have to Return Your Deposit?
The starting point is Article 22 of the Act of 6 July 1989, which caps the deposit and fixes two different return deadlines. Where a deposit is stipulated in the lease, the statute provides that “il ne peut être supérieur à un mois de loyer en principal.” From there, everything depends on the état des lieux de sortie, the check-out inventory compared against the check-in inventory. The Act states: “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.” In plain terms, if you leave the flat in the condition recorded when you moved in, the landlord has one month from the return of the keys to pay you back, less only sums that are properly evidenced. If the two inventories differ, the landlord gets a second month: “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.”
Three practical consequences follow from Article 22, and British tenants trip over each of them. First, the clock runs from the return of the keys, however effected: handed over in person or sent by recorded delivery. Keep proof of that date, because every later calculation depends on it. Second, when you hand back the keys you must give your new address, since the statute adds: “A cette fin, le locataire indique au bailleur ou à son mandataire, lors de la remise des clés, l’adresse de son nouveau domicile.” Tenants returning to the United Kingdom frequently omit this step, and the omission has teeth, as explained below. Third, in blocks of flats the landlord may hold back a capped provision while the annual service-charge accounts are finalised: the Act allows the landlord to “conserver une provision ne pouvant excéder 20 % du montant du dépôt de garantie jusqu’à l’arrêté annuel des comptes de l’immeuble”, provided the retention is properly justified, with final settlement within the month following definitive approval of the accounts. A 20 per cent retention for pending charges (service charges) is therefore lawful in a copropriété (co-owned block); a 100 per cent retention is not.
Missing the deadline is expensive for the landlord. That same Article 22 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.” Every month begun late adds 10 per cent of the monthly rent excluding charges, automatically. There is one escape hatch for the landlord, and it is the one British leavers trigger most often: “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.” If you move back to Manchester or Maidstone without leaving a forwarding address, the penalty does not run. Leave the address in writing and the penalty is yours to claim.
The Court of Cassation confirmed how strictly this works in a decision of 12 February 2026 that every tenant should know. A landlord who had rented out a furnished flat sent a reimbursement cheque on 9 April 2021 and argued that the deposit had been returned on time; the tenant said he had never received the cheque, which was never cashed. The Third Civil Chamber recalled the rule first: “Il résulte du second qu’à défaut de restitution dans le délai de deux mois à compter de la remise des clés, le dépôt de garantie restant dû au locataire est majoré d’une somme égale à 10 % du loyer mensuel principal, pour chaque période mensuelle commencée en retard et que la majoration court de plein droit à l’issue du délai de deux mois suivant la remise des clés.” It then quashed the lower court’s refusal of the penalty: “En statuant ainsi, sans constater que le bailleur justifiait de la réception du chèque par le locataire, qui la contestait, le juge a violé les textes susvisés.” (Cass. 3rd civ., 12 Feb. 2026, No 24-21.258). A cheque that is posted but never received and never cashed is not payment. For a British tenant paid by international transfer, the lesson is identical: keep the bank credit advice, because the landlord who cannot prove receipt pays the 10 per cent. Note also that this ruling applied Article 22 to a furnished letting, so the one-month and two-month deadlines protect you whether you rent furnished or unfurnished. The English-language service-public fact sheets on the security deposit and on the check-out inventory summarise the same timetable for readers who want the administration’s own version.
B. What Deductions Can You Challenge on the Way Out?
Landlords rarely refuse outright to repay; they deduct. Repainting, cleaning, a broken blind, estimated future charges, a month of rent supposedly unpaid: each deduction must survive the same statutory test, which appears twice in Article 22 in the words “sous réserve qu’elles soient dûment justifiées” (subject to being duly evidenced). A deduction without paperwork is a deduction you can challenge. In practice, French judges expect invoices, receipts or at least detailed quotes for works actually carried out, comparative check-in and check-out inventories describing the same item differently, and, for service charges, the annual statement. A standard forfait ménage (flat-rate cleaning charge) written into the lease, an estimate never followed by works, or photographs with no inventory to anchor them routinely fail this test. Ask in writing for the evidence behind every euro retained; the landlord who cannot produce it owes it back, with the 10 per cent monthly penalty if the lawful deadline has passed.
The check-out inventory is where most deductions are won or lost. It must be adversarial and free: both sides walk through together, note each room, and sign. If no check-in inventory was ever drawn up, the tenant benefits from a powerful presumption in Article 1731 of the Civil Code: “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.” Read carefully, this cuts both ways, and British tenants misunderstand it in both directions. Where no inventory exists at all, you are presumed to have received the flat in good decorative order, so you must return it in good decorative order; the landlord cannot, however, charge you for deterioration that is mere wear and tear (vétusté), nor for defects the flat already had, and proving either is easier where the landlord kept no record. Where a full check-in inventory exists and the check-out matches it, the one-month deadline applies and deductions should be close to zero. Never sign a check-out inventory you disagree with without writing your reservations on the document itself; once signed without comment, it becomes the landlord’s best exhibit.
