Finding Housing

Renting an accommodation means becoming a tenant, which logically implies paying for the accommodation and related expenses:
• Expenses (cold and hot water, electricity, heating, garbage disposal…) can sometimes be included in the rental payment;
• Home Insurance (mandatory in France);
• Housing tax.

Nevertheless, if you are renting an apartment via an agency, you will be charged a onetime payment usually equivalent to one month’s rent.

The cost of the rent will vary depending upon the region, the size of the apartment, the condition it’s in, its location within the city, its proximity to public transport and major transit routes.

The accommodation can be rented furnished or unfurnished.

Before signing the lease, you must:
• Have clearly identified the expenses that you will need to pay
• Be sure that the cost of the rent doesn’t exceed 30% of your net pay (If it isn’t the case, you will need to have a guarantor)

In France, landlords ask their future tenants to find a guarantor, an individual that will cover the debt if the tenant doesn’t pay his rent.

As explained above, a guarantor is systematically needed if the cost of the rent exceeds 30% of the tenant’s monthly earnings. The guarantor logically needs to earn 3-4 times the cost of the rent on a monthly basis. In these circumstances, a dossier will need to be presented containing all the necessary files allowing for the rental to take place, including engagement letters, pay stubs, proof of rent payments, taxes…

It is obviously much easier to fill out these formalities if the guarantor lives in France, but for international students, this might not be that simple (unless they find an accommodation in a student residence).

Due to the reality that finding a guarantor isn’t always easy, the French government can now fill in that position via the Visale aid. It can be given to you under the condition that you are aged between 18 and 30 are looking to rent an apartment costing less than € 1300 monthly (for an apartment outside of Paris).

Fixed-term civil service employees who are over 30 years of age are not eligible for Visale aid.
www.visale.fr