Renting In France
France, like the rest of Europe, does not have a multiple listing service. That means instead of working with one real estate agency and asking them to show you all available properties for purchase or for rent; French agencies will only show you their own listings. Searching for an apartment can therefore be a frustrating and time-consuming process. In markets with high demand, many agents will simply not call you back.
To rent as a foreigner can be hard, and even harder if you’re here on certain kinds of visas. You’ll need to prepare a dossier of documents to present if you find a place you like, and you better have it ready in advance, because there can be stiff competition and having a complete rental application ready to submit improves your chances.
If accepted, you’ll have to meet for the lease signing and what’s called the état des lieux, a lengthy process depending on the state of the apartment. The renter goes through this process with either the real estate agent, the landlord, or a third party. Both parties go room by room, inch by inch, notating the state of everything. Listing every flaw and every single item (and its description and condition). In a furnished place, it could take hours. You have to do this upon exit, too. It’s normal to do a deposit inspection in the States, but this is a formal, legal step in the French rental process and it’s a much bigger deal.
Depending on your residency and work status and your history in France, you may not be able to convince anyone to rent to you without a guarantor, either a personal one or a bank. Even established French citizens have trouble getting a rental, especially if they’re self-employed or don’t have a permanent work contract. If the landlord accepts a personal guarantor, and you know a French person (or someone with strong legal ties to France) willing to vouch for you, great. If not, you could choose a bank guarantor, which basically means you put several months rent aside in an untouchable account for the length of your rental contract. Either six months or an entire year’s rent is put aside, not going towards rental payments and only earning nominal interest, so that the landlord can collect any unpaid rent or deposits for however long you live in the place. Draconian.
If you do decide to “go it alone,” there are a few websites that will be useful for finding properties: SeLoger is probably the closest you will come to a multiple listing, with most rentals and homes for sale listed there. De Particulier à Particulier is another handy site, with listings posted directly by owners. If you are lucky enough to navigate this system successfully, you can save a fair bit of money by avoiding agents’ fees.
When renting in France, be aware that an unfurnished home is likely to be less equipped than you expect. It’s possible an unfurnished place will have light fixtures, curtain rods, cabinets and counters in the kitchen, maybe even an oven, stove, and/or refrigerator… but the majority won’t.
When looking for rentals you’ll often read or hear the word “charges” (the same in English and French). These are additional fees for any care or services that are provided for the property—it could be gardening, cleaning, elevators maintenance, etc. They will be incurred for any apartment in France, and also for any type of gated community (like HOA fees). Usually rents are quoted on sites as saying something like “1,200 euros + charges” or “1,200 euros hors charges.” That means that the monthly rent will actually be more than 1,200 euros to account for the charges that were not included in the price. If a listing says “charges compris,” then these fees are included in the rental figure you are being quoted.
When signing a lease for an unfurnished home, the deposit is one month’s rent (net of “charges”). A furnished rental can require a deposit equal to two month’s rent.