# renting direct from the proprietor



## BoilingFrog

Hi all,

after a lot of false starts we have reached the point in our house rental quest where we have had to give up on going through agencies.

Despite the facility of GarantMe, who accepted us and insure a rental of up to €1950 pm and €90,000 total, the agencies insist it is their landlord insurance that must be used and hence won't accept us as tenants as we do not meet their criteria (we are reliant on my foreign earned income)

Obviously this has immediately and severely limited our options as to available properties of which there were precious few to choose from already.

We have therefore had to go with direct letting from the owner. Finding a suitable house in LeBonCoin

However, this raises other issues. For one, without an intermediary agent, we have no means of knowing anything about the landlord.

I think it unlikely, but we are taking at face value that she is the legal property owner and therefore allowed to rent out the property. 

One well known scam involves taking deposits and fees for a property, then never handing over the keys, by which point the person you were dealing with disappears and the legitimate owner shows up with no knowledge of any monies etc. they having rented to the person you were dealing with who has of course defaulted and disappeared after taking money from multiple other parties thinking they were about to rent the home.

I probably sound paranoid, but is there any mechanism through which our rental contract can be verified by a third party? Do estate agencies do this, or notaries perhaps?

We do not intend to be in the house beyond a year, although plans can change, but as it is unfurnished we are apparently legally entitled to 3 years. The owner has said she hopes to sell before the end of this timeframe.

I think it could be a working situation for both of us, given our expected aims, but I also suspect that we are not able to relinquish our 3 year entitlement even if we wanted to.

Again, can a contract be checked over to make sure it is actually lawful and enforceable? Could we add a clause regarding relinquishing our right in law to 3 years tenancy?

I suppose this would be handled by a solicitor in the UK, so not sure who is the comparable functionary in France.

Thanks for any info


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## EuroTrash

French rental law is very precise on what must and must not be included in a rental contract. If either party puts in additional clauses to give themselves extra rights to which they're not entitled/take away the other party's legal rights, these can be classed as "clauses abusives" and would be disregarded.
The notice period that the tenant has to give will be stated in the contract. Not sure what you mean about relinquishing your right to 3 years' tenancy, I don't think a tenant can give up this right because it's the law, but there is absolutely no obligation to stay for 3 years. The obligation here is on the landlord, that he can't kick you out before the end of 3 years except in very specific circumstances. The tenant can give notice and leave whenever they want. Normally 3 months notice is required but there are a lot of circumstance when it can be less.








Préavis et formalités du congé donné par le locataire


Le locataire peut à tout moment quitter son logement, qu'il s'agisse d'un logement social ou d'un logement du secteur privé. Mais il doit en avertir à l'avance le propriétaire (ou l'agence immobilière, si le logement est géré par une agence). Pour cela, il doit donner congé et respecter un délai...




www.service-public.fr




).

Re your fears over a phantom landlady, I guess you could insist on having the contract done through a notaire. I have to say I had never heard of the well known scam you mentioned.


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## suein56

As ET says as a tenant with a legal contract in France you can leave anytime you like after giving the legal notice (by registered letter).
I believe the notice period is 2 months now, not 3.

What you really need to pay attention to is the 'état des lieux entrant' which you are required to sign accepting the state of the place when you move in.
This document will be referred to when you sign the equivalent exit paper (état des lieux sortant) when you leave.
Make sure the place is in as good condition when you leave as it was at the beginning, or better, or you won't get your 'caution' back 😉.
We rented privately for 6 years and it was fine ..


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## BoilingFrog

Thanks. I am probably being overly paranoid. Just haven't been a tenant for a long time and never in France, so not wanting to fall foul of any unpleasant surprises.


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## suein56

You are right to be cautious .. we were too as we hadn't rented anywhere since we were students .. so about 35 years before.
There are a lot of helpful websites : ANIL : droits des locataires et propriétaires, outils pour l'habitat is a good one to start with.


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## Bevdeforges

You may also want to take a look at the PAP website (Particuliers à particuliers - basically "person to person"). This is a website for sales and rentals of property by individuals not wanting to go through agents. They have quite a bit of information available on the site about the legalities and formalities of rentals in France. Start here: https://www.pap.fr/locataire


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## BackinFrance

The government checks ads on leboncoin to ensure that advertisers make the appropriate tax declaration and, since rental income has to be declared in France, you can count on the tax people having picked up on the ad in question. This has the advantage of making scams difficult on the site.


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## BoilingFrog

thank you Bev, the info on PAP regarding the constant issue of scammers is what I was concerned about

https://www.pap.fr/locataire/louer-...rotege-les-locataires-des-escroqueries/a23029 

I don't see anything on LeBonCoin regarding this


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## ccm47

When we were thinking about renting an interim property the agent told us that we could sign the rental contract one day and give notice the next! 
A French landlord is far more anxious about getting the rent in if the tenants choose to remain, and not about having a property standing empty with no occupants.


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## BoilingFrog

Yes, I appreciate that the risk probably seems greater to the landlord as getting a tenant out, who has decided to not pay rent, does seem to be a difficult thing to do. However, for the property we are looking at we would hand over €3000 in rent and deposit before getting the keys. Not likely that there would be issues, just wanted to see how secure the transaction could be made in the absence of an agent.


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## BackinFrance

If you are concerned that the landlady is not the owner of the property, you could ask to see her ID and a copy of the deed, though she may find that odd and not appreciatte it.

It is a fact of life that you have to hand over a significant sum to start with, but that is best done by cheque, or rather 2 chèques, the second being for the deposit.


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## BackinFrance

And you won't have to pay the zgent's fee


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