How to give notice to leave rental accommodation in France

If you are on a standard rental contract you can move out whenever you want as long as you let your landlord know. To do this you must donner congé (give notice) and respect a délai de préavis (certain time frame).

There are some other types of contract including the bail mobilité and the bail code civil that have different rules n notice periods, but the vast majority of tenants in France have a bail habitation - the standard rental contract.

The standard notice period is three months, although there are some exceptions (more on those below).

Who has to give notice?

For a married couple who wants to move out, the spouses must jointly send in their notice. If in a married couple only one spouse gives notice, the other remains the holder of the current lease and can remain in the accommodation.

If the tenants are either unmarried or in a civil partnership - and only one partner signed the lease - it can be terminated by the partner who signed alone. The other partner must also leave, unless the landlord agrees to sign a lease with them.

The most common way to give notice is via a registered letter (lettre recommandée) - legally the landlord does not have to accept your notice if you send a regular letter.

READ ALSO: Lettre recommandée: Why you need them and how to send them in France✎

Likewise, you cannot give your notice by simply sending an email. Notice given in this way is not valid, even if it is accepted by the recipient via email reply.

However, you can give your notice by the electronic version of a lettre recommandée - this is a service offered by La Poste that creates a legally recognised registered letter via an online template. More detail here.

You can also give your notice in person - you need to hand deliver the letter in exchange for a signature or signed receipt.

You can use this template to help write the notice letter, which must be in French.

Finally, people who are either being evicted or have successfully taken their landlord to court can give notice via a court order known as an Acte de commissaire de justice (formerly known as an acte d'huissier de justice)

What is the notice period?

The standard notice period for unfurnished accommodation (with the standard bail habitation lease) is three months, which should be stipulated in your contract.

There are, however, some exceptions, which depend on the municipality where your accommodation is located. If you are located in a high demand housing area, the notice period can fall to one month.

You can also request a one-month notice period in other cases, including if you have lost your job, if your employer is transferring you, or for health-related reasons - more details here.

You can also arrange a shorter notice period with your landlord if you are both in agreement.

You can leave the accommodation without notice if it is unsafe or unsanitary. However, you must first inform the landlord or social housing provider of the problems and take steps to compel them to carry out the necessary repairs.

If you have rented furnished accommodation - which is a lot less common than unfurnished - the standard notice period is one month. This applies even when the lease term is only nine months (for example, when the property is rented to a student).

When does the notice period start for a tenant?

For those who used the lettre recommandée, the relevant date is the day the registered letter is received (which you can track online with La Poste).

For hand delivery in exchange of a signature or signed receipt, this refers to the day on which the notice is handed to its recipient.

How to calculate rent and charges during the notice period

You must pay rent and extra charges (like the building service charge) throughout your notice period, unless the landlord signs a new lease with another tenant and that tenant moves into the property before the end of your notice period. 

If your notice period ends mid-month, the amount of rent and charges you owe for that last month is proportional to the number of days you had the accommodation available.

You cannot deduct the amount of the security deposit you paid from your last rent payments.

If you live in an apartment block you will also have the charges locatives, which is the charge for using communal features and areas of the building, as well as services such as the gardien/ne. The charges for the accommodation you are leaving are payable in advance.

What about the security deposit?

The security deposit paid at the beginning of the tenancy is refunded at the end of the rental period.

At the end of the tenancy the landlord or agent should inspect the property and agree with the tenant whether it is in a good state and consistent with the initial inventory.

If there is no outstanding rent, the landlord has one month to refund the security deposit

You can find more information on student rentals here - Studapart

And standard rental contracts here - Service Public