France
Renting & Tenant Rights
Last verified August 7, 2026
Written for U.S. passport holders
Deposit Rules
- The security deposit (dépôt de garantie) is capped at 1 month's rent (excluding charges) for an unfurnished lease, or 2 months' rent for a furnished lease.
- It must be returned within 1 month of you handing back the keys if the property is in the agreed condition, or within 2 months if the landlord documents deductions for damage.
Notice Periods
- As a tenant in a furnished rental, you can give notice to leave with just 1 month's notice, with no need to justify why.
- As a tenant in an unfurnished rental, standard notice is 3 months, but it drops to 1 month if the property is in a designated 'zone tendue' (tight housing market, including Paris) or in certain other legally defined situations (e.g. job loss, health reasons).
Eviction Protections
- France runs a 'trêve hivernale' (winter truce) from November 1 to March 31 each year, during which a landlord generally cannot physically carry out an eviction, even with a court order already in hand, for any reason, including unpaid rent.
- The winter truce doesn't cancel accumulated rent debt; a tenant is still expected to keep working out repayment, and any court eviction process can resume and be carried out once the truce period ends on March 31.
- A small list of exceptions exists (e.g. squatters, domestic-violence-related expulsion orders, condemned/unsafe buildings), but they don't apply to an ordinary rent dispute.
The Gotcha
France's 'trêve hivernale' has no real U.S. equivalent: between November 1 and March 31, a landlord generally can't carry out an eviction even with a signed court order already in hand. It doesn't erase unpaid rent or make a lawsuit go away, but it does mean an 'out by next week or else' threat from a landlord during those months often isn't actually enforceable the way it would be back home.
Sources
This page was drafted from the primary sources below. Rules change, so check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.
- Expulsions locatives: Trêve hivernale (Service-Public.fr (French government))
- Prévention des expulsions et trêve hivernale (Ministère de la Transition écologique, de l'Aménagement du Territoire, des Transports et du Logement)