Renting a flat in France feels familiar until the paperwork lands on the table. The lease, called a bail, runs for three years if the flat is unfurnished and one year if it is furnished, and it renews by itself unless somebody serves formal notice. The inventory of condition, called the \u00e9tat des lieux, is compared line by line on the way in and on the way out, and every scratch that was not written down on arrival can be charged to you on departure. The security deposit, called the d\u00e9p\u00f4t de garantie<\/a>, looks like an English deposit but obeys French deadlines and a French penalty of ten per cent of the monthly rent for every month of delay. This guide is written for a British tenant settling in France after Brexit, whether you rent a studio in Paris while you look for a house, or a family flat in Lyon, Bordeaux or Lille for the long term. It explains the lease you sign, the deposit you must recover, the repairs your landlord owes you, and the eviction notice, called a cong\u00e9, that you can challenge. Every French term is explained when it first appears, every decisive rule is quoted from the statute or the case law, and every remedy ends with the judge who grants it and the paper that starts it.<\/p>\n Start with the lease itself. An unfurnished letting of a home used as your main residence, called a location vide, lasts three years and a furnished letting, called a location meubl\u00e9e, lasts one year, and both renew automatically unless the landlord serves a cong\u00e9 or you give your own notice to leave. The contents of the lease are not open to negotiation. Article 3 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> lists what the contract must contain, from the description of the flat to the amount of the rent, and anything missing from that list is a weapon you keep for later. Read the lease with that list beside you, because a clause that contradicts the statute is simply unenforceable against you. Article 4 of the same Act<\/a> wipes out abusive clauses, and French courts apply that provision without hesitation to penalty clauses, automatic charges for drafting the lease, or clauses that impose the landlord’s own insurance on you. If your Paris estate agent tells you that a clause is standard practice, the answer is that standard practice does not survive Article 4.<\/p>\n Then comes the \u00e9tat des lieux, the inventory of condition drawn up on arrival and again on departure. British tenants often treat it as a formality and sign it in five minutes. In France it is the central piece of evidence for everything about the deposit, the repairs and the alleged damage, and the comparison between the two documents decides who pays for what. Insist that every mark, every stain, every tired seal and every ill-fitting window is written down and photographed, because the departure document will be read against the arrival document and silence favours the landlord. If the landlord refuses a joint inspection, the statute provides the answer. As the Court of Cassation recalled in its decision of 16 November 2023, Cass. 3rd civ., 16 November 2023, no. 22-19.422<\/a>: “si l’\u00e9tat des lieux ne peut \u00eatre \u00e9tabli contradictoirement et amiablement par les parties ou par un tiers mandat\u00e9 par elle, il est \u00e9tabli par un huissier de justice, devenu commissaire de justice, sur l’initiative de la partie la plus diligente, \u00e0 frais partag\u00e9s par moiti\u00e9 entre le bailleur et le locataire.” In plain English, either side can call in a commissaire de justice, the court officer formerly called a huissier, and the cost is split equally. Never accept an inventory drawn up alone by the landlord after you have left. In that same decision the Court held that “un \u00e9tat des lieux de sortie \u00e9tabli unilat\u00e9ralement par le bailleur, sans recours \u00e0 un commissaire de justice, et dont le d\u00e9faut de contradiction est d\u00fb \u00e0 sa carence, ne peut faire la preuve de d\u00e9gradations imputables au locataire.” A one-sided departure inventory, drawn up because the landlord was too idle to organise a proper one, proves nothing against you.