If you are approaching the end of your first French lease, you might assume that a decision is required: renew, renegotiate, or leave. In many cases, however, remarkably little happens. A standard French residential lease does not normally require you to move out simply because the date on the contract has arrived. Understanding what the system actually does, and what your landlord can and cannot do, makes the whole situation considerably less stressful.
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What happens if neither side takes action
For most standard principal-residence leases, the answer is yes: if nobody acts, the tenancy continues. The key word here is tacite reconduction, automatic continuation under the existing conditions, without either party needing to sign anything new.
Continues for another 3 or 6 years
Three years where the landlord is an individual, six years where the landlord is a legal entity. No new contract required if neither side takes action.
Continues for another year
A standard one-year furnished principal-residence lease renews automatically for another year unless one party gives valid notice.
Important exceptions: these don't auto-renew
A nine-month furnished student lease does not renew automatically at the end of the term. A bail mobilité is designed as a temporary contract and also cannot simply roll over. If you have either of these, the end of the term needs to be actively managed rather than assumed to continue.
What your landlord can and cannot do at lease end
A French landlord cannot reach the end of a standard principal-residence lease and simply decide they would prefer a different tenant. The law gives landlords far more limited grounds to terminate than it gives tenants. There are three permitted reasons:
- Selling the property vacant (congé pour vendre): with an important right of first offer for unfurnished tenants (see below)
- Recovering the property for themselves or a qualifying relative (congé pour reprise), the beneficiary must be named and the reason must be genuine
- A legitimate and serious reason: generally a significant failure by the tenant to meet their obligations
The notice must also be properly timed and delivered. Receiving a letter from your landlord near the end of a lease is not automatically valid notice. Check the timing, the stated reason, and the delivery method.
| Lease type | Minimum landlord notice | Minimum tenant notice |
|---|---|---|
| Unfurnished (principal residence) | 6 months before lease end | 3 months (1 month in zone tendue or qualifying circumstances) |
| Furnished (principal residence, 1 year) | 3 months before lease end | 1 month at any time |
| Bail mobilité | Not applicable | 1 month at any time |
A property sale doesn't always mean you have to leave
This is one of the most common sources of anxiety for tenants and also one of the most commonly misunderstood situations. A landlord deciding to sell does not automatically mean you have to move out. There are two very different scenarios:
The property is sold with you still in it
The landlord can simply sell the property as a rented investment. In this case, the tenancy continues under exactly the same conditions, you just have a new landlord. Hearing that the property is “for sale” should not immediately trigger panic.
The landlord gives a congé pour vendre
If the landlord wants to sell the property vacant, they must give formal notice at the end of the lease. For an unfurnished tenancy, this notice also constitutes a statutory offer to sell the property to you at the stated price. You normally have two months within the six-month notice period to decide whether to buy. This right of first offer does not generally apply to a standard furnished tenancy.
Are they selling the property occupied, with your tenancy continuing under the new owner? Or are they formally giving you a congé pour vendre so it can be sold vacant? Those are two completely different situations with different consequences for you.
Can your rent increase when the lease continues?
The end of a lease does not give a landlord the right to choose a new rent. Rent changes are regulated, and there are two distinct situations:
The first is the annual IRL revision. If your lease contains a valid rent-review clause, the rent can be revised once a year in line with France’s Indice de Référence des Loyers. For metropolitan France, the IRL for Q2 2026 is 148.37, an annual increase of 1.15%. This does not mean every rent automatically rises, the clause must exist in your lease, and other restrictions may apply.
The second is a landlord claiming the rent is manifestly undervalued. There is a regulated process for proposing a reassessment at renewal, but it comes with strict evidence and timing requirements. It is not simply an opportunity to reset the rent to whatever the market currently shows.
Additional restrictions apply in zones tendues (currently extended through 31 July 2027) and in areas with local rent control (encadrement des loyers), including Paris, Bordeaux and Montpellier. Properties rated F or G on the DPE also face separate restrictions on rent increases. If your landlord proposes a meaningful rent increase, check the local rules before assuming it is permitted.
Leaving at lease end or before it
You do not need to wait until the contract end date to leave, and you do not need to do anything special simply because a lease anniversary is approaching if you are happy to stay. These are separate decisions. If you want to leave, give notice using the standard tenant procedure, one month for a furnished lease, three months for unfurnished (reduced to one in a zone tendue or qualifying circumstances).
One useful detail if your landlord has given you valid notice to leave: during a landlord-initiated notice period, you generally owe rent and charges only for the period you actually occupy the property. If you find somewhere better two months into a six-month notice period, you are not typically forced to fund two rentals until the original end date.
The état des lieux and getting your deposit back
If the tenancy is actually ending, the key final step is the état des lieux de sortie, the outgoing inspection, compared with the incoming one completed when you first arrived. The comparison determines whether any changes to the property constitute normal wear and tear or damage the tenant is responsible for. Clean thoroughly, check against the original report, photograph everything, record meter readings, and return every set of keys with a clear handover record.
Your deposit then follows:
- One month from the return of keys if the outgoing inspection matches the incoming one
- Two months if there are differences that justify deductions
- Late return penalty: 10% of the monthly rent (excl. charges) for each monthly period of delay, unless the delay was caused by the tenant not providing a forwarding address
Keep both inspection reports, photographs, your proof of key return, and evidence of your forwarding address until everything has been settled.
Frequently asked questions about French lease endings
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