Find out about your rights and responsibilities when renting somewhere to live in France.
Tenants’ responsibilities
Pay the rent and any charges
Make sure that you pay the rent and charges on time.
Examples of acceptable charges are:
- Services such as water, energy, lift repairs, communal heating
- Maintenance charges for common areas such as cleaning and repairs
- Any local taxes for services from which you benefit: rubbish removal, sewage, street cleaning etc
Use the premises for the intended purpose
- Do not turn them into professional premises if the lease states that they are intended to live in.
- Don’t make any changes to the property without the landlord’s written permission.
- Take care of damage due to wear and tear as this is your responsibility unless you can prove that it was down to force majeure, a crime, the landlord or somebody that entered without your permission.
- Allow the landlord access to the property to carry out work to:
- improve the common areas, or other lodgings in the same building
- necessary for the upkeep of the property
- to improve energy efficiency
- to make the property fit for habitation.
Your rights and obligations as a tenant
Once you’re ensconced you have certain rights and obligations. These will be covered on a separate page in the very near future.