You have just decided to leave your apartment? Great! In this article, you will see how to terminate your rental lease in France.
📜 The Rental Lease in France
In France, you have usually two types of rental leases, depending on the type of home you rent:
- Unfurnished (“non meublé“):
- 1-month rent deposit maximum can be requested
- 3-year lease renewable by tacit agreement
- Furnished (“meublé“):
- 2-month rent deposit maximum can be requested
- 1-year lease renewable by tacit agreement
Even though you sign for at least 1 year, you can terminate your rental lease anytime: you won’t pay the months remaining in your contract. You will only have to respect a:
- 1-month notice period in Paris and big cities
- 3-month notice period in smaller cities.
💔 How to Terminate Your Rental Lease in France
There are 2 ways you can terminate your rental lease:
- If you trust your landlord, you can just talk to him about leaving the apartment, and if you agree on a date in accordance with the law, you can leave on this date
- If you want to make it more formal, you can send a registered mail (“lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception” in French) to your landlord. You can send the letter directly from the French postal service “La Poste”. Go to one of the following links to send your letter online:
🧹 Check-Out Inventory of Fixtures
Before leaving the apartment, you will need to do a check-out inventory of fixtures, in order to get back your deposit.
Conclusion
Now, you know all the steps to terminate your rental lease in France.
If you are moving into a new apartment, you can check the different articles to set all the things when you change apartment:
