Giving notice to your landlord in France

When you leave a rented home in France, everything starts with a letter: the congé, often called the préavis (notice). It sets the date you stop paying rent. A mistake on the notice period or on how you send it can cost one or two months' rent. Here are the rules for a residential lease, unfurnished or furnished, for your main home.

Three months or one month

For an unfurnished home, the tenant's notice period is three months (article 15 of the law of 6 July 1989, which governs residential leases). It drops to one month in these cases:

• the home is in a zone tendue (high-demand area), meaning a town where housing is hard to find (there is an official checker on service-public.fr);
• you get a first job, a work transfer, or a new job after losing one;
• you lose your job;
• your health, confirmed by a medical certificate, justifies a move;
• you receive the RSA (basic income support) or the AAH (disability allowance);
• you are allocated social housing.

For a furnished home, the tenant's notice period is always one month (article 25-8 of the same law).

Be careful: to get one month instead of three, you must say so in the letter and enclose the supporting document (employer's certificate, CAF notice, medical certificate…). With no reason and no proof, the three-month notice applies.

How to send it so it counts

The law allows three ways to give notice, and only three:

1. a lettre recommandée avec avis de réception (registered letter with proof of receipt);
2. a deed served by a commissaire de justice (court officer, formerly huissier);
3. hand delivery, against a receipt or the landlord's signature.

An email, a text message or a plain letter is not enough, even if the landlord replies “received”. The notice period starts on the day the landlord receives the letter, not the day you send it. So send it a few days before the date you're aiming for.

If the landlord doesn't collect the registered letter, the date of receipt can be disputed: read unclaimed registered letter. When the date really matters, a deed served by a commissaire de justice settles it, but it costs more.

During the notice period

You pay rent and service charges until the end of the notice period, even if you move out earlier. One exception: if a new tenant moves in sooner with the landlord's agreement, you only pay until they arrive. Also agree with the landlord on the date of the move-out inspection (état des lieux de sortie) and the handover of the keys.

After that, the landlord has one month to return the deposit (dépôt de garantie) if the move-out inspection matches the move-in one, two months otherwise. If they don't, see the formal notice guide, whose example covers exactly this case.

A sample notice letter

With fictional people and address, for an unfurnished home in a high-demand area. The letter stays in French, since it goes to a French landlord:

In English: Léa tells her landlord she is leaving the flat she rents under the lease signed on 1 September 2023. Since the flat is in a high-demand area, the notice period is one month under article 15 of the 1989 law, starting when the letter is received. She offers to do the move-out inspection and hand back the keys at the end of that month, on a date that suits the landlord, and asks for her deposit back within the legal time limit.

For another reason, replace the second paragraph with the reason (“ayant obtenu une mutation professionnelle”, having been transferred for work) and add “vous trouverez ci-joint le justificatif” (please find the supporting document enclosed). If there are several tenants on the lease, each one must sign, or send their own notice.

The free cancellation letter tool has a lease template: you choose the notice period, the letter is written live, and you can print it or send it by registered mail with proof of receipt without going to the post office.

With an AI assistant

Your AI assistant can read the lease, check whether the town is a high-demand area and pick the right notice period. With Cachet connected, it writes the letter, shows you the exact preview and the price, and sends it by registered mail once you approve. It then tracks the delivery and tells you when the landlord received it: that's the first day of your notice period. Cachet only sends the letter: if you rely on a reason, send the supporting document separately, and keep a record of it.

Frequently asked questions