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How to Find an Apartment in France as an American

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Note from the editor: We are constantly asked by our readers: how to find an apartment in France as an American? In this guest post, TAIP has partnered with EasyFranceNow, a platform for Americans looking to relocate and build their life in France. Enjoy their very detailed breakdown below, and be sure to tell them TAIP sent you when you contact them for assistance! — MS

Key Takeaways

  • The file decides it, not the budget. French landlords select on the completeness of your rental dossier, not a US credit score or bank balance that they cannot verify.
  • Income must be shown in euros, monthly, and regular. Agencies want a stable monthly income of about three times the rent, in euros rather than dollar figures or assets.
  • The free state guarantor rarely fits Americans. Visale is built around French employment, so most Americans on a visitor or long-stay visa use a paid guarantor service or pay rent in advance.
  • Deposits are capped by law. The security deposit is one month of rent (excluding charges) for an unfurnished lease and two months for a furnished lease, per service-public.fr.
  • A state-labeled dossier helps. The free government tool DossierFacile builds a verified, watermarked rental file that French agencies recognize and trust.
  • Speed and silence are normal. Well-priced apartments in Paris, Lyon, and Bordeaux receive many complete files within hours, and agencies often go silent instead of sending a rejection.
  • Help is operational. A relocation team runs the French outreach, packages your dossier, and coordinates viewings, while final decisions rest with landlords and agencies.

What Finding an Apartment in France Actually Involves for an American

Finding an apartment in France as an American means assembling a French-readable rental file, proving regular income in euros, solving the guarantor question, and moving fast enough to win a place before a dozen other complete files do. Americans usually discover them one at a time, after the search has stalled.

In the United States, renting runs on a credit check and proof of employment. France works differently. There is no national tenant credit score to pull, so the agency reads a paper file, the dossier de location, and checks whether your income is regular and large enough relative to the rent. A one-time balance counts far less than a verifiable monthly income.

If you would rather handle everything yourself, our step-by-step playbook for renting in France as an American covers the do-it-yourself path in full. This article is about what changes when you bring in help.

Why the French Rental Market Treats American Applicants Differently

French agencies are cautious with American applicants because the usual reference points, a French employment contract, a French-paid salary, and a French guarantor, are often missing, and they must assess an unfamiliar income source quickly in a market where demand outstrips supply.

Most agencies stop reading an application the moment they cannot see a stable, euro-denominated income up front. A remote worker, a retiree on a US pension, or a freelancer invoicing American clients all have a good income. Still, the proof arrives in dollars on US statements that the agent cannot scan in ten seconds, and a file that takes effort to read loses to one that is instantly legible. Most agencies expect net monthly income of around three times the rent, including charges, though it varies by city and landlord.

The Dossier is the Product: What a France-Ready Application Looks Like

A France-ready rental dossier is one clearly ordered file proving your identity, your right to live in France, and your ability to pay the rent each month in euros. Submitting it as a single labeled PDF in the order the agency expects changes whether it gets read. The free government tool DossierFacile is built for exactly this: it assembles your documents into a verified, watermarked file that French landlords and agencies recognize, which removes the agent’s fear that the paperwork is incomplete. The core set most agencies ask for:

  • Identity: a valid passport, plus your long-stay visa or residence permit (the VLS-TS or carte de sejour).
  • Proof of income: recent pay slips, pension statements, or freelance invoices and bank statements, ideally with euro equivalents noted. A US employment letter stating monthly gross pay helps a remote worker.
  • Tax document: a recent US tax return, or a French avis d’imposition, once you have one.
  • Proof of current address: see our guide to what counts as proof of address in France when you are still in an Airbnb, because this trips up almost every new arrival.
  • Guarantee: evidence of your guarantor solution, whether a paid guarantor service certificate, proof of rent paid in advance, or a Visale visa if you qualify.

Convert your key income figures to euros on a cover sheet and state the exchange rate and date you used. You are doing the agent’s mental math for them, removing the friction that gets American files set aside.

Guarantor, Deposit, and Money Questions Americans Ask First

A guarantor (a garant) is a person or service that pays your rent if you cannot, and in a tight market, most agencies expect one even when the law does not. Visale is a free state guarantor from Action Logement, but most Americans on a visitor or long-stay visa do not qualify, because the scheme is built around French employment. A reform effective January 6, 2026 kept Visale free and broadened access for some older salaried workers, but it still centers on people with French job contracts. That leaves a few realistic paths, which we cover in our guide to renting in France with no French guarantor:

  • A paid guarantor service. Private companies act as your guarantor for a fee, typically 3.5 to 5 percent of the annual rent, so an apartment at 1,200 euros per month usually costs around 500 to 650 euros a year.
  • Paying several months of rent in advance. Some landlords accept this in place of a guarantor. It is negotiable.
  • Visale, if you genuinely qualify. Worth checking eligibility, especially if you are under 30 or starting a French employment contract.

The security deposit (the depot de garantie) is capped by law: one month of rent excluding charges for an unfurnished lease, two months for a furnished lease, according to service-public.fr. Protecting it starts on day one, which is why our guide to protecting your security deposit and the move-in inspection is worth reading before you sign. For a furnished apartment, budget day-one cash for the first month of rent, a deposit of up to two months, agency fees, a guarantor service, and renter’s insurance, which must be in hand at signing.

How We Help Americans Find an Apartment in France

At EasyFranceNow, we run the French side of the search for you: building a France-ready dossier, contacting agencies and landlords in French, coordinating viewings, and pushing each promising lead to a concrete next step. We are not a real estate agency and we do not sign leases on your behalf. We remove the friction that makes the search slow when you are doing it from another time zone, in a second language, against applicants who already know the rules.

The work breaks down into a clear sequence:

  • Translate your situation into a France-ready file. We turn your income, status, and timeline into a dossier that a French agency can approve at a glance, with income in euros and the guarantor question solved.
  • Run the French outreach. We contact agencies and landlords, write the messages that get responses, and handle follow-ups in French so leads do not go cold while you sleep.
  • Coordinate viewings. Whether you are on the ground or still in the US, we line up viewings and help you see places quickly.
  • Keep the process moving. We chase responses, push for file review and viewing slots, and keep you credible and fast when an agency engages.
  • Support the move-in. Once you secure a place, we sequence renter’s insurance, the inspection, and the first administrative steps after signing.

If you are already in France and the constraint is speed, our Housing Fast-Track service is built for exactly that, including moving from an Airbnb to a long-term lease. If you want a single point of contact coordinating housing alongside the rest of your move, our end-to-end relocation support covers the whole picture. We do this every week for Americans moving to France: a disciplined process, a coherent file, and consistent follow-up in French. Final decisions still rest with landlords and agencies, so no honest team guarantees a specific apartment.

A Realistic Timeline: From Search to Keys

A realistic search runs about two to six weeks of active searching once your dossier is ready, plus a short window for signing and move-in, and the biggest variable is whether your file is ready before you start. Well-priced apartments in Paris, Lyon, and Bordeaux receive dozens of complete files within hours, so silence usually means someone faster and more complete got there first. If you are arriving with temporary housing, plan the transition deliberately: our seven-day action plan for moving from an Airbnb to a long-term lease shows how to compress the search once you are on the ground.

Different American Profiles, Different Paths

The right strategy depends on which kind of American mover you are. Retirees should lead with pension and Social Security income as a regular euro-equivalent monthly figure rather than assets; our guide to retiring in France as an American covers how housing fits with visa, healthcare, and taxes. Remote workers have a strong income but an unfamiliar contract, so an employment letter, pay slips, and statements showing regular deposits make the case, while a paid guarantor service fills the gap left by Visale. Families face a tighter market for larger apartments and should anchor the search around schools and neighborhoods first; our overview of how to choose where to live in France as an American is a useful starting point. Students often qualify for Visale, and unmarried partners should expect each adult’s income and status to be assessed.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Most failed American searches fail for the same handful of reasons, and nearly all are avoidable:

  • Showing income only in dollars. The most common reason a file stalls is income shown only in dollars, on US statements, no one at the agency can read quickly. Convert to euros and label it clearly.
  • Leading with assets instead of monthly income. French agencies weigh regular monthly income far more heavily, so lead with it.
  • Assuming a US guarantor will work. A relative co-signing from the United States is almost never accepted.
  • Treating silence as a maybe. No response usually means the place is gone, so keep applying in parallel.
  • Sending a messy file. Loose photos and out-of-order documents get set aside. Submit one clean PDF or a DossierFacile link.
  • Paying before viewing. Never transfer money to reserve a place you have not seen. The Ministry of the Interior’s guidance on protecting your rental documents and avoiding scams is worth reading.

When to Get Help

You can handle the search yourself if you have time, some French, and a flexible move-in date, and our renting playbook is written for the do-it-yourself route. Help earns its cost when you are searching remotely and cannot attend viewings, when a short-term stay is running down, or when your income profile keeps getting your file set aside. In those cases, a bilingual team running the outreach and packaging the file is often the difference between weeks of silence and a signed lease.

Finding an apartment in France as an American comes down to one idea: the market selects on a clear, complete, euro-legible file that arrives fast. Solve the dossier, the income, and the guarantor question before you start, move quickly when a good place appears, and treat silence as a signal to keep applying, not a personal verdict.

If you would rather not do the French outreach and follow-up yourself, that is exactly the part we take off your plate. When you are ready, start with our Housing Fast-Track service if speed is the constraint, or our end-to-end relocation support to handle housing alongside everything else. Either way, you will not face the French rental market alone.

Photo by Emily Baruffaldi on Unsplash

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paris skyline

Finding an Apartment in Paris; It’s Not Them, It’s You. Tips to Secure Your Dream Digs

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You’ve dreamt about this day for way too long. You’ve resent your application via La Poste (twice), you’ve signed the textbook-thick lease, and you’ve finally been given the keys to your dream Parisian home.

You walk up the 5 (read American 6) flights of stairs with a grin from ear to ear because when you reach the top level and insert that irreplaceable key into that beautiful door, you KNOW, it was all worth it.

Now lets go back, about 3-6 months, cue rewind montage.

Your time is ending in your Airbnb that you had to rent to fulfill the visa application requirements. You’ve had a great time playing house and are looking forward to bringing your own place to life with your own essence. But, where do you start?

Some might think you started a few weeks before you even moved over! But things are a bit different in our dear Paris. You see, finding an apartment in Paris, as a foreigner, is like finding a dinosaur fossil at an archaeological site. Not impossible, but it’s going to take time and you’re gonna need a fine-tooth comb. Yes, laugh, it’s okay, you’ll need to laugh to survive through this. 

Start Your Search

You have several options. The most popular route is renting a furnished flat through an agency. This is also the most expensive option because the rentals are overpriced from average, the furnishings are usually comfortable, but sometimes unkempt, and the agency takes a comfortable commission. The pros are that all communication is in English, you can access an online catalog and view the apartments online, making it much more streamlined to choose a place and have a “home” before you even step out of the CDG airport. A big con is that you don’t actually see the flat, or even the area in person, and that could yield an unfavorable disposition. Once you’ve signed a rental agreement, it’s nearly iron-clad, so breaking it is not much of an option.

