French rental applications: what a landlord may ask for

When you let a home in France that will be the tenant's main residence, you may only ask the applicant and their guarantor for the documents listed in decree no. 2015-1437 of 5 November 2015. The list is closed: a document that is not on it cannot be required. Article 22-2 of the law of 6 July 1989, the main French residential lease law, refers to that decree and sets the penalty.

Which lets the list applies to#

Type of let	Does the rule apply?	Text
Unfurnished, main residence	Yes	1989 law, article 22-2
Furnished (meublé), main residence	Yes	Article 25-3, which applies article 22-2
Bail mobilité (short furnished lease for students, trainees, job moves)	Yes	Article 25-12, which applies article 22-2
Application for social housing	No	The decree excludes applications under article L. 441-1 of the French construction and housing code

The four families of allowed documents#

Annex I of the decree sets what you may ask the applicant for:

Family	What the landlord may ask for	Documents on the list
Identity	One valid document with a photo	National ID card, passport, driving licence, residence document
Current address	A single document	Last three rent receipts or a letter from the previous landlord, a host's sworn statement, a postal address certificate from an approved body, latest property tax notice or title deed
Employment	One or more documents	Employment or internship contract, or an employer's letter, a company register extract (K or K bis) under three months old, a professional card, a student card or enrolment certificate, among others
Income	One or more documents	Latest or the one before last tax notice, last three payslips, last two balance sheets, proof of pensions or benefits, a student grant notice, among others

Each family in the decree reads "among the following documents": you ask for a document on the list, never one off it. The text does not say whether the landlord or the applicant picks between two documents of the same family.

That last point matters if your applicant is moving from abroad: a foreign tax notice is acceptable, but you may require a French translation.

The guarantor's documents#

The guarantor (caution) has a list of their own, annex II of the decree. It looks like the applicant's list, with differences. Once the lease is signed, they cannot simply walk away: see can a guarantor withdraw from a French lease?.

Item	Applicant (annex I)	Individual guarantor (annex II)
Identity	ID card, passport, driving licence, residence document	ID card, passport, driving licence
Address	Last three rent receipts, host's statement…	Latest rent receipt, water, gas or electricity bill under three months old, home insurance certificate under three months old, latest property tax notice or title deed
Tax notice	Latest or the one before last	Latest only

When the guarantor is a legal entity, such as a company, the decree provides for two documents: a K bis extract under three months old (or the articles of association, or other proof that it legally exists) and an identity document of its representative.

If the applicant is covered by Visale, a free rent guarantee from Action Logement (a body run by French employers and unions), they hand you their visa. According to Service-Public, the French government's information site, you use that visa number to request the guarantee deed on the Visale portal, before the lease is signed. If rent later goes unpaid, see how to claim under Visale and, for a private guarantor, when the guarantor doesn't pay.

Finally, article 22-2 forbids you to impose a co-signature by an ascendant or descendant of the applicant: you cannot require their parents to stand as guarantors.

What you cannot ask for#

The law does not draw up a list of forbidden documents. A document is forbidden because it is missing from the decree. The CNIL's framework on rental management (point 26) names, as information in principle not relevant, documents that landlords still request:

• a bank or postal account statement, or other proof of financial situation;
• the social security card;
• a criminal record extract;
• a medical file;
• a document on the payment of alimony;
• a marriage contract or a cohabitation certificate.

Two more rules come from outside the decree. No money may be claimed before the lease is signed, Service-Public points out: no holding deposit cheque. And the lease cannot impose direct debit as the way to pay the rent (article 4, c).

Discrimination: what the law says#

Under article 1 of the law of 6 July 1989, no one may be refused a let on a discriminatory ground as defined in article 225-1 of the French criminal code (for example origin, sex or disability). In a dispute, the applicant puts forward facts, and the landlord must then prove the decision was justified. Refusing a good or a service on such a ground is also a criminal offence: article 225-2 of the criminal code provides for three years in prison and a €45,000 fine.

Keeping a record of objective criteria, such as the ratio of rent to income, helps you justify your choice. That record can be kept after the files themselves are deleted (see below).

How long you may keep applications#

The CNIL framework (adopted on 6 May 2021) is aimed at landlords who let on a professional basis and is not binding, but private landlords may refer to it. It considers adequate, in principle:

• 3 months in active storage for the solvency documents of applicants you turned down;
• for the applicant you chose, the length of the lease until the tenant's account is closed, then archiving for no more than 3 years if you manage the property yourself.

It also recommends deleting, or returning to the applicant, any document beyond the regulatory list.

These periods are not an absolute ceiling. The framework (point 54) allows longer retention, in intermediate archiving, when the landlord needs to keep evidence in case of a dispute, "in matters of discrimination for example", within the applicable limitation period. That period must meet a real need, which the landlord justifies. As we read it, you can therefore delete rejected applicants' files after 3 months while archiving, separately, the record of your criteria and your decision.

In practice#

• Publish the list of documents in your listing, and only ask for what helps you assess the applicant's ability to pay.
• Accept DossierFacile files: a free government service where applicants upload the allowed documents. A landlord account lets you receive files checked for completeness and consistency (Service-Public page, in French).
• Do not keep the files of rejected applicants beyond the period you set: three months under the CNIL framework, apart from the archiving for a possible dispute described above.

Sources#

• Law of 6 July 1989, article 22-2 (Légifrance, in French)
• Decree no. 2015-1437 of 5 November 2015 (Légifrance, in French)
• Law of 6 July 1989, article 1 (Légifrance, in French)
• Documents a landlord may request (Service-Public, in French)
• Visale guarantee (Service-Public, in French)
• CNIL framework on rental management (in French)

Last checked on 6 November 2026