<\/p>\n The third check before signing is the guarantor, called the garant or caution. A British newcomer rarely has three French payslips and a French tax notice, called an avis d’imposition, so landlords in Paris routinely ask for a Garantme file, a Visale guarantee or a bank guarantee, or for six to twelve months of rent in advance, which you should refuse beyond what the statute allows. Remember the ceiling that protects you from the first day. Article 22 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> provides: “Lorsqu’un d\u00e9p\u00f4t de garantie est pr\u00e9vu par le contrat de location pour garantir l’ex\u00e9cution de ses obligations locatives par le locataire, il ne peut \u00eatre sup\u00e9rieur \u00e0 un mois de loyer en principal.” One month of rent excluding charges, called un mois de loyer en principal, is the maximum for an unfurnished letting, and the deposit can never be increased during the lease or at renewal. Any demand above that ceiling is unlawful, however politely the agency phrases it.<\/p>\n Two Paris points deserve attention at this stage. First, Paris applies a local rent-cap framework, so a rent wildly above comparable flats in the same street can be challenged, and the local tenants’ advice association, ADIL 75, will tell you whether your rent respects the cap before you sign. Second, if you arrive with a long-stay visa and need a French address to complete your residence permit paperwork, remember that the lease is also an administrative asset: keep the signed lease, the \u00e9tat des lieux d’entr\u00e9e and every rent receipt, called quittance de loyer, because the pr\u00e9fecture asks for proof of address at every renewal. Readers who are still organising their visa and first carte de s\u00e9jour will find the residence side of the move explained in our guide for British newcomers on French visas, cartes de s\u00e9jour and challenging a refusal<\/a>, which pairs naturally with this tenancy guide.<\/p>\n The most common dispute for British tenants is also the simplest: the keys were handed back months ago and the deposit has not come back. French law answers with two deadlines, and the comparison of the two \u00e9tats des lieux decides which one applies. Article 22 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> provides: “Il est restitu\u00e9 dans un d\u00e9lai maximal d’un mois \u00e0 compter de la remise des cl\u00e9s par le locataire lorsque l’\u00e9tat des lieux de sortie est conforme \u00e0 l’\u00e9tat des lieux d’entr\u00e9e”. One month from the return of the keys when the departure inventory matches the arrival inventory. Where the two documents differ, the same article continues: “Il est restitu\u00e9 dans un d\u00e9lai maximal de deux mois \u00e0 compter de la remise en main propre, ou par lettre recommand\u00e9e avec demande d’avis de r\u00e9ception, des cl\u00e9s au bailleur ou \u00e0 son mandataire”. Two months from the handover of the keys in person or by registered letter. The official English-language guidance on service-public.fr confirms both deadlines and the penalty below<\/a>, which is useful to quote back to an agency that pretends the rules are different for foreigners.<\/p>\n Deductions are where deposits evaporate, so the burden of proof matters enormously. The statute allows the landlord to deduct only sums that remain due and sums for which he is liable in your place, and only where they are duly justified, called d\u00fbment justifi\u00e9es. In practice that means unpaid rent shown by a ledger, called d\u00e9compte, and damage shown by comparing the two inventories plus invoices or estimates, called devis ou factures. A global invoice for gardening that does not separate the neglected flowerbeds from the rest will not do, a photograph taken by the landlord alone after your departure will not do, and a list of wear that is really ordinary wear and tear, called v\u00e9tust\u00e9, will not do. Ordinary wear and tear stays with the landlord and can never be charged to the deposit. If you live in a block of flats, called un immeuble collectif, the landlord may keep a provision of up to twenty per cent of the deposit until the annual building accounts are approved, but he must then settle the final balance within the month following that approval, and you can always agree to settle everything immediately instead of waiting.