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).