Rental terms in France explained: bail, charges, deposit and état des lieux

• Loyer hors charges (HC) – the basic rent (loyer de base or loyer nu), excluding service charges.
• Charges comprises (CC) – rent including the monthly advance on service charges. Compare flats on the CC figure, then check what the charges include.
• Charges locatives / charges récupérables – recoverable service charges: costs the landlord pays first and passes on to you, such as cold and hot water, collective heating, lift maintenance, cleaning of common areas, the caretaker's wages under conditions, and the household waste collection tax. Your own electricity contract is never part of them.
• T1, T2, T3 or F1, F2, F3 – number of main rooms (living room plus bedrooms; kitchen and bathroom are not counted). A studio is a one-room flat.
• Surface habitable – the legally measured living area in square metres. It must appear in the lease and is used to cap agency fees.
• DPE (diagnostic de performance énergétique) – energy performance rating from A to G, which must be shown in the advert. Since 1 January 2025, a home rated G no longer counts as decent housing for a new lease, and rent increases are banned for homes rated F or G.
• Zone tendue – a "tight" housing market area. Paris and many large cities are in it, which shortens your notice period on an unfurnished lease and limits rent increases between two tenants.
• Frais d'agence – agency fees. Only four services may be charged to a tenant (visits, dossier, drafting the lease, move-in inspection), shared with the landlord and capped per square metre: in 2026 the cap is €12.10/m² in very tight zones such as Paris, €10.09/m² in tight zones and €8.07/m² elsewhere, plus €3.03/m² for the move-in inspection (Service-Public.fr, checked January 2026).

• Bail vide (location nue) – unfurnished lease. Minimum three years when the landlord is a private individual, renewed automatically. You can leave with three months' notice, or one month in a zone tendue and in certain situations (first job, job loss, transfer, health reasons, RSA or AAH recipients, victims of domestic violence).
• Bail meublé – furnished lease. Minimum one year, or nine months for a student (not renewed automatically in that case). Your notice is always one month. The flat must contain a legal minimum list of furniture and equipment, including bedding, cooking plates, an oven or microwave, a fridge, tableware, a table and chairs, storage, lighting and cleaning equipment.
• Bail mobilité – furnished lease of one to ten months, only for people in training, studies, an apprenticeship, civic service, a work assignment or a temporary job. It cannot be renewed, no deposit may be requested, and charges are a fixed amount (forfait).
• Colocation – flatshare, either with one lease signed by all flatmates or one lease per flatmate. A clause de solidarité (joint liability clause) means each flatmate can be asked to pay the whole rent if another one does not. It can continue to bind you for a period after you leave, so ask the ADIL how it applies before giving notice.
• Sous-location – subletting. Do not sublet without first checking your lease and getting the landlord's written agreement; an unauthorised sublet can cost you the lease.

• Dépôt de garantie – the deposit (often wrongly called caution). Capped at one month's rent excluding charges for unfurnished homes and two months for furnished homes; forbidden for a bail mobilité. It is paid at signing and cannot be used to pay your last month's rent.
• Caution / garant – a guarantor: a person or body that commits to pay if you do not. The written guarantee is called an acte de cautionnement.
• Visale – a free guarantee from Action Logement, available to many tenants under 30 and to some employees over 30. You must obtain it before you sign the lease.
• Avance Loca-Pass – an interest-free loan from Action Logement of up to €1,200 to finance your deposit, repayable over up to 25 months, for eligible employees and young people.
• Quittance de loyer – the rent receipt. The landlord or agency must give you one free of charge, separating rent and charges, and it serves as proof of address. Cash payments are limited to amounts under €1,000, and rent may never be deducted from your salary.

The lease (contrat de location or bail) follows an official model. For leases signed or renewed from 1 October 2026, updated models apply: they state when the home must be your main residence, include a termination clause for unpaid rent that can only take effect after a payment demand has remained unanswered for six weeks, and allow both sides to add a mobile number.

It must show, among other things, the start date and length, the living area, the rent and how it is revised, the charges, the deposit and, in rent-controlled cities such as Paris, the reference rent and increased reference rent. Annexed to it you receive a technical file (dossier de diagnostic technique, including the DPE and, depending on the building, lead, asbestos, electricity, gas and risk reports), the move-in inspection report and, in a co-owned building, extracts of the building rules.

• État des lieux d'entrée – the move-in inspection, done together by you and the landlord or agent when the keys are handed over. It records the condition of every room and the meter readings. You can ask for corrections within ten days, and for heating within the first month of the heating season. Without one, you are presumed to have received the home in good condition, which works against you later.
• Inventaire – the furniture inventory for a furnished flat, signed by both sides.
• Attestation d'assurance – proof of home insurance covering at least the tenant's risks (fire, explosion, water damage). The landlord can ask for it at key handover and every year.

• Révision du loyer – annual rent revision, only if the lease has a revision clause, capped by the rent reference index (IRL, indice de référence des loyers) published by INSEE. For the second quarter of 2026 the index rose by 1.15% over a year. The landlord must ask within one year and cannot apply it retroactively. Rent cannot be revised during a bail mobilité.
• Régularisation des charges – the annual reconciliation of the monthly advances against actual costs. One month beforehand, the landlord must send a breakdown of charges, and the supporting invoices must be available for six months.
• Réparations locatives – minor repairs and routine maintenance that you pay for, such as replacing washers, light switches and bulbs or maintaining the boiler if it is individual. Everything else, including repairs caused by wear and age, is the landlord's job.
• Logement décent – decent housing: at least one main room of 9 m² with 2.20 m ceiling height (or 20 m³), safe installations, and a minimum energy performance. A landlord must provide and maintain it.

• Congé / préavis – your notice to leave. Send it by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception, LRAR), by bailiff (commissaire de justice) or by hand against a signed receipt. A simple email is not enough. The notice period starts when the landlord receives it.
• Congé du bailleur – the landlord's notice, only at the end of the lease term and only to sell, to live there or for a serious and legitimate reason: at least six months before the end for an unfurnished lease and three months for a furnished one.
• État des lieux de sortie – the move-out inspection, compared line by line with the move-in report. The agent may not charge you for it.
• Restitution du dépôt – return of the deposit within one month if the two reports match, or two months if they do not, minus justified amounts. If the landlord is late, they owe an extra 10% of the monthly rent for each started month of delay.