<\/p>\n When the deadline passes, the penalty runs by itself. Article 22 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> states: “A d\u00e9faut de restitution dans les d\u00e9lais pr\u00e9vus, le d\u00e9p\u00f4t de garantie restant d\u00fb au locataire est major\u00e9 d’une somme \u00e9gale \u00e0 10 % du loyer mensuel en principal, pour chaque p\u00e9riode mensuelle commenc\u00e9e en retard.” Ten per cent of the monthly rent excluding charges for every month of delay begun, automatically, without any formal notice. The only escape for the landlord is where you failed to give your new address when returning the keys: “Cette majoration n’est pas due lorsque l’origine du d\u00e9faut de restitution dans les d\u00e9lais r\u00e9sulte de l’absence de transmission par le locataire de l’adresse de son nouveau domicile.” Always leave your new address in writing on the day you return the keys, ideally in the departure inventory itself and again by email, because agencies lose paper with remarkable regularity. And do not let the landlord stop the clock with a trick. On 12 February 2026 the Court of Cassation held that sending a cheque is not paying: the landlord who posted a cheque that was never received and never cashed had not returned the deposit at all, and the ten per cent monthly increase kept running. Cass. 3rd civ., 12 February 2026, no. 24-21.258<\/a> states: “Il r\u00e9sulte du second qu’\u00e0 d\u00e9faut de restitution dans le d\u00e9lai de deux mois \u00e0 compter de la remise des cl\u00e9s, le d\u00e9p\u00f4t de garantie restant d\u00fb au locataire est major\u00e9 d’une somme \u00e9gale \u00e0 10 % du loyer mensuel principal, pour chaque p\u00e9riode mensuelle commenc\u00e9e en retard et que la majoration court de plein droit \u00e0 l’issue du d\u00e9lai de deux mois suivant la remise des cl\u00e9s.” The increase runs as of right, called de plein droit, from the expiry of the two months. If your former landlord claims he sent a cheque you never saw, the answer is the same: a cheque that never reached your account is not restitution, and every month begun adds another ten per cent.<\/p>\n The procedure for recovering the money is graduated and cheap. Start with a formal demand by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, called lettre recommand\u00e9e avec accus\u00e9 de r\u00e9ception, giving notice to return the deposit plus the monthly increases. If nothing moves, seize the departmental conciliation board, called the commission d\u00e9partementale de conciliation, which hears these disputes without any filing fee and is designed exactly for this. Article 20 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> provides: “Il est cr\u00e9\u00e9, aupr\u00e8s du repr\u00e9sentant de l’Etat dans chaque d\u00e9partement, une commission d\u00e9partementale de conciliation compos\u00e9e de repr\u00e9sentants d’organisations de bailleurs et d’organisations de locataires, en nombre \u00e9gal. La commission rend un avis dans le d\u00e9lai de deux mois \u00e0 compter de sa saisine et s’efforce de concilier les parties.” Its jurisdiction expressly covers “Les litiges relatifs \u00e0 l’\u00e9tat des lieux, au d\u00e9p\u00f4t de garantie, aux charges locatives et aux r\u00e9parations”, so your deposit dispute is its core business, and its opinion, called avis, often unlocks payment without a court. If conciliation fails, the claim goes to the housing judge, called the juge des contentieux de la protection, at the tribunal judiciaire of the place where the flat is situated, so in Paris the tribunal judiciaire de Paris. Deposit claims below the ceiling for simplified procedure move quickly there, and the ten per cent increases plus interest are ordered as a matter of course once the dates are proved by your key-handover receipt and your letters.<\/p>\n British tenants are often surprised by how much French law puts on the landlord. The starting point is the Civil Code itself. Article 1719 of the Civil Code<\/a> provides: “Le bailleur est oblig\u00e9, par la nature du contrat, et sans qu’il soit besoin d’aucune stipulation particuli\u00e8re : 1\u00b0 De d\u00e9livrer au preneur la chose lou\u00e9e et, s’il s’agit de son habitation principale, un logement d\u00e9cent.” The landlord must deliver a decent home, called un logement d\u00e9cent, fit for living in, and must maintain it in a condition suited to the agreed use and let you enjoy it peacefully. Article 6 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> spells out what decent means today: “Le bailleur est tenu de remettre au locataire un logement d\u00e9cent ne laissant pas appara\u00eetre de risques manifestes pouvant porter atteinte \u00e0 la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 physique ou \u00e0 la sant\u00e9, exempt de toute infestation d’esp\u00e8ces nuisibles et parasites, r\u00e9pondant \u00e0 un niveau de performance minimal au sens de l’article L. 173-1-1 du code de la construction et de l’habitation et dot\u00e9 des \u00e9l\u00e9ments le rendant conforme \u00e0 l’usage d’habitation.” No manifest risks to health or safety, no infestation, a minimum energy performance, and the fittings that make a home a home. The energy performance diagnosis, called the diagnostic de performance \u00e9nerg\u00e9tique or DPE, which Article L. 126-26 of the Construction and Housing Code<\/a> defines around measured or estimated energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, must be handed to you with the lease, and the worst-rated flats are progressively banned from new lettings. If the DPE attached to your lease shows one of the worst ratings, ask ADIL or a lawyer immediately, because the landlord may have let you a flat he had no right to let.