A second trap concerns the notice period itself. British tenants who give notice and move out early often assume rent stops when they hand back the keys. The opposite is true when notice comes from the tenant, and the Court of Cassation said so again on 4 June 2026. A tenant who had given notice on 22 April 2023 returned the keys early by agreement on 1 July and argued she owed nothing further; the landlord claimed rent to the end of the notice period. The Third Civil Chamber held: “Il résulte de ce texte que, lorsque le locataire a notifié le congé, il est redevable du loyer et des charges pendant tout le délai de préavis, l’acceptation de la remise des clés et la rédaction d’un état des lieux de sortie, qui n’établissent que la libération des lieux, ne suffisant pas à caractériser la renonciation non équivoque du bailleur au paiement de l’intégralité des loyers échus pendant le préavis.” (Cass. 3rd civ., 4 June 2026, No 25-13.387). Only an unequivocal waiver by the landlord, or a reletting agreed with the landlord before the notice expires, releases you. Get any early-release agreement in writing before you book the ferry.
If the landlord will not pay, proceed in stages and keep everything in writing. Start with a formal demand (mise en demeure) by recorded delivery, recalculating the deadline from the proven key-return date and adding the 10 per cent penalty month by month. If that fails, the standard next step is the juge des contentieux de la protection at the local tribunal judiciaire, the specialist housing judge who decided both cases cited above; small deposit claims follow a simplified procedure there and representation by a lawyer is not compulsory, though cross-border tenants usually benefit from one. The administration’s procedure page for claiming back a deposit that was not returned walks through the same sequence. Throughout, remember the two details that decide British cases: the proven date the keys came back, and the forwarding address you left in writing.
II. Challenging a Congé and Stopping an Eviction in France
Receiving a congé is frightening, but a surprising number of congés served on British tenants are defective, and even a valid congé is only the first step of a long judicial procedure. No landlord in France may change the locks, cut off utilities or remove your belongings to force you out; only a court can order eviction, and only a commissaire de justice (the enforcement officer, formerly titled huissier) can carry it out. Understanding the two phases, validity of the notice and the eviction procedure, turns panic into a plan.
A. Is Your Landlord’s Congé Valid?
A landlord’s notice to terminate is valid only if it states a lawful ground and follows a strict form. Article 15-I of the Act of 6 July 1989 provides: “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.” Repossession for personal use, sale, or a serious and legitimate ground such as persistent arrears: those are the only doors, and the notice must say which one it walks through, since “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 ainsi que la nature du lien existant entre le bailleur et le bénéficiaire de la reprise”, a circle limited to the landlord, spouse, civil partner, long-standing partner, ascendants and descendants. The notice period for a landlord’s congé is six months: “Le délai de préavis applicable au congé est de six mois lorsqu’il émane du bailleur.” Service must be by recorded delivery, by enforcement officer, or handed over against receipt: “Le congé doit être notifié par lettre recommandée avec demande d’avis de réception, signifié par acte d’un commissaire de justice ou remis en main propre contre récépissé ou émargement.” A congé sent by ordinary email, or arriving five months before the lease ends, is vulnerable to annulment. And judges check of their own motion: “En cas de contestation, le juge peut, même d’office, vérifier la réalité du motif du congé et le respect des obligations prévues au présent article.”
The congé for sale (congé pour vendre) deserves special attention because British tenants in Paris, Lyon and the coastal cities receive them regularly, and the formalities are the strictest of all. The Court of Cassation restated them on 9 February 2022: “Selon ce texte, le congé, lorsqu’il est fondé sur la décision de vendre le logement, doit, à peine de nullité, indiquer le prix et les conditions de la vente projetée. Le congé vaut offre de vente au profit du locataire.” (Cass. 3rd civ., 9 Feb. 2022, No 21-12.179). The notice must quote the price and conditions, and it doubles as an offer to sell to you, which Article 15-II keeps open for the first two months of the notice period: “l’offre est valable pendant les deux premiers mois du délai de préavis.” In that 2022 case the tenant argued the stated price of 225,000 euros was so far above market value that the congé was a sham; the appeal court had shrugged that overpricing was irrelevant, and the Court of Cassation quashed it for failing to ask “si l’écart entre le prix proposé et celui du marché ne révélait pas le caractère frauduleux du congé délivré au locataire”. An inflated price does not automatically void the congé, but a gross, unexplained gap invites the judge to find fraud, and fraud kills the notice. Since 2021 Article 15-IV gives this criminal teeth as well: “Le fait pour un bailleur de délivrer un congé justifié frauduleusement par sa décision de reprendre ou de vendre le logement est puni d’une amende pénale dont le montant ne peut être supérieur à 6 000 € pour une personne physique et à 30 000 € pour une personne morale”, and “Le locataire est recevable dans sa constitution de partie civile et la demande de réparation de son préjudice.” A sham congé can therefore end with the landlord fined and ordered to compensate you.
