If you are about to sign a lease in France, the document may look slightly different. A decree published in the Journal Officiel on 9 October 2026 updates the standard lease models, the contrats types, for both furnished and unfurnished homes, including flatshares signed on a single lease.
What is new in the lease
A written termination clause. The model leases now include a clause that ends the lease if the tenant does not pay the rent or does not pay the security deposit. This is not a new obligation: every lease signed or renewed since 29 July 2023 already had to contain such a clause. The decree simply builds it into the official templates.
Primary residence. When the home is meant to be your main residence, the lease must say so. Some municipalities can now require certain types of housing to be occupied as a primary residence, and the lease has to reflect that.
Phone numbers. The lease can now include the mobile numbers of the landlord and the tenant, so either side can reach the other. This is optional.
A rewritten information notice. Every lease for a main residence comes with a notice d'information. The new version covers the rights and duties of landlord and tenant, how rent is set and revised, guarantees (deposit, guarantor and other sureties), dealing with pests, rent arrears and eviction prevention, how to give notice and move out, and how to settle disputes. It is worth reading, especially if you are renting in France for the first time.
What does not change
The legal protection for tenants is the same as before. A lease can only be terminated for unpaid rent after a formal payment order, the commandement de payer, has gone unresolved for six weeks. After that, the case still goes through the courts before any eviction. And from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027, the winter truce (trêve hivernale) bans evictions altogether, although rent arrears still have to be paid.
Before you sign
- Check that the lease follows the official model and that the information notice is attached.
- Make sure the deposit amount and the payment date are written down, and pay the deposit by a traceable method.
- If you rely on a guarantor or a guarantee scheme such as Visale, check that it is named in the lease.
- If you fall behind on rent, contact your landlord and the CAF early. Problems are much easier to solve before a payment order is sent.