TREVE HIVERNALE (Winter truce)
The annual ‘trêve hivernale’ (winter truce), which prevents landlords evicting tenants during the cold winter months, starts from the Ist November and ends 31st March.
This is to ensure that tenants who are unable to pay rent do not get thrown out onto the streets in winter. It is illegal during those months to evict tenants from a French rental property.
A free telephone helpline, SOS Loyers Impayés, designed to give legal advice and support to both tenants and landlords, is available in French if you are having problems with a landlord or with a tenant.
Tel: 0805 160 075 (free from a landline or mobile phone)
Not everybody is protected by the winter truce: (info provided by govt website)
The trêve does not apply to…
- persons receiving rehousing commensurate with their family needs;
- residents of a dwelling in a building affected by a safety order;
- squatters occupying a home, whether a primary or secondary residence;
- squatters occupying a garage or land. In this case, the judge ordering the expulsion may decide to abolish the winter truce or to shorten its duration;
- spouses or partners whose expulsion from the matrimonial home was ordered by the family court as part of the non-conciliation order in divorce proceedings;
- spouses, spouses, partners of Civil partnerships or abusive partners in the couple or on a child whose expulsion from the family home has been ordered by the family court as part of a protection order.
At the end of the truce, and if the problem has not been resolved, the rental eviction procedure can be resumed and executed by a bailiff.
Visit L’ADIL 66 for ‘une information complète, neutre, personnalisée et gratuite sur toutes les questions du logement’ (Everything you need to know about renting property)
Click on Documentation and you will find model letters in French to help you to make yourself understood