Now, if you know a few things or two and are comfortable with speaking French, you might try your hand at sourcing a place on your own through the French version of Craigslist, Le Bon Coin. Here you can not only find your next dream apartment, but also a bicycle, clothes, instruments; absolutely anything under the sun has been or could be sold on Le Bon Coin. As the adventurous writer of this piece, who did not know a few things, I decided I didn’t need an agency and tried going down the rabbit hole of apartments listed by locals. And may I say, what. a. journey.

The Dossier

There are many inner workings to locking in a place, much more than scheduling a visit and meeting the owner. You can’t get any traction forward without a dossier, your application packet, essentially. You’ll learn quickly in this new French life that your dossier will be an invaluable collection of paperwork that you’ll use for finding a home, a job, opening a bank account, and more. The French like everything on paper and it’s important that you look excellent on paper.

But your experience and income may not translate through the language barrier. And if you don’t speak French, it will be difficult to garner confidence and gain trust that you, a foreigner, will be a worthy tenant who will never falter in paying their rent. If you’re wondering, no, I did not speak French at the time. It was just me and my blind confidence leading the way.

Asking For Help

After several weeks licking my wounds, I accepted that I needed a professional’s assistance, but I could not stomach paying the exorbitant fees of housing agencies, so I found a middle ground. A property search agency, Chasse immobilière, for freelancers and foreigners works exclusively with local realtors that speak English and know how to prepare an application packet best suited for a freelancer, non-native speaker, non-French person, and every other outside of the box scenario. They go through their network,  Le Bon Coin listings, and different realtor agency listings from all around the city (or country if you’re looking outside of Paris). I was fortunate enough to connect with a local realtor who sent me so many listings, made appointments, handled all communications with the owners, and honestly took off all of the burden. I just had to click through the photos, say yes or no, and we’d meet to view the listing. Thanks to her, I found my absolute dream apartment. With the big Brown door, on the top floor, with the gold lock, the ancient elevator, and the most Parisian view. There is a fee for this service, but I felt better knowing part of it went directly into my realtor’s pocket.

There is no wrong way to look for a home in Paris, but there are many more efficient ways, and I can’t recommend enough to consider hiring an agency to help you with the search. Alternatively, I’d be happy to recommend my realtor, now turned dear friend, who knows Paris inside and out.

Whatever path you choose, rest assured that your dream maison is waiting for you. Your Parisian home is only just around the corner.

Photo by Brian Potter

Did you enjoy this article? TAIP is 100% reader-supported through tipping. If you want to leave us a tip of any amount it would be highly appreciated.  These tips help support our efforts to keep TAIP an ad-free environment. Just like at a cafe, the tips are split evenly among the team.

Place Garibaldi in Nice

Adventures and Misadventures in Renovating an Apartment in Nice, France

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After trying for several months to find a long-term rental apartment in Nice (a losing proposition for various reasons), we decided to bite the bullet and purchase our home. We enjoyed living in Nice, having hopped from a Home Exchange to an Airbnb for several months, and pinpointed a couple of neighborhoods we liked.

Finally Finding the Apartment

We found an apartment near Mont Boron that had wonderful light and a large terrace, but it hadn’t been renovated in 50 years. The electrical setup was not compliant with current regulations and was in fact hazardous!

We stayed there in its original configuration for a month in order to get a feel for the space, and then started asking everyone we knew (not many people, at that point) if they knew trustworthy contractors. We ended up with quite a medley.

Note: Building and renovating is often a nightmare anywhere in the world. I don’t know of any building site that had zero problems (I used to work as an architect). However, you try to keep problems at an acceptable level.

Amongst the choices:

  1. A trio of professionals, who were accustomed to working together: an electrician, a plumber, and a mason, if I remember correctly. The electrician seemed very knowledgeable, but was also very bossy, so we were a bit worried and passed on the trio.
  2. Various contractors from Eastern European countries, who came recommended and whose prices were very low. We worried that the prices could change at any moment. In fact, on one estimate, it was clearly written that the prices could change!
  3. One “full” contractor who would handle everything except what we had already signed contracts for (double-glazed windows, shutters, and shades, and the kitchen outfitting).

Moving Forward with the Reno

We ended up deciding to hire the full contractor, even though his estimate was the highest. He was working on our upstairs neighbor’s apartment, and she had known him for several years. We felt it was worth the additional money to have someone with a lot of local experience (he wasn’t quite a local himself, as he was raised in the suburbs of Paris). We were asked to buy most of the materials ourselves: tiles, bathroom fixtures, and a couple of other things. He purchased plumbing infrastructure, electrical (except lamps).

He kicked us out of the apartment for 4 months, promising to be done by then. Luckily, we found a temporary vacation rental, about 15 minutes away on foot.

Once again, we asked around and researched outlets for flooring, bathrooms, and traipsed off all over town and to Cagnes-sur-Mer, about 15 km away, to make our choices.

The site was very dirty and messy, but we didn’t dare protest (we tried, but were shut down: “my workers need to be comfortable!” i.e., smoking cigarettes all over the place). Towards the end of the work, the kitchen installer came. He was a very strict and disciplined professional, and made a disparaging remark about the messiness. The next day, the apartment was cleaned up!

