Renting a Home in France as a Newcomer

Your visa file asks where you will live

Housing comes up before you land. For the long-stay visitor visa, france-visas.gouv.fr states that you must prove information about your accommodation in France, along with your socio-economic situation, your resources and your medical cover.

The page does not list which accommodation documents are accepted. It says the supporting documents are indicated in the France-Visas visa wizard and differ depending on your country of residence or nationality, so run the wizard for your own situation and follow its list.

Three lease types set how long you are committed

A lease for a main residence is either for an empty home or a furnished one, and a furnished home can also be let on a short mobility lease. The type decides the length of the lease, the deposit cap and your notice period, so check which one you are being offered before you sign.

Unfurnished leasebail de location vide

At least 3 years when the landlord is a private individual, and at least 6 years when the landlord is a legal entity such as a company or association. It can be shorter, but not under 1 year, only if the landlord plans to take the home back for family or professional reasons and that reason is written in the lease. At the end, if neither side gives notice, the lease is renewed or continues automatically.

Furnished leasebail de location meublée

1 year, renewed automatically at its end if neither side gives notice. When the home is let to a student, the lease can be 9 months; that lease cannot be renewed and simply ends at its term, and a new lease must be signed to stay on.

Mobility leasebail mobilité

A furnished lease of 1 to 10 months that cannot be renewed or extended beyond 10 months in total. It is open only to a tenant who, when it starts, is in professional training, higher education, an apprenticeship, an internship, civic service, a job transfer or a temporary work assignment, and who can show a document proving it.

French law fixes what a landlord may ask for

In France, what a landlord or letting agency may ask a rental candidate to provide is strictly regulated. The file you hand over is called the dossier locatif (rental file), and its contents are set by Décret n° 2015-1437 of 5 November 2015. The decree’s list is exhaustive: a document that is not on it cannot legally be demanded. Service-public.gouv.fr states that a landlord who asks for a document that is not allowed faces a fine of up to €3,000 (€15,000 for a company).

The list falls into four categories. Several of the allowed documents fit someone arriving from abroad:

• Proof of identity: one valid photo ID, and a foreign passport, identity card or driver’s license is accepted
• One proof of address: your last three rent receipts or an attestation from your previous landlord that your rent is paid up, a sworn statement from the person housing you, or your last property tax notice or title deed
• Proof of your professional or student status, such as an employment contract or employer attestation, or a student card or enrollment certificate for the current year
• Proof of resources, such as your last three pay slips, pension or benefit payment records for the last three months, or your last or second-to-last tax notice; where some or all of your income was not taxed in France, the tax notice from the country that taxed it is accepted

Some documents cannot be requested at all

Because the decree’s list is exhaustive, anything outside it is off limits. A landlord or agency may not legally request any of the following from a rental candidate:

• A copy of your Carte Vitale
• Bank statements
• Medical records
• A criminal record extract
• A marriage contract

A landlord may require a guarantor, and Visale can take that role

According to service-public.gouv.fr, a landlord may require a guarantor: an individual or a legal entity that commits to cover unpaid rent.

The requirement has a limit. A landlord cannot demand a personal guarantor if you offer instead a guarantee from Action Logement, through its Visale scheme; Action Logement issues a certificate that covers the guarantor’s role. Visale is a free guarantee: if rent goes unpaid or the home is damaged, Action Logement pays the landlord first and then recovers the amount from the tenant. You apply online at visale.fr before the lease is signed, and the landlord then validates the guarantee deed (acte de cautionnement).

Service-public.gouv.fr states that tenants aged from 17 years and 10 months up to under 30, whatever their status (student, employee, jobseeker), may obtain Visale under conditions that vary by status and region. From 30, the listed profiles are seasonal workers and private-sector employees, for example with a job offer starting within 3 months or applying within 6 months of being hired, again under rent and income conditions. A mobility lease landlord may ask for a guarantor, and Visale can be used there, including by students.