Two protective regimes in Article 15 frequently help British households. The first concerns older tenants of modest means: the landlord generally cannot refuse renewal against a tenant over sixty-five whose annual income sits below the social-housing ceiling unless comparable rehousing is offered, with the ages assessed at the lease expiry date and resources at the notice date, since “L’âge du locataire, de la personne à sa charge et celui du bailleur sont appréciés à la date d’échéance du contrat ; le montant de leurs ressources est apprécié à la date de notification du congé.” The shield falls away where the landlord is personally over sixty-five or of similarly modest means: “les dispositions de l’alinéa précédent ne sont pas applicables lorsque le bailleur est une personne physique âgée de plus de soixante-cinq ans ou si ses ressources annuelles sont inférieures au plafond de ressources mentionné au premier alinéa.” British retirees renting in France check these thresholds first. The second concerns tenants who give notice themselves: the standard notice is three months, cut to one month in defined situations such as a first job, a transfer, job loss, health grounds certified by a doctor, domestic violence, welfare benefits or allocation of social housing, provided the ground is stated and evidenced when notice is sent. During the notice, the money rule mirrors the deposit case: “Pendant le délai de préavis, le locataire n’est redevable du loyer et des charges que pour le temps où il a occupé réellement les lieux si le congé a été notifié par le bailleur”, whereas the tenant who gives notice owes the whole period unless the flat is relet by agreement. Read your congé the week it arrives, diary the six-month expiry, and take advice before that date passes, because once the notice expires you hold the flat with no legal right (sans droit ni titre) and the landlord can sue.
B. How Do You Delay or Stop an Eviction?
Even after a valid congé expires, or where rent arrears justify termination, eviction follows a mandatory court route with several built-in pauses. The first pause protects everyone: once the landlord has you served with a formal order to leave (commandement de quitter les lieux), Article L412-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures provides that “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 .” No physical eviction within two months of that order, and any attempt to bypass it, locks changed or belongings removed, is a criminal matter to report to the police and the procureur de la République (public prosecutor) rather than a civil dispute to negotiate.
The landlord must then apply to the juge des contentieux de la protection, before whom you can raise every defence at once: the congé was void, the arrears figure is wrong, charges were never properly settled, or you need time. The judge hearing the eviction can grant renewable stays where rehousing cannot happen in normal conditions: “Le juge peut accorder des délais renouvelables aux occupants de lieux habités ou de locaux à usage professionnel, dont l’expulsion a été ordonnée judiciairement, chaque fois que le relogement des intéressés ne peut avoir lieu dans des conditions normales.” (Article L412-3). Those stays run from one month to one year: “La durée des délais prévus à l’article L. 412-3 ne peut, en aucun cas, être inférieure à un mois ni supérieure à un an.” (Article L412-4), calibrated on your conduct in paying what you owe, the parties’ ages, health, family and financial situations, the steps you document to find somewhere else, and your right to decent housing. A British tenant who pays arrears into court, who shows school enrolment for children, medical certificates, or evidence of a full search for alternative accommodation in a tight market, and who applies for social housing and registers with the local housing support services, gives the judge concrete material for a long stay. Arrive with nothing and the judge has nothing to work with.
The final shield is the calendar. Article L412-6 establishes the winter truce (trêve hivernale): “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.” Even a final eviction order cannot be enforced between 1 November and 31 March unless you are rehoused in conditions that keep the family together. Use those five months to clear arrears, negotiate a supervised repayment plan (plan d’apurement), or secure the next tenancy, because on 1 April the file reopens. Note the narrow exception at the end of the same article for people who forced their way into someone else’s home by threats or violence; ordinary tenants with a lease are not concerned by it.
For British readers the practical sequence is therefore straightforward. The week a congé or payment order arrives, check the notice against Article 15, diary every deadline, and keep paying the rent and charges you genuinely owe, since judges punish tenants who stop paying altogether. Answer every step in writing, attend every hearing, and assemble the file a French judge expects: lease, inventories, rent receipts, proof of payments, medical and school documents, evidence of your housing search, and, where money is the issue, a realistic repayment proposal. Where residence rights interact, for example where a pending permit renewal complicates a move, the companion guide on long-stay visas and residence permits for Britons explains the immigration side. And where the dispute starts across the Channel, the United Kingdom government’s Living in France guide collects the British-side pointers for residents.
Conclusion
A French tenancy gives British tenants stronger protection than most expect, provided they act on paper and on time. The deposit comes back within one month where the check-out matches the check-in and within two months otherwise, with 10 per cent of the monthly rent added for every month begun late, and a posted cheque that never arrives is not payment. Deductions survive only where they are duly evidenced, and handing back the keys early does not cut short a notice period the tenant gave. A landlord’s congé must state a lawful ground on pain of nullity, allow six months, and, where it is a congé for sale, quote the price and stand as an offer for two months; a sham notice risks a criminal fine of up to 6,000 euros alongside damages. Even then, eviction needs a court order, a two-month order to leave, and survives the one-month to one-year stays a judge can grant and the winter truce from 1 November to 31 March. Keep the lease, both inventories, the key-return receipt, the forwarding address and every payment trace in one file, challenge each defective step in writing, and put the file before a lawyer before the deadlines expire rather than after the locks are changed.
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Facing a retained deposit, a congé or an eviction threat in France? Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 or contact us via our contact page. Our Paris office advises British tenants across France, including Paris and the Île-de-France.