Renting a home in France as a main residence: the rental file, the lease, the deposit, agency fees and ending the lease. General information, not legal advice.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. It covers renting a home as a main residence, empty or furnished, governed mainly by Law No. 89-462 of 6 July 1989 (loi Mermaz), as amended by the ALUR law (2014) and later laws, with a regulatory standard lease (decree of 29 May 2015). Seasonal lets, company lets, commercial leases and social-housing allocations are different regimes — do not merge them into this guide.
Map Syndicat no longer publishes live rental listings: this guide covers only the process. Market rents by city are on each city's Prices page, with their source and date.
Before you search: tight zones and rent caps
Check whether the commune is in a “zone tendue” (tight zone, decree 2013-392 as updated) and whether a rent cap (encadrement des loyers) applies there. The list of capped cities changes: do not rely on a printed list — use the service-public.fr simulator or ask the préfecture.
Outside rent control, the rent is freely set when you move in. The annual revision, if the lease provides for it, follows the official index (IRL) and within its legal limits. For charges, two regimes exist: a provision with annual regularisation (the most common) or a fixed sum in limited furnished cases — check which one your lease uses.
The rental file: what the landlord may ask for
The landlord may only ask for four categories of documents, and nothing else (closed list, set by decree):
- One valid photo ID;
- One proof of home address;
- One or more proofs of professional activity (employment contract, employer certificate, student card, professional registration as applicable);
- One or more proofs of income (pay slips, tax notice, proof of benefits or pension as applicable).
- For a guarantor, the landlord may only ask for the same limited categories of documents.
- Forbidden: full bank statements, medical records, criminal record extract, a photo other than the ID, and any payment before the lease is signed. No sum may be demanded to reserve the home, or before the lease is signed.
- The free public tool DossierFacile lets you assemble and share your file. A landlord or agent who demands a document outside the list risks an administrative fine — check the current amount on service-public.fr.
The guarantee: guarantor or Visale
If the landlord asks for one, two options exist: a personal guarantor, with a written acte de cautionnement (simple or solidaire), or Visale, Action Logement's free rental guarantee in the private sector, if you are eligible.
Visale covers the first 3 years of the lease, up to 36 unpaid monthly instalments of rent and charges in the private sector, plus damage up to 2 months' rent and charges as stated in the lease, in addition to the deposit (visale.fr; contracts concluded before 6 January 2026 keep their agreed conditions).
The landlord may not demand both a guarantor and another guarantee of the same type. With a simple caution, the landlord must first pursue the tenant; with a solidaire caution, they may call the guarantor from the first unpaid sum. The guarantor's commitment must state its amount and duration where the law requires it — check the exact wording on the service-public.fr caution page.
The lease: duration, compulsory mentions and annexes
The bail d'habitation is written, in as many copies as there are parties (private deed or authentic deed). It follows the standard contract and contains the compulsory mentions: identities, description of the home and its equipment, use, rent and payment terms, charges regime, deposit amount, duration, and, where required, the DPE class.
Durations: empty, 3 years if the landlord is a natural person or a family SCI, 6 years if it is another legal person — it renews tacitly unless congé is given properly. Furnished, 1 year (9 months for a student). Do not apply the 3-year rule to a furnished home.
Documents the landlord must annex or hand over at signing or renewal: the information notice on tenant and landlord rights and obligations; the entry inventory (état des lieux d'entrée, at key handover); your insurance attestation; where applicable, the acte de cautionnement or Visale act; the wear-and-tear scale (grille de vétusté) if the parties agreed to apply one; the diagnostic file — valid DPE, lead report (CREP) if built before 1 January 1949, gas and electricity reports if the installations are over 15 years old, risks and pollution report if the property is in a risk zone, noise diagnosis near airports where required. The asbestos diagnosis is held at your disposal.
Money: deposit and agency fees
The deposit (dépôt de garantie, often wrongly called “caution”) is capped: 1 month's rent excluding charges for an empty home, 2 months' rent excluding charges for a furnished one. It covers unpaid rent, charges and damage. You cannot use it to pay your last months' rent: it is returned after you leave, under the rules below.
