You found the flat in Lyon, signed the lease in a language you half-read, paid one month’s rent as a deposit and moved in with your passport, your visa and your faith in French paperwork. Months later the boiler fails in January, the agency blames you, and when you finally leave, the landlord keeps the deposit for stains you never made. Or worse: a letter arrives telling you to leave within six months because the owner wants the flat back, or a bailiff serves papers over two months of unpaid rent. Every one of these moments has a strict French procedure behind it, and the tenant who knows the procedure usually wins.
This guide is written entirely for a British reader renting a home in France after Brexit, in plain English with every French term explained the first time it appears. It covers the two battles British tenants actually fight: first, your money, meaning the deposit, the service charges and who pays for repairs when the landlord refuses; second, your roof, meaning how to test whether a notice to leave is valid and how to stop an eviction for rent arrears. Since Brexit you rent as a third-country national, so agencies will ask for your passport and your residence permit, and with no French tax record behind you the guarantor question arrives early: many British tenants solve it with a bank guarantee or with Visale, the free guarantee scheme for employees run by Action Logement. Read this guide before you sign, before you leave, and before you ignore any letter with a blue stamp on it.
I. Your money at stake: deposit, charges and repairs when the landlord will not pay
A. Where is my deposit and how do I get it back with the 10% monthly penalty?
In France the deposit is called the dépôt de garantie, and the statute caps it hard. Article 22 of the law of 6 July 1989, the loi n° 89-462 du 6 juillet 1989 that governs nearly all residential lettings in France, provides that “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.” One month of rent excluding charges is the ceiling for an unfurnished letting, so any demand for two or three months upfront is unlawful, and a landlord who makes you pay rent more than two months in advance may not demand a deposit at all. Keep that comparison in mind if you previously rented in England: there your landlord must place the money in a government-approved scheme, because under the English system the landlord must place the money in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it and return it within 10 days once both sides agree the amount, as explained in the official gov.uk guide on tenancy deposit protection. France has no protection scheme. Instead it gives you speed and a penalty: the same Article 22, which you can read in full on Légifrance, Article 22 of the law of 6 July 1989, provides that “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.” One month where the exit inventory matches the entry inventory, two months otherwise, since the article 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.”
Three words in that sentence decide most disputes, so read them like a judge would. Duly justified means proved with documents: an unpaid rent balance needs the ledger, a repair needs the invoice, a charge top-up needs the annual statement. A landlord who writes “cleaning: 400 euros” on plain paper with no invoice has not justified anything and must return the deposit in full. The second decisive phrase is the comparison of the two inventories. The état des lieux, the detailed inventory of the condition of the flat drawn up at check-in and check-out, is the only evidence that counts for wear and damage, which is why Article 3-2 of the same law, published on Légifrance, Article 3-2 of the law of 6 July 1989, requires that “Il est établi contradictoirement et amiablement par les parties ou par un tiers mandaté par elles et joint au contrat de location.” Where the parties cannot agree, the article sends for the enforcement officer, the commissaire de justice, the officer formerly called the huissier de justice: “il est établi par un commissaire de justice, sur l’initiative de la partie la plus diligente, à frais partagés par moitié entre le bailleur et le locataire”, with seven days’ warning, since “les parties en sont avisées par le commissaire de justice au moins sept jours à l’avance, par lettre recommandée avec demande d’avis de réception.” Practical lesson for a British tenant: never accept a check-in done in five minutes on a phone, never leave without your signed copy, and take dated photographs of every room, because the exit comparison will be made word for word against that document. Where no inventory was drawn up at all, the Civil Code turns against the landlord: Article 1731 of the Civil Code, on Légifrance, Article 1731 of the Civil Code, states that “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 that presumption from the tenant’s side at exit: with no entry inventory describing damage, the landlord struggles to prove you caused it.
