Taking advantage of the tension on the French rental market, and the windfall of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, many owners are illegally using a particular lease to trap tenants.
Housing is a vital need, particularly difficult to access and which is not changed as easily as a shirt or a pair of shoes. For all these reasons, in France, the rental of a main residence is strictly regulated by the law of July 6, 1989. This text defines the reciprocal rights and obligations of owners and tenants, in order to guarantee a balance between the parties.
But this legislative framework is seen as restrictive by certain landlords, who consider it “too protective” for tenants and not enough for them. And they seem to have found a way to circumvent the law, by hijacking a particular type of rental agreement, and imposing it on tenants. The phenomenon is particularly widespread in large cities, where the housing market is tight.
This type of contract is the “civil code lease” or “common law lease”. It is so called because, unlike the classic residential lease, it is not based on the 1989 law but on articles 1713 to 1778 of the Civil Code. Consequently, its terms and conditions are almost entirely free, and can be negotiated between the two contracting parties.
Thus, the fundamental characteristics of the lease can be set in an extremely flexible manner. The rental period, a minimum of three years in a traditional residential lease, can be reduced to just a few months. The termination notice period, which varies from one to three months depending on the type of property and its location, can be reduced to a few weeks or even a few days.
Same thing for the security deposit, the amount of which is not capped, or for the review of the rent, which can then take place more than once a year and deviate from the common calculation rule. Furthermore, non-renewal or termination of the lease does not require any justification from the owner. The civil law lease therefore turns out to be extremely precarious for tenants.
However, its use in the context of renting a property as a primary residence is completely illegal. Indeed, the civil law lease is only legally valid in certain very specific situations, such as second homes, seasonal rentals, company housing, parking spaces or storage boxes.
Thus, the mention “civil law lease only” which we see proliferating on advertisements for long-term housing at the moment turns out to be completely illicit, and should alert potential candidates for rental. If possible, you should absolutely avoid signing such a lease for your primary residence. And if the damage has already been done, it remains possible to refer the matter to the competent court in order to obtain the nullity of the civil law lease and its reclassification as a residential lease in due form.