All in all, it was expensive, but there weren’t too many terrible incidents, and we remained within budget. Some reflections on our experience: 

  • We were shocked by the flimsiness of interior walls built in the 1970s: barely 7 cm thick, you could punch through them. We had to double up some for structural integrity.
  • The plumber assured us that we could use the bidet pipe for a toilet. He lied. After a few disgusting flooding incidents, we had to shut down the toilet. Fortunately, there are other toilets! When we protested to the main contractor, he answered that we had asked for the toilet. I was livid, but had no proof (see below).
  • The plumber (yes, him again) installed an “Insinkerator” (not my idea, but men like these things, I guess). It cost much more than his original quote, and then he told us we shouldn’t use it for more than a few seconds at a time because of the old building pipes.
  • The painters (I think) poured turpentine in the jasmine flower pot. The jasmine died.
  • The contractor promised the place would be perfectly clean when he left, but that wasn’t the case. We kept on finding bits and pieces of cement under the windows.
  • We bought toilets that are terrible at flushing. Every time I go to the US, toilets seem to flush without any issue.

However, all in all, it wasn’t too bad an experience, and our apartment is pleasant.

Feeling Lucky with Our Choice

A new friend arrived in Nice, speaking little French, and her luck was much worse, unfortunately. She went through several contractors, all flaky, leaving her in the lurch with unnecessary expenses. The first one came highly recommended from a member of an expat group on Facebook. As it turned out, he had only been hired until then as a handyman, not as a contractor. He was not prepared and had no equipment of his own. The next one wanted to go on vacation and wanted all his money, even though my friend was still waiting for the kitchen installers (the same ones I had used without a hitch), but parts were delayed. This contractor was so threatening that she gave up and paid him… and soon after he left, the bathrooms he installed were leaking.

The window installers (the same ones I had used) were delayed, but she couldn’t remain without windows, and they didn’t want to reimburse her deposit until she showed them the clause in their own contract.

The third contractor decided, after accepting to do the work, that he needed to go on vacation.

Well… months later, she is finally in her apartment, with a beautiful view, but what tribulations she went through! It seemed never-ending.

Another friend, who is French, returned to Nice from the United States and bought a beautiful old apartment. She hired a well-recommended contractor who ran into personal problems and disappeared with her money (I am not sure how much. A lot.) She didn’t react fast enough, and the police couldn’t help her. She had to hire another team, and fortunately, she now has an almost-finished apartment.

I’m not sure what other lessons to offer! One thing is certain: get as much as you can in writing. For example, if I had asked the plumber to put in writing that a toilet was feasible in that bathroom, he couldn’t pretend that I had insisted on a toilet.

In any case, if you do embark on a renovation journey… bon courage! You’ll need nerves of steel.

You could also hire an architect or an interior designer, budget permitting. Again, make sure you have a contract that specifies fees and what will be handled by the designer. The more detail, the better. I didn’t use one, as I was myself trained as an architect. I regretted giving away my T-square years ago and made do with a ruler and a triangle. It was very useful to lay out the tiles the way I wanted them, as well as the bathrooms. The kitchen outfitters handled the kitchen drawings (with our input and exact measurements).

If you need names of companies we used, please reach out.

Photo of Place Garibaldi in Nice

Did you enjoy this article? TAIP is 100% reader-supported through tipping. If you want to leave us a tip of any amount it would be highly appreciated.  These tips help support our efforts to keep TAIP an ad-free environment. Just like at a cafe, the tips are split evenly among the team.

cindy petitprez design details

Want to Renovate or Build a Property in France? Start Here

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Note from the editor: Cindy Petitprez is an interior architect and decorator from the north of France, a place, she says, “where warmhearted people go hand in hand with beautiful landscapes.” Cindy contacted me with an interest in connecting with more American clients, as she would love to work with expats. She shared her work with me and I was blown away. Keep reading to discover her story and how to get in touch with her. — MS

Fifteen years ago, at twenty-five, I felt the urge to explore the world. Overnight, the decision was made — I was moving to New York. After a first experience as an exchange student in Atlanta, I wanted to dive in again, but this time on my own terms.

I found a room for rent in Brooklyn with roommates. I soaked up the New York vibe, explored every neighborhood, and felt amazed at every corner. I joined networking events because back then, I was dreaming of launching my own business. I met wonderful people. I fell for the simplicity and spontaneity of Americans — so easy-going, never overthinking it before talking to a stranger, complimenting someone on the subway about their outfit, wishing a passerby a great day in the street…

After that experience, I wanted to settle in the United States for good. Aside from my tiny chance at the green card lottery, I did not have many options. Unless I fell in love with a charming American… but that romantic quest turned out to be a total flop, even with my very dedicated detective work. Moving on!

Today, fifteen years later, I have unpacked my suitcases in the Pink City, Toulouse. I found my prince charming, but a French one. We have two wonderful children. We love our life here, with the mountains and the sea both within reach.

I became a freelance interior architect and decorator, a job I am truly passionate about. I mostly work with private clients, on projects ranging from renovations to new builds. I work all over the country.

My clients were 100% French until the day Chrissy and Michael contacted me from Texas — what a joy. They wanted to renovate their newly purchased apartment in Luchon, in the heart of the Pyrenees. I got started right away, and they were so enthusiastic. Michael would reply to my designs with “J’aime!!” So simple! No French person would ever answer “J’aime !!” In France, people tend to hold back.

Days went by, and Chrissy and Michael kept brightening them. On the morning of October 31st, my phone rang. It was Michael: “Happy Halloween Cindy!!” No one would have wished me a happy Halloween that day, but I was thrilled to receive that message. Michael had just made my day again.

Working with Americans is pure joy, and I’d love to do it more. Who’s in?

I am now looking to expand my services to expatriates who want to renovate or build property in France. I speak fluent English, which makes the process a lot easier. If you are American and you have a real estate project in France, I’d love to work with you. Let’s have fun while being serious!

I help you transform your new homes through a turnkey and highly personalized approach. My services include full renovation design, space planning, furniture and décor sourcing, bespoke joinery, and on-site coordination with trusted local artisans.