Where the landlord misses the deadline, France pays you for the wait. The official service-public.fr guide on the deposit confirms the arithmetic: ten percent of the monthly rent excluding charges for every month of delay begun, added to the deposit on top, with worked examples on that page. Ten percent of the monthly rent excluding charges for every month of delay begun, added to the deposit on top, with worked examples on the official service-public.fr deposit guide. That penalty does not apply where the delay comes from you, because the same guide warns that it falls away where the tenant failed to give the new address when handing back the keys, so always state your new address in the key handover letter. And the penalty rewards only genuine debts: the Court of Cassation, the Cour de cassation, France’s supreme court for private law, held on 26 October 2023 in decision no. 22-20.183, published on courdecassation.fr, Cass. 3rd civil chamber, 26 October 2023, no. 22-20.183, that “Selon ce texte, le dépôt de garantie 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 that case the lower court had ordered the landlord to return a 660 euro deposit plus 1,188 euros of late penalties while simultaneously finding the tenants owed 301.73 euros of rent arrears and 732.45 euros of repair costs, and the supreme court quashed that contradiction: “En statuant ainsi, sans déduire du dépôt de garantie la somme de 301,73 euros au titre de l’arriéré locatif et celle de 732,45 euros au titre des dégradations locatives au paiement desquelles elle avait condamné les locataires, la cour d’appel a violé le texte susvisé.” The lesson cuts both ways and you should use it honestly: a landlord who proves real debts may set them off against the deposit and owes no penalty on the balance, while a landlord who invents deductions owes the deposit plus ten percent per month. So your remedy runs in three steps. First, send a formal demand by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, attaching both inventories, the photographs, the rent ledger and your new address, and calculating the penalty month by month. Second, if nothing comes back, refer the file free of charge to the commission départementale de conciliation, the departmental conciliation board for housing disputes, created by Article 20 of the 1989 law on Légifrance, Article 20 of the law of 6 July 1989, which states: “Il est créé, auprès du représentant de l’Etat dans chaque département, une commission départementale de conciliation composée de représentants d’organisations de bailleurs et d’organisations de locataires, en nombre égal. La commission rend un avis dans le délai de deux mois à compter de sa saisine et s’efforce de concilier les parties.” The board gives its opinion within two months and tries to reconcile the parties, and landlords often pay once that letter arrives. Third, if conciliation fails, apply to the juge des contentieux de la protection, the dedicated housing judge of the local tribunal, and do it inside the time limit, because the official deposit guide gives you three years from the day the deposit should have been returned, not from the day you feel ready. Three years from the day the deposit should have been returned, not from the day you feel ready.
B. The boiler is broken and the landlord says repairs are your problem: who really pays?
French law draws a bright line between the repairs the tenant owes and everything else, and almost every British tenant discovers that line only when something expensive breaks. The starting point is the landlord’s own duty, set by Article 1719 of the Civil Code on Légifrance, Article 1719 of the Civil Code: “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.” The same article continues: “2° D’entretenir cette chose en état de servir à l’usage pour lequel elle a été louée ; 3° D’en faire jouir paisiblement le preneur pendant la durée du bail”. Deliver a decent home, keep it fit for the agreed use, and guarantee peaceful enjoyment: no clause in the lease can remove those duties, because they arise from the nature of the contract itself, with no special wording needed. The 1989 law repeats the promise for the front door question of fitness: Article 6, on Légifrance, Article 6 of the law of 6 July 1989, provides that “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, exempt de toute infestation d’espèces nuisibles et parasites, répondant à un niveau de performance minimal au sens de l’article L. 173-1-1 du code de la construction et de l’habitation et doté des éléments le rendant conforme à l’usage d’habitation.” A decent home with no manifest risk to health or safety, free of pests, meeting the minimum energy performance level and equipped for residential use: damp that keeps returning, heating that cannot heat, wiring that trips, and windows that no longer close all point to the landlord’s side of the line.
