Renting furnished in France? Check more than the sofa - Ouest-France
A furnished main home in France must include bedding, cooking equipment and more. What to look for at a viewing and record when you collect the keys.
The sofa is easy to spot in a French rental listing. The duvet is worth asking about. For a furnished home rented as your main residence, French rules specify a minimum set of furniture and equipment, right down to cooking utensils and something suitable for cleaning the floor.
If you are moving to France, the word meublé — furnished — should therefore mean more than a flat with a few pieces left behind. It also need not mean that everything you would like is included. A useful viewing starts with the cupboards as well as the rooms.
Service Public’s minimum list applies to furnished main-residence tenancies, including the bail mobilité, a particular type of residential lease. Grouped by use, it requires:
A sofa, television, washing machine and internet subscription do not appear on that minimum list. If one matters to your move, ask whether it is included rather than assuming that “furnished” settles the question. An oven or microwave is required; both are not.
At a viewing, a simple question helps: Quels meubles et équipements restent dans le logement ? Which furniture and equipment will stay? The items visible in photographs are a starting point for that conversation, not your finished inventory.
The furniture inventory and detailed condition report must be drawn up when you receive the keys and when you return them. Landlord or agent and tenant sign them, and they are attached to the lease. Read those documents while the items are in front of you. Name missing equipment and existing damage precisely; photographs can help you keep your own record alongside the written description.
If the essentials are missing, raise that with the landlord or agent. In a dispute over the tenancy type, a judge can reclassify a furnished lease as unfurnished when the minimum list is not respected. A missing item does not itself settle that dispute.
These are rules for a home that will be your main residence, not a holiday booking. Service Public distinguishes residential leases from tourist lets; a flat offered for a short break is not evidence of what your long-term tenancy should contain.
Keep the furnishings and the location as two separate decisions. If you hope to live in France without a car, try the everyday journeys from that address before committing. You can bring your favourite armchair later. You cannot move the flat nearer the last bus.
Sébastien founded QuandPartir in 2004 and has been its publishing director ever since. His love of travel led him to build a personal database of destinations, which later became the website.