My aim is to offer expats a smooth and reassuring experience, helping you navigate French renovation standards, local suppliers and practical steps with clarity and comfort. The result is a refined and welcoming home that reflects your lifestyle! 

Discover my work as an interior designer in Toulouse and throughout France.

Cindy is reachable by email contact@cindypetitprez.com or through her Instagram account.

Photo of details of one of Cindy’s designs

Did you enjoy this article? TAIP is 100% reader-supported through tipping. If you want to leave us a tip of any amount it would be highly appreciated.  These tips help support our efforts to keep TAIP an ad-free environment. Just like at a cafe, the tips are split evenly among the team.

top floor apartment in paris

What No One Tells You About Finding an Apartment in Paris

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We often talk about the lengthy and sometimes complicated process of applying for a visa to live in France, what it’s like to move away from friends and family, and better ways to learn French. But, something we’ve discussed only a handful of times is perhaps one of the most important — and potentially most frustrating — parts of moving to France: finding an apartment in Paris.

The good news is that it’s not just you. Apartment hunting in Paris really is that hard. 

Thinking about all of this, a story comes to mind. Stephen and I have worked together on so many different things, from walking tours and picnics to Airbnb and beyond. One of those random projects and gigs included showing apartments in Paris together. He had some contacts with people who wanted someone trustworthy to actually show places to potential tenants and serve as an initial judge of whether said tenants would make a good fit.

He gave me RDV on rue Jacob in the 6th arrondissement — coincidentally right around the corner from where I lived as a student during my semester abroad and one of my favorite areas to walk around to this day. I was excited to go back to my old haunts and earn a little extra cash from helping him out.

I rounded the corner of the rue Bonaparte and saw a massive line of people, seemingly waiting to enter the Ladurée boutique. I kept walking towards the address I wrote down, and noticed that the line snaked up the street in the exact same direction I was going. Weird, I thought — but chalked it up to it being a busy part of town. Imagine my surprise when I saw the line of people waiting outside the address that Stephen told me to meet him at.

I skirted around them and headed up the stairs — I knocked on a door that was left slightly ajar and told Stephen about the line. He said he wasn’t surprised, there was a lot of interest. When all was said and done, we showed the place to more than 40 people.

So, why am I telling you this? Because this little walk down memory lane is a perfect example of how competitive the real estate market is in Paris, even for rentals. Now, that’s not to say it’s impossible. I’ve never been homeless in Paris, but I have had to shift my expectations since living there. 

And today, I’m sharing everything I’ve learned along the way so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.

Know What You’re Really Getting Into

As I’ve alluded to in the form of my story above, finding an apartment in Paris is nothing like what you may be used to in the US, or even elsewhere in Europe. Things move a lot more slowly, and it’s very competitive.

Many listings are already taken by the time you send your first message, and the best places are often only available if you know someone. You might tour an apartment, think it went great, and never hear from the landlord again (been there). As a note, French landlords can be extremely picky, especially with foreigners and expats. There’s a fear that you’ll just “leave the country” and never pay your rent. In a way, I get it.

Some also want proof that you already live in Paris and pay your current rent on time before they’ll rent to you. Like so many other French administrative processes (like getting a bank account or cell phone, though those are much easier nowadays), you basically need an apartment to get an apartment. 

Another big surprise? An unfurnished apartment likely won’t even have kitchen appliances (yes, not even a stove), and also means committing to a three-year lease, minimum. 

Decide Where (and How) You Want to Live

As we’ve noted in our Paris neighborhood guide series and in a recent YouTube episode, every arrondissement is different, boasting its own unique charm, vibe, lifestyle — and budget. So, before you really start your hunt, it’s important to have a general idea of where in the city you’d like to live and what kind of housing would work best for you.

Here are just some of the options:

  • With roommates (often called a ‘flatshare’ or colocation in French)
  • A small studio apartment (usually under 20m² or 215 square feet)
  • A chambre de bonne (tiny top-floor former maid’s quarters with shared bathrooms)
  • A traditional apartment (if you’ve got the budget/dossier for it)

You could also do what Stephen did for his most recent apartment. He couldn’t find anything, so he went to Airbnb to see if a host would be willing to rent to him more long-term. He met them for a coffee, talked things through, saw the apartment in person, and signed the lease. It’s an excellent example of how, sometimes, you need to be willing to be scrappy to snag the Parisian apartment of your dreams.

Now, as mentioned, finding an apartment in Paris isn’t always easy, so you also need to be prepared to take what you can get. I don’t mean you should settle for a shack in the middle of nowhere, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for in, say, the 5th arrondissement, be willing to look in, say, the 19th.

The All-Important Dossier

If you’ve managed to apply for and obtain a French visa, you already know the importance of paperwork in this country. France wants proof for everything — you can’t just show up for an apartment tour and say you’re a great tenant. They want to know your name, date of birth, occupation, how much you make, where you’ve lived in the past, and all of your deepest hopes and dreams. Okay, the last one is an exaggeration, but you get the gist.

In fact, most landlords or rental agencies will ask to see your dossier before they’re willing to even speak to you. At minimum, it should include:

  • A copy of your passport and visa
  • Proof of income (French pay stubs are strongest, or bank statements)
  • A work contract or school enrollment letter
  • Recent utility bills or proof of address
  • A French bank account to prove you have one
  • A ‘garanteur’ or someone who makes more money than you, who is willing to back you up, like a parent or relative

Here’s the catch: even people with great salaries or a chunky savings account struggle. French landlords want to see French paperwork, and without that, they may see you as too much of a risk. And, the truth is, I also know dozens, if not more, French people who struggle to provide solid dossiers too. I know many who use fake pay stubs and bank statements to make them look better off than they are. That’s how competitive this is!

