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🇬🇧 Costs to foresee when relocating

During a relocation, one does not necessarily realize that there will be a lot of payments to make at the same time. So as to prevent bad surprises, you need to foresee all the costs. And you need to have sufficient funds in your bank account on the D-Day ! SOFIME Relocation helps you get a better idea of how much you will have to spend upon arrival.

     → 1st rent

Depending on when your lease starts and how the rent is calculated, you will have to pay either a full month rent, or a prorated rent. The latter will be based on the amount of days covered by the lease in the first month.

     → Deposit

For a primary residence personal lease (which is the most common lease), the deposit is 1 month rent (charges deducted) for empty apartments. On the other hand it is 2 months rent (charges deducted) for furnished apartments. If the rental lease is a company lease, or a secondary residence lease, it might be even more! (see our article about the different types of leases, as well as the one about furnished / unfurnished apartment, for better understanding).

     → Agency fees

For a primary residence personal lease, the agency fees are regulated by law. Hence it can be maximum 15 euros per sqm (incl. administrative + check-in fees). However, for company leases and secondary residence leases, there is no maximum. As a result they can rise up to 13% of the annual rent. But if you rent your apartment directly with the owner, there are no agency fees.

     → House insurance

In France, having a house insurance is mandatory. As a consequence you need to subscribe to a house insurance as soon as you have signed the lease contract. The estate agency will ask you to provide an insurance attestation on the day of the checkin in the apartment. Importantly, if you do not have it, you will not get your keys… So make sure your housing insurance is valid starting the 1st day of the lease! The insurance contribution depends on the size of the apartment, how much protection you want against risks and on the value of your belongings. Count for a small 2 room apartment around 150 euros.

     → Moving costs

If you move with your furniture, do not forget to foresee the cost of moving. From one country to another, it can be very expensive.

🇬🇧 Furnished apartment or not? That is the question!

     Before starting to look for an apartment, you need to decide if you would prefer a furnished or empty one. Of course this will depend on your own situation. For one thing, furnished apartments are more expensive in France than empty ones, and both type of contracts do not follow the same rules. SOFIME Relocation helps you find here all the important things you need to know in order to make up your mind:

     → Furnished apartments

A furnished apartment is defined as a decent accommodation. It should have a sufficient number and quality of furniture to allow the tenant to sleep, eat and live properly. According to the law (and in case of Bail Loi Alur only), a furnished rental lease follows the subsequent rules: (See our article about the different types of rental leases existing in France for better understanding):

     – 1 year duration with tacit renewal.

     – 2 months deposit (excl. charges).

     – 1 month leave notice for the tenant.

     – 3 months leave notice for the landlord.

     → Empty apartments

An empty accommodation consists of an apartment without any piece of furniture (nor fitted kitchen). The rules of this type of rental are different from those of the furnished rentals. And they are once again following the law (in case again of Bail Loi Alur only).

     – 3 years duration with tacit renewal.

     – 1 month deposit (excl. charges).

     – 3 months leave notice for the tenant, shortened to 1 month for densely populated areas (such as Paris). You can find the list of areas considered as densely populated here.

     – 6 months leave notice for the landlord.

     → TIP:  In any case – furnished or unfurnished apartment – the landlord can terminate the contract in 3 situations only:

     – When he/she wants to live himself/herself in the apartment, or he/she wants to accommodate someone from his/her own family.

     – If he/she wants to sell the apartment

     – Whenever he/she has a serious and legitimate reason to do so (for example if the tenant is not paying the rent, if the tenant damaged the property, or in case of neighborhood disturbance).

🇬🇧 Rentals in France: what are you signing for?

When you sign a lease contract, there is an agreement between the tenant and the landlord. Indeed the tenant commits to paying the rent as fixed in the contract whereas and the landlord commits to giving the tenant private tenure of the property.
In France there are several types of lease contracts. SOFIME Relocation gives you all the details about those:     
 
→ Personal lease for primary residence called “Bail loi Alur”
It is the most common lease in France. First it is a lease contract you sign in your name. And secondly, it applies to the situation where the apartment / house will be your primary residence. This contract is defined and controlled by the law in order to protect the tenants. As a consequence, there can be no tricky clauses. Of course as long as you see written on the contract “loi Alur 1989”
Agency fees are regulated by law (maximum 12 euros per m2 for the lease writing, and 3 euros per m2 for the check-in process).The deposit is limited to 1 or 2 months rent. Moreover the rental length in time is regulated, as well as the rules applying in case of departure. Those conditions depend on the fact that the apartment comes furnished or not.     
 
     → Company lease, called  « Bail Code Civil – Bail société” 
This type of lease applies to situations when the company rents the apartment / house for its employee. This type of lease is not regulated by law, which means anything can basically be written. That is why it is important to read carefully all the details of the contract, so that you are fully aware of all special conditions.     
 
       Secondary residence lease called “Bail Code Civil – résidence secondaire”
This type of lease applies only when you rent an apartment / a house as a secondary residence. It means you own or rent another place as your primary residence. The terms of the contract are freely defined between the landlord and the tenant, just as for the company lease: rent, notice period, rental length etc.