Informational only, not legal advice. Verify with official sources before relying on this.

Know Abroad

France

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 — check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.