There are services in place for foreigners or folks without well-off family members, like GarantMe or Visale, but I also know there are some landlords who won’t accept them.

I know it’s not fair, but it’s how the system works.

Where to Look

There are several rental platforms to choose from, but I’ve had the best luck personally on SeLoger, PAP, and Facebook. Craigslist Paris is also worth checking out, but it is full of scams, so be careful. HiPParis has some cool options, but mostly only for buying. Don’t forget Stephen’s Airbnb trick too. There are also rental agencies that specialize in helping expats (if there’s an interest, I can do some digging on ones to try!).

Your best bet? It’s all about word of mouth and people you know.

I know, I know — but, Molli, what if I just moved to Paris and I don’t know anyone yet? I get it! Building community and finding your people takes time, but once you do, a whole new world will open up to you. You never know who you may meet, who may have a friend looking for someone to take over their lease, or an aunt who needs someone to stay in their apartment for a year while they travel.

Like anything else, getting to a point where you can simply ask around and find an apartment in Paris will take some time.

And a lot of times, just when you think it’s never going to work out, it does. You’ll get the call. You’ll sign the lease. You’ll move in.

Prefer video? Watch us discuss finding an apartment in Paris on YouTube!

Photo by Doctor Tinieblas on Unsplash

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What It’s Like Living In The “Worst” Part Of Paris

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It’s no secret that finding an apartment is difficult in Paris. People don’t realize how small this city is. For comparison, London is 600 square miles while Paris is 40 square miles. Consider this, and then remember how much space is used for parks, hotels, shops, etc. There’s limited space, so when it’s time to search for a place to live, there are limited options. This is the reality, so have reasonable expectations when getting on your feet here.

The Dossier

If you’re unfamiliar, the French require a dossier (and a weighty one at that) for every apartment you apply for. To put into context the peculiarity of the French dossier, the first application I submitted was rejected because of the kind of work contract I have, which is a freelance contract. My employer even called the agent to explain and verify my contract, but it was to no avail. It stated indefinite work and my salary, but simply because it wasn’t a CDI, they found it “too complicated” to accept my file.

In brief, a dossier contains:

1) valid ID

2) visa

3) the last year’s tax documents (the more taxes you pay, the more money you make)

4) work contract

5) last three months of payslips

6) a garant

7) last three quittances de loyer

8) RIB of your French bank account

My Lack Thereof

I knew that my situation on paper wasn’t as strong as others applying for the same apartments. Landlords (understandably) favor French citizens over foreigners, and at the time, I didn’t even have a French bank account.

Basically, I was working with:

1) valid ID

2) visa

3) work contract (remember, freelance!)

4) tax documents from a year when I was hardly working

5) three months of payslips when I was, again, hardly working

I was missing integral parts of my file like a RIB, a guarantor, and proof of income. My options were even more limited than the average flat seeker.

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

After some weeks went by without success on PAP.fr, I asked a friend if she knew anyone who had an apartment to rent. This question can seem nervy to some, but if you’re familiar with the “Aladdin Factor,” you can’t get what you don’t ask for. To my surprise, she actually did know someone, and I called that person up the moment her contact was sent to me. She happened to be a realtor who works for an agency that specializes in renting apartments to foreigners. It turned out the apartment in question was her own, thus allowing us to forgo agency fees and conclude a private contract.

I should mention that her willingness to rent to me came from the fact that she herself was once a foreigner getting on her feet in this city. The day we met, she was explaining how hard it was to get all the paperwork in order for a proper dossier when she first moved here. She was kind and understanding of my situation because of our shared experience. Once we signed the contract, I was then given the keys and promptly sent her my deposit. It was an accomplishment for someone in my shoes.

Wonderful, But Weird

The apartment is bright and clean and in a building with kind neighbors. I usually have plans in the evenings, but they frequently have apéros which I’m always welcome to join. They even included me in their building group chat when I first moved in.

When I began telling my friends and colleagues about the apartment, they were happy for me, until I told them which métro stop I lived on. My boss told me, “I have one rule for myself. I never go to La Chappelle or Goutte D’Or. You can’t move there.” I have a good friend who grew up in Montmartre, which is not far from me at all, who explained there are a few good streets and my apartment just so happened to be on one of them. The area is “un quartier populaire” which frankly I haven’t found a good translation for. It’s been described to me as a neighborhood mixed with working class, upper class, and immigrants. Some French speakers who use this term, however, might just be trying to be polite in calling your neighborhood the ghetto (and it isn’t always warranted).

You have to be careful wherever you are, and this place is no different. I personally haven’t been put in any situation in my neighborhood that made me feel in danger. I don’t feel more unsafe here than anywhere else.

The Pros

There’s a market along Rue de L’Olive which has fruits, vegetables, cheese, butter, flowers, etc. Chez Meunier is at the Marx Dormoy metro station on your immediate left. Lomi is down the street across the bridge heading to Montmartre. Lest we not forget the one and only Bob’s Bakehouse. There are other great spots nearby, I’m only listing a few. The intensely bad reputation that Marx Dormoy has is mostly outdated. As one would anywhere else, be aware of your surroundings and you’ll be fine.

As a single woman who often gets home after midnight, I haven’t been followed or harrassed. From what I’ve gathered by talking with people who have lived here much longer than me, the area has been cleaned up from what it once was. It’s still in the process of getting better. All this is to say, Paris as a whole is pretty safe. I feel more uncomfortable on the East Coast of the US in New York or in Philadelphia where I grew up.

I don’t live in a glamorous neighborhood, but I don’t fear for my life. Living in Marx Dormoy for me has its functional benefits. It’s less expensive than other areas and the apartments are a comfortable size. I’ve been inside a few, and I only have praise for the ones I’ve seen. They’re clean and spacious. For example on the main street there’s an apartment building with a shared garden, it’s shockingly quiet and smells amazing because of the flowers.