The tenant’s side is narrower than most leases pretend. You answer for damage and loss during your occupation, since Article 1732 of the Civil Code on Légifrance, Article 1732 of the Civil Code provides: “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.” But age and force majeure are never your bill, because Article 1755 on Légifrance, Article 1755 of the Civil Code states: “Aucune des réparations réputées locatives n’est à la charge des locataires quand elles ne sont occasionnées que par vétusté ou force majeure.” Wear and tear, vétusté, and force majeure stay with the owner. A ten-year-old carpet worn thin, paint yellowed by time, a twenty-year-old boiler that dies of old age: none of that is a tenant repair, however firmly the check-out report blames you. Two shields protect you against the invoice the agency slides across the table. First, the lease cannot make you pay on the landlord’s say-so alone: Article 4 of the 1989 law, on Légifrance, Article 4 of the law of 6 July 1989, opens with “Est réputée non écrite toute clause :” and lists among the deemed-unwritten terms, at point f, “Par laquelle le locataire s’engage par avance à des remboursements sur la base d’une estimation faite unilatéralement par le bailleur au titre des réparations locatives”. A clause binding you in advance to repay sums estimated unilaterally by the landlord for tenant repairs is deemed unwritten, meaning the judge simply ignores it. Second, only force majeure excuses the landlord, and the Court of Cassation enforces that strictly: on 16 October 2025 in decision no. 24-16.682, on courdecassation.fr, Cass. 3rd civil chamber, 16 October 2025, no. 24-16.682, the court recalled that “Il résulte de ces textes que le bailleur est obligé de délivrer au locataire un logement décent, de lui en assurer la jouissance paisible pendant la durée du bail, d’entretenir les locaux en état de servir à l’usage prévu et d’y faire toutes les réparations, autres que locatives, nécessaires au maintien en état et à l’entretien normal des locaux loués.” The lower court had rejected the tenants’ claim for loss of enjoyment because the lease said the tenant took the flat as seen and could make no further complaint, and the supreme court quashed that reasoning, holding the appeal court had ruled “sans caractériser un événement de force majeure, seul de nature à exonérer la bailleresse de ses obligations de délivrance d’un logement décent, d’entretien et de garantie de jouissance paisible”. Only a characterised event of force majeure can release the landlord from decent delivery, maintenance and peaceful enjoyment. A flat accepted as seen, a report noting damp, a landlord who says the rent reflects the condition: none of that replaces the statutory duty.
Turn that law into a method the next time the heating dies or the ceiling stains spread. Notify the landlord or the agency in writing at once, by registered letter or by email with proof of sending, describing the defect, dating it, and setting a reasonable deadline for repair, because judges reward tenants who warned early and punish silent suffering. Photograph and film everything with dates, keep the expert-sounding vocabulary for later, and if health is at stake, ask the mairie, the town hall, or the regional health agency to inspect, since an official report of unfitness changes the balance of the whole file. Never stop paying the full rent to force a repair: French law gives no right to withhold rent unilaterally, and arrears you create on purpose become the landlord’s weapon in part II of this guide. If the landlord still does nothing, you may ask the housing judge to order the works under penalty, to authorise you to have urgent work done at the landlord’s expense, to reduce the rent for the period of lost enjoyment, and to award damages for the trouble suffered, relying on Articles 1719 and 6 and the 2025 ruling above. Service charges work the same way in reverse: the charges récupérables, the recoverable service charges the lease may pass to you, must match the annual statement with invoices behind it, and the same conciliation board and the same judge hear charge disputes, since Article 20 expressly covers deposit, inventories, charges and repairs together. Challenge the statement line by line within the year, demand the invoices for any line that jumps, and refuse estimated top-ups with no breakdown.
II. Staying in your home: notice to leave and eviction defence in France
A. Your landlord tells you to leave so he can move in: is the notice valid?
A French landlord cannot end a tenancy because he feels like it. The congé, the formal notice to leave, is valid only on three legal grounds, and Article 15 of the 1989 law, on Légifrance, Article 15 of the law of 6 July 1989, states the rule: “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 to live in or to house a close relative, sale of the flat, or a legitimate and serious reason such as the tenant’s breach: outside those cases the notice fails. Where the landlord relies on repossession, the article demands precision on pain of nullity: “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 qui ne peut être que le bailleur, son conjoint, le partenaire auquel il est lié par un pacte civil de solidarité enregistré à la date du congé, son concubin notoire depuis au moins un an à la date du congé, ses ascendants, ses descendants ou ceux de son conjoint, de son partenaire ou de son concubin notoire.” Name and address of the person moving in, and the exact family link, failing which the notice is void. Timing matters just as much: “Le délai de préavis applicable au congé est de six mois lorsqu’il émane du bailleur.” Six months before the end of the lease, served by registered letter, by bailiff’s writ, or by hand against receipt. And the judge is your auditor: “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.” Even without being asked, the court may check that the stated reason is genuine.