<\/p>\n Your own obligations mirror the landlord’s and are worth knowing so that no repair dispute is turned against you. Article 7 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> provides: “Le locataire est oblig\u00e9 : a) De payer le loyer et les charges r\u00e9cup\u00e9rables aux termes convenus”, and it continues with the peaceful enjoyment of the premises, liability for damage occurring during the tenancy, routine repairs, called r\u00e9parations locatives, and home insurance, called assurance habitation. Take out home insurance from the first day and keep every certificate, because the landlord can terminate for lack of insurance and because the Civil Code makes tenants answerable for fire. Article 1733 of the Civil Code<\/a> provides: “Il r\u00e9pond de l’incendie, \u00e0 moins qu’il ne prouve : Que l’incendie est arriv\u00e9 par cas fortuit ou force majeure, ou par vice de construction.” Without proof of accident, force majeure or a building defect, the tenant answers for fire damage, which is why French leases universally require insurance and why you should never let the policy lapse.<\/p>\n When the landlord does nothing about a leaking roof, a dead boiler in January, mould that keeps returning or wiring that trips the whole flat, do not stop paying the rent on your own initiative, because withholding rent without a court order exposes you to termination for arrears. The correct sequence is a registered letter describing each defect, setting a deadline and warning of court action, then, if nothing moves, an application to the juge des contentieux de la protection asking for works, a rent reduction and, where the flat is indecent, suspension of the rent until the works are done, with or without payment into court, called consignation. The judge fixes the nature of the works and the deadline, can cut the rent in the meantime, and must send his order to the pr\u00e9fet where the flat fails the decent-housing standard, which concentrates the landlord’s mind wonderfully. In the most serious cases the courts go further and protect the tenant against eviction itself. On 4 June 2026 the Court of Cassation quashed an eviction ordered after a cong\u00e9 for serious and legitimate reason where the studio measured only 8.84 square metres and had already been judicially declared indecent. Cass. 3rd civ., 4 June 2026, no. 24-16.993<\/a> holds: “ne constitue pas un motif l\u00e9gitime et s\u00e9rieux de cong\u00e9 la r\u00e9alisation de travaux par le bailleur destin\u00e9s \u00e0 rem\u00e9dier \u00e0 l’ind\u00e9cence du logement dont il avait connaissance lors de la conclusion du bail.” Works to cure an unfitness the landlord already knew about when he signed the lease are not a serious and legitimate reason to end it. The Court recalled in the same decision the bedrock rule from Article 1719 of the Civil Code<\/a>: “Lorsque des locaux lou\u00e9s \u00e0 usage d’habitation sont impropres \u00e0 cet usage, le bailleur ne peut se pr\u00e9valoir de la nullit\u00e9 du bail ou de sa r\u00e9siliation pour demander l’expulsion de l’occupant.” A landlord who lets an unfit home cannot use the nullity or the termination of the lease to throw you out of it. For a British tenant shown a charming 9-square-metre chambre de bonne under the eaves of a Paris building, that ruling is worth more than any charm offensive: measure the main room, check the DPE, and refuse any flat that cannot lawfully be lived in.