The index40 guides
Renting, buying and owning in France: every English guide, from the lease to the sale
For residential leases governed by the 1989 law in mainland France, signing, renewal or tacit extension in 2025 to 2027 requires an A-to-F energy rating; in 2028 to 2033, A-to-E (article 6). Other decency criteria apply. A mobility lease ordinarily lasts 1 to 10 months, except the special employment-residence regime, with no deposit (25-14 and 25-17). Our guides cover renting, buying, co-ownership and neighbours.
Julie by AlphaDeep is an AI legal assistant for French law: it researches official references to help answer your questions (Légifrance, case law, service-public), analyses your documents and drafts your letters, for individuals and professionals alike.
General legal information with official references and dated checks. It is not personalised advice: for a decision that commits you, have your situation checked by a qualified professional.
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40 pages
Renting: how do you move in and move out?
Social housing, the Visale guarantee, illegal lease clauses, notice, deposit, inventory, a landlord taking the home back, mobility lease, flatshare, guarantor and short-term tourist lets.
- Bail mobilité in France: 1 to 10 months, no deposit
- Leaving a French flatshare: how long you stay liable
- French agricultural lease checklist
- Social housing in France: 2026 income limits and application
- Visale rent guarantee in France: conditions and rent caps
- Short-term rental in France: registration, 120 days, tax
- Illegal lease clauses in France: the 2026 list for tenants
Rent, works, decency: what can a tenant demand?
Energy rating and decency, rent increases, the social housing surcharge (SLS), housing benefit (APL), service charges, works, water damage, unfit housing, unpaid rent and eviction.
- Homes rated G or F in France: rental ban and its dates
- Incorrect French DPE: evidence, parties and next steps
- Prepare a DALO housing application in France
- APL housing benefit in France: rent ceiling and conditions
- Water damage in France: claim in 5 days, IRSI and leaks
- Substandard rental in France: the file to make landlords act
- Social housing rent surcharge (SLS) in France: survey
Buying or selling a home: what should you check?
Preliminary contract, loan, notary fees, diagnostics, hidden defects, formal acceptance or handover of a new-build home, the builder’s decennial insurance.
- Buy property in France as a non-resident: 7 official checks
- French property sale agreements
- French mortgage refusal: check the financing condition
- Property diagnostics to sell in France: list and validity
- Asbestos report for a French sale
- Hidden defect in a French house: your 2-year window
- VEFA handover: record defects
- CCMI: prepare formal acceptance
- Selling a house in France: from compromis to deed
- French notary fees 2026: 5% transfer tax and calculator
- Decennial insurance in France: check the builder’s cover
Co-ownership: how do you assert your rights?
General meeting, managing agent, service charges and works.
Neighbours and planning: which remedies?
Nuisance, easements, boundaries, trees, prior declarations, building permits and pre-emption.
- Check a French right-of-way easement
- Check a French utility easement
- Prepare a French land-boundary dispute
- Prepare an agreement for French party-wall works
- Check neighbour-tree and pruning issues in France
- French planning refusal: the reasons
- Prepare to challenge a neighbour’s building permit
- Check a project against a French planning certificate
- Read a French urban-pre-emption decision
- French subdivision rules compared
- French prior declaration of works: thresholds and plans