The leading decision on fake repossession tells you exactly what evidence wins. On 12 October 2023 in decision no. 22-18.580, on courdecassation.fr, Cass. 3rd civil chamber, 12 October 2023, no. 22-18.580, tenants attacked a repossession notice given by a widowed landlord who said he wanted to return to his home region, and the Court of Cassation first clarified the formal point: “la prescription de la justification dans le congé du caractère réel et sérieux de la décision de reprise, à titre de condition de forme, n’est pas édictée à peine de nullité.” The notice itself does not have to prove, inside its four corners, that the plan is genuine; nullity strikes only the missing motive and the missing beneficiary details. But the substance is fully reviewable, and the appeal court had upheld the notice only after finding electoral-roll registration, renovation invoices, utility contracts, an internet subscription, a tele-alarm and a tax-office declaration of residence, so that, in the supreme court’s words, “La cour d’appel, qui pouvait tenir compte d’éléments postérieurs dès lors qu’ils étaient de nature à établir cette intention, en a souverainement déduit le caractère réel et sérieux de l’intention du bailleur, au jour de la délivrance du congé, de reprendre le logement pour l’habiter à titre de résidence principale, et a ainsi légalement justifié sa décision.” Later evidence may confirm the intention existing on the day of the notice, and the intention must be to occupy as a main home. Turn that around and you have your defence checklist. Demand the beneficiary’s name, address and family link in the notice itself. Then test reality: is the landlord on the electoral roll there, are utilities in his name, were works done, did he declare the address to the tax office? A repossession followed within months by a re-letting advert at a higher rent smells of fraud, and tenants who prove it win damages for fraudulent notice on top of keeping the flat. Keep the advert screenshots with dates, ask neighbours in writing, and request the landlord’s proof early through your avocat, because the landlord who cannot show a single concrete step toward moving in will struggle to convince any judge.
Two complements complete the picture, one protecting you, one freeing you. The protection: certain tenants cannot be made to leave at the lease end without rehousing. Where the tenant is over sixty-five with modest resources, or, regardless of age, where the household resources fall below the statutory ceiling and the tenant is over sixty-five or disabled, the landlord who gives notice for repossession or sale must offer rehousing nearby corresponding to the tenant’s needs and means. Check your situation against the current ceilings before conceding anything, because this shield is often the reason an apparently hopeless file settles. The freedom: you may leave at any time, since Article 12 of the 1989 law, on Légifrance, Article 12 of the law of 6 July 1989, provides that “Le locataire peut résilier le contrat de location à tout moment, dans les conditions de forme et de délai prévues à l’article 15.” Your notice period is three months as a rule, because Article 15 of the 1989 law states: “Lorsqu’il émane du locataire, le délai de préavis applicable au congé est de trois mois.” But the same Article 15 reduces it: “Le délai de préavis est toutefois d’un mois : 1° Sur les territoires mentionnés au premier alinéa du I de l’article 17”, meaning the tight housing zones that cover Paris, Lyon, Marseille and most large cities where most British tenants live, “2° En cas d’obtention d’un premier emploi, de mutation, de perte d’emploi ou de nouvel emploi consécutif à une perte d’emploi”, as Article 15 lists them, plus health reasons certified by a doctor, domestic-violence protection orders, welfare benefits and allocated social housing. Claim the reduced period expressly in the notice letter and attach the proof at the same time, because Article 15 warns: “Le locataire souhaitant bénéficier des délais réduits de préavis mentionnés aux 1° à 5° précise le motif invoqué et le justifie au moment de l’envoi de la lettre de congé. A défaut, le délai de préavis applicable à ce congé est de trois mois.” Name the ground, enclose the evidence, send by registered letter or bailiff, and stop paying at the true end date.
B. You owe rent and the bailiff serves papers over arrears: how to stop the eviction
Rent arrears are the one breach that can end a French tenancy automatically, but the automatism is fenced with mandatory warnings, and each fence is a chance to save your home. Every residential lease contains a clause résolutoire, the termination clause that ends the contract by operation of law, and Article 24 of the 1989 law, on Légifrance, Article 24 of the law of 6 July 1989, frames it: “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.” Six weeks after a payment order served by the enforcement officer and left unpaid: before that writ, the clause is only ink on paper. The writ itself must contain six warnings on pain of nullity, and the article lists them: “Le commandement de payer contient, à peine de nullité : 1° La mention que le locataire dispose d’un délai de six semaines pour payer sa dette ; 2° Le montant mensuel du loyer et des charges ; 3° Le décompte de la dette ; 4° L’avertissement qu’à défaut de paiement ou d’avoir sollicité des délais de paiement, le locataire s’expose à une procédure judiciaire de résiliation de son bail et d’expulsion ; 5° La mention de la possibilité pour le locataire de saisir le fonds de solidarité pour le logement de son département, dont l’adresse est précisée, aux fins de solliciter une aide financière ; 6° La mention de la possibilité pour le locataire de saisir, à tout moment, la juridiction compétente aux fins de demander un délai de grâce sur le fondement de l’article 1343-5 du code civil.” Check the writ you received against those six lines the day it arrives. A missing monthly rent figure, a missing debt breakdown, no address for the housing solidarity fund, no mention of grace periods: any gap can annul the writ and restart the landlord’s clock from zero. Readers facing the owner’s side of the same procedure will find the mirror-image analysis in our companion guide for British landlords recovering unpaid rent and enforcing eviction.