<\/p>\n The letter every tenant fears in France is the cong\u00e9, the notice by which the landlord refuses renewal at the end of the lease. For an unfurnished flat the landlord must give six months’ notice before the end of the three-year term, and the cong\u00e9 is valid only if it relies on one of three grounds: repossession for himself or a close relative, called reprise pour habiter, sale of the flat, called cong\u00e9 pour vendre, or a serious and legitimate reason, called motif l\u00e9gitime et s\u00e9rieux, most often persistent arrears. The Court of Cassation restated the rule on 12 October 2023 in Cass. 3rd civ., 12 October 2023, no. 22-18.580<\/a>: “lorsque le bailleur donne cong\u00e9 \u00e0 son locataire, ce cong\u00e9 doit \u00eatre justifi\u00e9 soit par sa d\u00e9cision de reprendre ou de vendre le logement, soit par un motif l\u00e9gitime et s\u00e9rieux, notamment l’inex\u00e9cution par le locataire de l’une des obligations lui incombant.” Every cong\u00e9 must state its ground, and a cong\u00e9 for repossession must name the beneficiary and the family link, failing which it is void, called nul. The same decision adds: “Le d\u00e9lai de pr\u00e9avis applicable au cong\u00e9 est de six mois lorsqu’il \u00e9mane du bailleur.” Six months when it comes from the landlord, against one month or three months when notice comes from you depending on the area and your situation.<\/p>\n A cong\u00e9 pour vendre carries a right of first refusal, called droit de pr\u00e9emption, for the sitting tenant: the offer to sell must be served with the cong\u00e9 at a stated price, and you have two months to accept or refuse, then a further two months to complete if you accept. Check the price against comparable sales in the building and the street, because an inflated price designed to make you decline can be evidence that the sale ground is a sham. A cong\u00e9 pour habiter must reflect a genuine intention to live in the flat as a main home, and the courts verify that intention. In the October 2023 decision the Court approved judges who examined electoral registration, building works invoices and utility contracts to test whether a widower returning to his home region genuinely meant to live in the repossessed flat, The Court added that “le juge peut, m\u00eame d’office, v\u00e9rifier la r\u00e9alit\u00e9 du motif du cong\u00e9” (Cass. 3rd civ., 12 October 2023, no. 22-18.580<\/a>). The judge can verify on his own motion, called d’office, whether the ground is real. If the landlord relets or sells within a short time after a cong\u00e9 pour habiter, keep every advertisement, every photograph and every testimony, because a fraudulent cong\u00e9, called cong\u00e9 frauduleux, opens a claim for damages and, in some configurations, a challenge to the eviction that followed. A British tenant who receives a cong\u00e9 six months after moving in should therefore never assume resistance is futile: demand the exact ground, check the names and the deadlines, and put the file before the conciliation board and then the judge.<\/p>\n Unpaid rent follows a separate track built around the termination clause, called the clause r\u00e9solutoire<\/a>. Article 24 of the Act of 6 July 1989<\/a> provides: “Tout contrat de bail d’habitation contient une clause pr\u00e9voyant la r\u00e9siliation de plein droit du contrat de location pour d\u00e9faut de paiement du loyer ou des charges aux termes convenus ou pour non-versement du d\u00e9p\u00f4t de garantie. Cette clause ne produit effet que six semaines apr\u00e8s un commandement de payer<\/a> demeur\u00e9 infructueux.” Every lease contains automatic termination for unpaid rent or charges, but it takes effect only six weeks after a formal demand to pay, called commandement de payer, that has gone unanswered. That demand must contain, on pain of nullity, the six-week warning, the monthly rent and charges, the itemised debt, the warning of court termination and expulsion, and the details of the solidarity housing fund, called the fonds de solidarit\u00e9 pour le logement, which can grant emergency aid. The moment you receive a commandement de payer, apply to that fund through your d\u00e9partement, ask the landlord in writing for a payment plan, called plan d’apurement, and see an advice centre, because paying or obtaining time within the six weeks stops the clause from operating. Even after the clause has operated, only a judge can order expulsion, and the judge can still grant grace periods, called d\u00e9lais de paiement, of up to three years where your situation allows recovery, so attend every hearing with proof of income, proof of job-seeking or medical evidence as appropriate.