The Cons

The area isn’t as built up as other parts. It isn’t as beautiful or trendy. There’s underutilized space that people take advantage of for the wrong reason. It’s crowded with people either begging or selling cigarettes right outside of the métro. There’s a whole area along the main street which would be perfect for outdoor seating if it could be cleaned up. Along one of the streets heading to my apartment men at night like to sit along the fence, drink, and sometimes leave their trash behind.

It’s not central by any means. In my case this doesn’t pose too many issues since I mostly travel to central areas. When it’s time to go to places like Bastille, that’s where it gets a little annoying. Once I rode my bike to Supersonic and had to leave it there for a few days because of a flat tire. I eventually walked it back, but it was about an hour on foot.

In Conclusion

The worst part of Paris may be my next-door neighbor, but Paris is still Paris. As long as you’re careful then you should be fine. “Area” doesn’t always determine if you’re in danger or not. There are reports everywhere of pickpockets and people getting mugged, even in Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand.

Photo was taken near Rue de La Chapelle while heading to the Marx Dormoy metro.

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Enlarging a Condo in Paris

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As the owner of a condominium in Paris, have you ever wanted to figure out how to get more space without moving out? 

There are various ways this can be done. For example, you can try to buy the unused attic area of a building if you live on the top floor, in which way you can create an extra floor under the roof. Or you might try to buy a piece of a hallway attached to your condominium that is unused by other owners to add square meters to your living space. In a condominium context, and particularly in Paris and France, the key word here is try. And with luck, patience, euros, and most of all the goodwill of the other owners, you’ll succeed. 

How does this work? First of all you’ll need an architect and a surveyor to measure the exact number of square meters you want to transform from common ownership to private ownership.  Then the owners’ association must vote unanimously to sell you the desired square meters and, of course, set a price. Once this is accepted, the buyer will pay for those square meters, all the renovations, the legal fees of the purchase, and for the cost of changing the co-ownership regulations. The new regulations will now include a new private lot equivalent to the purchased square meters. The owner will then have a higher percentage than before of the general condominium and will thus pay more in condominium association dues forever after.  

My case is relatively rare: I live in one of the 3,500 houses that still exist in Paris. And fewer still are condominium houses typically located in a courtyard behind a street side apartment building. 

What I originally bought was a small, two-room house (more a cottage than a house) behind a four-story building: about 50 square meters of living space with a small living room, kitchen, and WC on the ground floor and a bedroom and bathroom (no WC) above those rooms on the second floor. There is a basement below, but the best of all was the 75 square meter garden, facing south toward other gardens and all that at 100 meters from a metro station within Paris boundaries. 

Condominium housing normally is divided into “parties communes,” belonging to the condominium as a whole, and “parties privatives,” belonging to a specific condominium lot. However there is a third possibility for some spaces which are considered to belong to the condominium as a whole, but whose use is attached to only one private lot. This is the case of my garden: it is mine to enjoy exclusively, but does not belong to me. 

Making Changes

While I lived alone in the house, the two rooms were sufficient for my needs. However, when my son was born, space became tight. My first course of action was to make use of the empty stairwell where I had someone come in and create a two-part deck, each 120 x 120 cm: the lower part would contain the crib and a little standing space; on the higher one I had a dresser built in.  

This was a perfect temporary solution, but I knew there would come a time when the baby would outgrow this space. To plan for the future three options presented themselves:

  1. sell the house and buy a condominium apartment in Paris
  2. sell the house in Paris and buy a house in the suburbs
  3. enlarge the house

Options 1 and 2 held no appeal for me, so I went for (what I didn’t know at the time was) the most challenging one, door number three.

Probably, had I known what I was up against, I would have given up before starting. But I was only ever informed of each step as it came up. And no single step was unsurmountable, although the whole process would easily have seemed so. 

Find Your Architect

The first step was finding someone to help me with design. After speaking with one architect and then another, I finally found one who was (somewhat) interested in the project and got started with him. He was not the best, I was to learn in hindsight, and one more interested in the Van Gogh museum for which he’d been retained by the State than in my little enlargement. I was later to find that he and his maître d’oeuvre (the overseer of the project to try and put it simply) were padding my estimate in unnecessary ways, akin to a government contract. 

Before accepting the project, he sent me off to the Paris urban planning office (Centre d’information, de Documentation et d’Exposition d’Urbanisme et d’Architecture de Paris et de la Métropole parisienne). In this building, where free exhibitions concerning Paris architecture often take place, and which is easily reached by metro Sully-Morland, I wandered a bit. Most of the offices were empty due to it being an extended weekend in May. However I did encounter a relatively relaxed city architect who, when hearing of my project responded, “If that is your dream, go ahead.” And this I reported back to the architect. 

Find Your Limitations

Next you’ll need to learn about all the constraints that Paris urban planning will set on the construction. In this case, I was required to be set back a minimum twenty meters from the street, and could build no higher than eight meters (on account of the building situated behind the house). My criteria was that the new wing would look as if it had been built with the original house, and when moving around within the house I would not feel as if I were going into a different building.  

In agreement with all these criteria, a plan was drafted by the architect which included the contractor he wanted to work with. Because the ground floor of the original house is raised, this height unfortunately did not allow for two floors in the new wing. While the architect was only going to give me a single room of normal height, I told him that if the urbanisme allows up to eight meters, I wanted eight meters. I would decide how to fill the space of the cathedral ceiling later.  