Once the writ is valid, act inside the six weeks, because everything useful happens before the court date. Pay the full arrears if you can, since payment within the period kills the termination clause outright. If you cannot pay everything, apply at once to the fonds de solidarité pour le logement, the departmental housing solidarity fund whose address the writ must give you, for a grant or a loan covering the debt; social workers at the mairie or the department can file the application with you and often faster than you alone. In parallel, ask the court for a délai de grâce, a judicial grace period allowing payment over time, which suspends the termination clause while you comply with the schedule. Negotiate a written plan with the landlord too, but never trust an oral promise to wait: only payment, a fund decision, or a judge’s order stops the clause. If the case reaches court, go, with proof of every payment, the fund application, evidence of income, illness, job loss or late salary, and a realistic repayment proposal, because the judge may grant schedules, suspend the clause, and refuse eviction where the debt is small, recent, or already shrinking. Even a court order to leave does not mean the bailiffs come tomorrow. Article L. 412-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, on Légifrance, Article L. 412-1 of the enforcement code, provides that where the expulsion concerns the home of the person expelled, “elle ne peut avoir lieu qu’à l’expiration d’un délai de deux mois qui suit le commandement”, two clear months after the order to vacate is served, during which you may ask the judge for more time. And winter stops the clock for everyone: Article L. 412-6, on Légifrance, Article L. 412-6 of the enforcement code, states that “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 executed eviction from 1 November to 31 March unless the household is rehoused in conditions respecting the family’s unity and needs: the trêve hivernale, the winter truce, is automatic and needs no application. Use those months to clear the debt, secure the fund’s help, or find the next flat rather than waiting for spring.
Two practical warnings finish this part, both learned from British files. First, leaving France does not erase a French rent debt. The landlord can obtain the court order in your absence, have it enforced against any French bank account or deposit, and pursue recognition of the judgment in England for assets there, so an ignored commandement can follow you across the Channel with interest and costs attached. Deal with the writ while you still live in the flat, when conciliation, the fund and grace periods are all available. Second, an eviction file can touch your residence position. Tenants on a Withdrawal Agreement card or a multi-year residence permit who fall into proceedings should keep every proof of address, payment effort and court compliance together, because prefectures decide renewals on integration and stability files where a documented repayment effort reads very differently from an unexplained debt. If a notice to quit or a payment order lands on your mat, treat the deadlines as the emergency they are: six weeks on the writ, six months on the landlord’s notice, two months after the order to vacate, and 1 November as the winter shield. Miss the first and you may still be saved by the second; miss them all and the law runs out of ways to help you.
Conclusion
A British tenant in France after Brexit rents under one of the most protective statutes in Europe, provided the protection is claimed on time and in writing. The deposit cannot exceed one month of rent, it comes back within one month where the inventories match and two months otherwise, only documented debts may be set off, and every month of unjustified delay adds ten percent of the rent, as the Court of Cassation’s October 2023 ruling confirms. Repairs divide along a clear line: the landlord delivers and maintains a decent home and guarantees peaceful enjoyment, excused only by proven force majeure, while the tenant answers only for damage during occupation, never for age or force majeure, and no lease clause may impose advance repayment on the landlord’s unilateral estimate. A landlord’s notice to leave needs a statutory ground, names and addresses the beneficiary on pain of nullity, respects six months, and must survive the judge’s review of its reality, as the October 2023 repossession ruling shows. Rent arrears trigger the termination clause only six weeks after a payment order containing six mandatory warnings, grace periods and the solidarity fund offer a way back, eviction waits two months after the order to vacate, and winter suspends removals from November to March. Photograph the flat, send everything by registered letter, state your new address at key handover, and challenge early: in French tenancy law the tenant who writes first usually gets paid first and stays longest.
Need a quick opinion on your case
Bring your lease, both inventories with photographs, the deposit demand or deduction letter, any repair correspondence, and any notice to leave or payment order to an avocat before a deadline expires. Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with an avocat of the firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 (Maître Reda Kohen), or reach us through our contact page. We assist British tenants and residents in Paris and across the Paris region as well as throughout France.