<\/p>\n Where an eviction judgment exists, French law still slows the bailiff down. No removal from an occupied home can occur until two months after the order to leave, called commandement de quitter les lieux. Article L. 412-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures<\/a> provides that “elle ne peut avoir lieu qu’\u00e0 l’expiration d’un d\u00e9lai de deux mois qui suit le commandement”. The enforcement judge can extend that period: Article L. 412-2 of the same Code<\/a> states that “le d\u00e9lai pr\u00e9vu \u00e0 l’article L. 412-1 peut \u00eatre prorog\u00e9 par le juge pour une dur\u00e9e n’exc\u00e9dant pas trois mois” where expulsion would cause exceptionally harsh consequences, considering the season or the weather. Then comes the winter truce, called the tr\u00eave hivernale, which suspends all unexecuted expulsions from 1 November to 31 March. Article L. 412-6 of the same Code<\/a> provides: “il est sursis \u00e0 toute mesure d’expulsion non ex\u00e9cut\u00e9e \u00e0 la date du 1er novembre de chaque ann\u00e9e jusqu’au 31 mars de l’ann\u00e9e suivante, \u00e0 moins que le relogement des int\u00e9ress\u00e9s soit assur\u00e9 dans des conditions suffisantes respectant l’unit\u00e9 et les besoins de la famille.” No eviction without rehousing that respects the unity and needs of the family. For a British family with children in a Paris school, these delays are not technicalities: they are the months in which the fund, the mairie, the pr\u00e9fecture and the judge assemble a solution, from social housing applications to supervised repayment plans. Squatters and violent partners are excluded from these protections, but an ordinary tenant in arrears is fully covered.<\/p>\n A final Paris note closes this part. Eviction and deposit cases for Paris flats go to the tribunal judiciaire de Paris, where the juge des contentieux de la protection sits, and the Paris conciliation board hears the same deposit, charges, repair and cong\u00e9 disputes as everywhere else, with filings that cost nothing. The board’s two-month opinion regularly settles cong\u00e9 disputes where the ground is thin, and judges in Paris see fraudulent-cong\u00e9 patterns often enough to recognise them. Build your file as a Paris judge expects: the lease, both \u00e9tats des lieux with photographs, every quittance, every registered letter with its green receipt, the commandement and its date, proof of your payments since, and a short chronology in French with dates. A British tenant who arrives with that bundle is treated exactly like a French tenant, which is precisely the point: after Brexit your passport changed the visa rules, but inside a French lease you hold the same rights as any tenant, and the same judges enforce them.<\/p>\n A French tenancy rewards the tenant who writes everything down and observes every deadline. Sign nothing without checking the lease against the statute, photograph every corner of the \u00e9tat des lieux, cap the deposit at one month, and leave your new address in writing with the keys. After departure, count one month for a matching inventory and two months otherwise, then claim the ten per cent monthly increase for every month begun, because it runs as of right and a lost cheque changes nothing. During the tenancy, demand a decent home in the terms the statutes use, insure it from day one, and answer every defect with a registered letter before asking the judge for works, a rent reduction or suspension. Against a cong\u00e9, test the ground, the names and the six months; against arrears, use the six weeks of the commandement to pay, seek aid or agree a plan; against an eviction order, invoke the two months, the judicial extension and the winter truce from November to March. Each of these shields has been tested in the Court of Cassation within the last three years, and each is available to a British tenant on exactly the same terms as a French one. Keep the papers, meet the dates, and the French lease becomes what it was designed to be: a secure home while you build your life in France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" British tenant in France after Brexit: French lease rules, deposit deadlines and the 10% monthly penalty, repairs, conge challenges and eviction defences including the winter truce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80312,80314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2134475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"\nA. French Rental Contract, \u00c9tat des Lieux and Guarantor: the Checks That Protect Your Deposit Before You Sign<\/h3>\n
B. Deposit Not Returned After the \u00c9tat des Lieux de Sortie: Deadlines, Proof and the 10 Per Cent Monthly Penalty<\/h3>\n
II. Staying in the Home: Repairs, Unpaid Rent and How to Challenge a Cong\u00e9 or an Expulsion<\/h2>\n
A. Landlord Refuses Repairs or Lets an Unfit Flat: Decent Housing, Court Orders and Rent Suspension<\/h3>\n
B. Eviction Notice, Cong\u00e9 pour Vendre or Rent Arrears in France: the Winter Truce, Delays and How to Challenge<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n