Return deadline, from key return: 1 month if the exit inventory matches the entry inventory; 2 months if it shows damage, after deduction of justified sums (quotes, invoices). If return is late, the sum still due is increased by 10% of monthly rent excluding charges per month of delay started.
Agency fees: the agency's fee is in principle the landlord's alone, except for the visit, file, lease drafting and entry inventory, which are shared — and the tenant's share can never exceed half the agency's total fees, nor a per-m² cap by zone. For leases signed from 1 January 2026: €12.10 incl. tax per m² in a very tight zone, €10.09 incl. tax per m² in a tight zone, €8.07 incl. tax per m² elsewhere, plus €3.03 incl. tax per m² for an entry inventory done by a professional (service-public.fr, fiche F375, modified 12 January 2026). All other costs (drafting and publishing the advert, rental management) are the landlord's alone.
Pay nothing before signing: at signing only, the first rent (and charges provision if applicable), the deposit, and your share of agency fees if a professional acted.
Living in the home and leaving it
The landlord must deliver a decent home (safe, healthy, with minimum equipment and minimum energy performance), ensure peaceful enjoyment, carry out all repairs except “réparations locatives” (the tenant's day-to-day repairs) and routine maintenance, give rent receipts (free, on request) and return the deposit on time, justifying any deduction.
The tenant must pay rent and charges on time, use the home peacefully and as a dwelling, carry out routine maintenance and minor réparations locatives, insure against rental risks (compulsory for a main residence — attestation to hand over at key handover, then each year on the landlord's request) and not alter the home without written consent.
Decent home and energy: since 1 January 2025, a G-rated home may no longer be newly let (F from 2028, E from 2034, per the DPE page on service-public.fr).
- Tenant's congé: by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, acte de commissaire de justice, or hand delivery against receipt / signature. The notice runs from receipt, not from sending, and is counted date-to-date. Empty: 3 months in general, 1 month in the cases provided by law — notably in a zone tendue (the congé must invoke it), professional transfer, job loss, first job, new job after job loss, health reason certified medically justifying a move, RSA / AAH beneficiary. For these cases (other than zone tendue), the reason must be stated and justified in the congé letter, or the 3-month period applies. Furnished: 1 month, without reason or proof, including a 9-month student lease.
- Landlord's congé: only at the end of the lease term, with 6 months' notice for an empty home and 3 months for a furnished one, and only for: recovery for personal or close-family occupation, sale, or a legitimate and serious reason (e.g. serious non-payment, disturbances). A congé that does not respect form, deadline and reason is ineffective — the lease continues.
- Eviction: a tenant must never be evicted by changing locks or cutting utilities; eviction requires a court decision and follows the winter truce (trêve hivernale) and other protections. Only a judge can order eviction: contact the ADIL or legal help immediately if you receive a congé or a court summons.
If there is a dispute
Write to the other party by registered letter, keep proof, and keep all receipts, inventories and photos.
ADIL: free legal information, in every department (via anil.org). Commission départementale de conciliation (CDC): free conciliation, in every department — deposit, inventories, charges, repairs, decency, rent adjustments and congé issues. For some rent disputes (renewal rent adjustment, rent-cap disputes), CDC referral is compulsory before court.
Tribunal judiciaire — juge des contentieux de la protection (JCP) for the place of the property, as a last resort. For small claims, an attempt at amicable resolution is generally required first. A lawyer is not required for most straightforward rental disputes. Legal aid (aide juridictionnelle) exists subject to income — check the current thresholds on service-public.fr.
Never stop paying rent on your own initiative to pressure a landlord: rent consignment is only possible with a judge's authorisation (via the CDC or the court).
Where to check
Service-public.fr: rental file, standard lease, deposit, agency fees (fiche F375), congé and DPE. ANIL (anil.org) and your ADIL: free, neutral information. Visale.fr: guarantee eligibility and cover. Légifrance: Law No. 89-462 of 6 July 1989 and the decree of 29 May 2015 (standard lease).
If anything in this guide does not match your situation, talk to your ADIL before you sign.