The deposit is capped at one or two months’ rent

Service-public.gouv.fr sets the security deposit (dépôt de garantie) cap by lease type. It is paid at signing, must be written in the lease, and cannot be raised during the lease or at renewal.

• Unfurnished home: no more than 1 month of rent, excluding charges
• Furnished home: no more than 2 months of rent, excluding charges
• Mobility lease: no deposit may be asked for at all
• Rent paid quarterly in advance: no deposit may be asked for at all

The deposit must come back within one or two months

The landlord must return your deposit within one month if the exit inventory matches the entry inventory, and within two months if it does not. The clock starts on the day you hand back the keys, in person or by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. Any amount kept back must be justified with documents, such as the two inventories, photos, invoices or quotes, and you can contest it.

A written inventory, the état des lieux, records the condition of the property at move-in and again at move-out. Comparing the two underpins any deduction from your deposit, so take the entry inventory seriously.

Agency fees are shared with the landlord and capped

When an agency lets the property, only four of its services may be charged partly to you: handling your file, the viewing, drafting the lease and the entry inventory. Every other letting fee, such as writing and publishing the listing, is paid entirely by the landlord.

For the file, viewing and lease, your share cannot exceed half of what the agency bills, nor a ceiling per square meter of living space that depends on the zone. Service-public.gouv.fr gives these 2026 ceilings, including tax:

• Very high-pressure zone (zone très tendue): €12.10 per m²
• High-pressure zone (zone tendue): €10.09 per m²
• Other areas: €8.07 per m²
• Entry inventory, anywhere: half of the agency’s charge, capped at €3.03 per m²

Rent is controlled only in high-pressure areas

Rent control applies only in communes classed as zone tendue, and only to a main residence or a mobility lease. In most of these communes, the landlord cannot freely raise the rent when a new tenant moves in or when the lease is renewed; if the home is let again after less than 18 months empty, the previous tenant’s rent must appear in the lease.

In some communes the rent level itself is capped by reference rents. Service-public.gouv.fr lists Paris, the Est Ensemble and Plaine Commune territories near Paris, Bordeaux, part of Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, Lille (with Hellemmes and Lomme), Lyon and Villeurbanne, Montpellier and the Pays Basque agglomeration. There, the lease must state the reference rents, and the base rent cannot exceed the loyer de référence majoré unless the home has special features that justify a rent supplement (complément de loyer). A tenant can ask for a reduction through the departmental conciliation commission, then the court.

Home insurance is compulsory for tenants

Service-public.gouv.fr states that a tenant with a residential lease must take out home insurance (assurance habitation), and that this includes a mobility lease. It must cover at least the tenant’s risks, meaning fire, water damage and explosion.

You must give the landlord or agency the insurance certificate when you receive the keys, and once a year on request. If you do not, the landlord may terminate the lease or take out insurance on your behalf and bill you for it, so arrange the policy before your move-in date.

Notice periods depend on the lease and on who ends it

You can leave at any time by giving notice (préavis). For an unfurnished home, the notice is 3 months, cut to 1 month if the home is in a zone tendue and your letter gives the address and states that you are using the reduced notice. Some personal situations, such as a first job, a job transfer or being allocated social housing, also allow 1 month, provided you state the reason in the letter and attach proof; otherwise 3 months applies. For a furnished home, including a 9-month student lease, and for a mobility lease, the notice is 1 month.

Send notice by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, by commissaire de justice, or by hand delivery against a signed receipt. A plain email is not valid. For a registered letter, the notice runs from the day the landlord receives it. Rent and charges are due for the whole notice period unless another tenant moves in earlier with the landlord’s agreement.

A landlord’s notice is more restricted. For an unfurnished home, it can only take effect at the lease’s end date and only to sell, to live there or house a relative, or for a legitimate and serious reason such as a breach by the tenant, and you must receive it at least 6 months before that date. For a furnished home, the landlord must give notice at least 3 months before the end of the lease.