Tenant repairs in France: what the tenant pays

The tenant pays for routine upkeep and minor repairs: seals, bulbs, small paint touch-ups, descaling, upkeep of the equipment listed in the lease. This is article 7 d of the law of 6 July 1989, and decree no. 87-712 of 26 August 1987 lists them. Everything else falls to the landlord, including any repair caused by wear and tear (vétusté), poor workmanship, a construction defect or force majeure, even if it appears on the list.

The rule#

The decree defines réparations locatives as « routine upkeep and minor repairs », including replacing comparable parts, arising from normal use of the private premises and equipment. Its list gives examples: the listed repairs are « notably » tenant repairs. Article 7 d sets the exception (wear and tear, poor workmanship, construction defect, unforeseeable event, force majeure), and article 6 makes the landlord carry out every other repair.

The list, area by area#

Area	Examples of tenant repairs (decree 87-712)
Private outdoor areas	Garden upkeep, pruning, clearing moss from terraces, unclogging gutters
Doors and windows	Oiling hinges, small repairs to handles, resealing glazing, broken panes, locks
Walls, ceilings, floors	Small paint and wallpaper touch-ups, filling holes, parquet upkeep, a few boards
Plumbing	Unclogging pipes, seals and clamps, descaling, tap washers, shower hose
Heating and hot water	Small parts of gas appliances, flushing and cleaning radiators and pipes
Electrics	Switches, sockets, fuses, bulbs, protective sleeves
Equipment listed in the lease	Upkeep and minor repairs of appliances, hood, aerial; sweeping flues

Filling holes is a tenant repair only when their number, size and position keep it a minor repair. Service-Public adds three jobs that stay with the landlord: buying and fitting the first smoke detector, the upkeep of green façades and roofs, and dredging the septic tank (emptying it is the tenant's).

What stays with the landlord#

• Major repairs: roof, structure, replacing a worn-out boiler or water heater, rewiring;
• normal wear: a carpet worn after ten years, faded paint;
• poor workmanship or construction defects, such as a leak from an old embedded pipe;
• the effects of an unforeseeable event or force majeure, such as a storm.

Example#

At the move-out of a flat let for six years:

Finding	Who pays	Deducted
Blackened shower seal to redo	Tenant: routine upkeep	€45
French window pane cracked by a knock	Tenant: damaged pane	€120
Living-room paint faded after six years	Landlord: normal wear	€0
Water heater dead after 14 years	Landlord: age	€0

The landlord deducts €165 from the deposit, with quotes, item by item. For an item that had already served for years, the free wear and tear calculator applies a depreciation grid, and the wear and tear grid guide explains the method.

Common mistakes#

• Charging the tenant for replacing worn equipment because it appears on the list.
• A flat-rate « restoration » clause in the lease: article 4 of the 1989 law voids a clause making the tenant pay for repairs estimated unilaterally by the landlord.
• Deducting without evidence: every amount needs a quote or invoice.
• Forgetting the boiler: its yearly service is the tenant's unless the lease says otherwise (see boiler servicing: tenant or landlord?).

For work the tenant does on their own initiative, see can a French tenant paint or drill the walls?.

Sources#

• Decree no. 87-712 of 26 August 1987 on tenant repairs (Légifrance, in French)
• Article 7 of law no. 89-462 of 6 July 1989, tenant's obligations (Légifrance, in French)
• Article 6 of the 1989 law, landlord's obligations (Légifrance, in French)
• Article 4 of the 1989 law, forbidden clauses (Légifrance, in French)
• Routine upkeep and tenant repairs, Service-Public (in French)

Last checked on 9 November 2026