As he could not figure out how to attach the new wing to the original house owing to a very complicated roofing pattern, he decided to simply attach the wing at ground level, and leave a  balcony upstairs with a skylight over what would become the dining room.  

These plans were then submitted to Paris urban planning and he did what he had to do to get the proposal accepted. I have heard there was a lunch involved, which can be a solution to quite a few problems with bureaucracy in France.

Put It to a Vote

Once accepted, the plans had to be voted on with the owners’ committee and the price for the land the wing would be built on had to be negotiated. I probably could have negotiated better and saved a bit of money, but no one helped and it was me against the rest of the owners. The important point is that the vote came out in my favor and I could move on with the official purchase of the land at the notary’s and the construction.  

It so happened that before signing on with the contractor, my central heater broke down. A friend whose father had worked at a company making central heaters recommended what I should get. I ordered the heater and water heater he recommended.

However to finish the installation, an electrician needed to come by. As I was about to work with a contractor, I asked him to send someone to take care of it without asking for an estimate. Big mistake. When the invoice came in I had been billed at the price of three hours for the work of a full-fledged engineer and not just an electrician. This got me wondering as to the billing for the enlargement. 

Lucky for me, by chance I met an architect who recommended a contractor. I gave him a copy of my estimate, minus costs, and had him fill in his prices. The result was about a third less than the architect’s contractor. 

Final Meeting

Not long after we had a meeting at my house for the final signature. Being a lone woman, and knowing I would be at a disadvantage with these people, I had a male friend come in a back me up.  First I attacked the price of their electrician, whereby they immediately accepted the average price for the work. Then I presented the second estimate. Both contractor and architect noted immediately it was exactly the same work (minus details like setting up a pre-fab temporary housing for the workers in the street — after all I said they could change in my house and use the bathroom!). Both architect and contractor refused the lower price and withdrew from the job.  

This left me as my own “maître d’oeuvre” in spite of my knowing little about architecture. Not really the best state of affairs. But who knew? 

At this point, approximately four years after the enlargement was simply a glint in the back of my eye, the construction of the wing began while I continued to live in the main house. This wasn’t a problem while the foundation was being dug, the walls built up, and the roof was laid on both old and new structure. But when

  • the old oak, ironwork, and glass door and the oculus window were to be repositioned into their new frames, and
  • the kitchen window was to become the opening into what would be a small dining area, and 
  • a door was to be created onto the new balcony 

we began living with the dust and dirt of these transformations and the interior work.

Get Me an Estimate

And there were those changes in plans that needed to be estimated and negotiated.

“Only a two-meter window in the room? No, I want three meters.” “That will cost you,” said the contractor. “OK, get me an estimate.”

The electrician found antique 1930’s textile-covered wiring in the original house. “Spaghetti!” he called it. And you cannot put new wiring on old; all the wiring had to be redone. “OK, get me an estimate.”

I wanted a second toilet room to be put in upstairs as they built the balcony. “Costly” said the contractor. “Get me an estimate.”  

Then the neighbors next door did not want to look onto a blind cement wall, “Please put in face brick. And do something to break it up.” Again I turned to the contractor, “Get me an estimate.”

We decided on putting in a meter of glass brick to break up the wall. But, it was only sold in two square-meter boxes. What to do? “Put it all in!” And so, I now have light streaming in through two square meters of glass brick on my south wall.  

Mistakes

When I gave the brand name “Acova” for the radiators, the contractor said we could get others that were less expensive and “the same”. Not really; I had to change radiators down the line. 

For the tile in the toilet room, the contractor handed me a single type of tile and said to choose the color I wanted. I should have gone to a tile place and chosen from all the existing possibilities. 

Four years for administrative work, four months for construction. Time for a house-warming party in the totally empty new wing and to begin living in the enlarged house. 

Was the work finished? Not by a long shot. 

More to Do

When I went to install a new fitted kitchen, and all had been removed, the plaster was found to be humid and failing. Taking out all the plasterboard down to the beams, we discovered a crack in the “party wall” of the house, the wall that separates our condominium property with the one next door.  

According to law, this wall does not belong to me, but is part of the common property of the condominium as a whole. That meant calling in the insurance experts and getting the co-owners to accept the estimate for repairs. These were three months my five-year-old and I spent with no kitchen at all, just a refrigerator and microwave in the new living room. Dishes were done in the sink upstairs.

Later the ceiling under the new balcony began leaking. I called in the contractor to fix it. He never did get it repaired. We found that in fact, he had never put in water-proofing, so where the cement met the wall, water came through. Meanwhile, his company filed for bankruptcy.

After putting up with two years of leaking while I worked to get a decent estimate to waterproof the balcony (no roofing companies want to do the small stuff of an eight-square-meter roof) I got the roofers doing the new building across the street to write up a detailed four-page estimate of the work. I signed.

But the roof began leaking again because of faulty workmanship. I refused to pay and had to sue the company before I could bring in another roofer. Two years later, the roofing finally got done correctly and I have had no problems ever since. “Jamais deux sans trois” (Never two without a third) as the French say. I continue to keep my fingers crossed every time it rains. 

And only recently I learned that the contractor had cut corners on the flashing on the roof, literally. His lead flashing was too narrow and was not even of a minimum regulation width. With humidity entering the roofing and the prospect of leaks, I have just had the flashing changed.  

What About the Ceiling?

Then there was the high cathedral ceiling. My plans were clear; I would get a cabinetmaker friend to build a deck that would become my office. The challenge was to create a floor that looked good both from above and below. He did a beautiful job using a mix of oak and maple wood for the deck and the shelves. Happy and ready to install my computer equipment, I suddenly realized there was no electricity up there. You know the score by now: recommendations and estimates to bring the electricity to that floor. 

One contractor who came around looked up and said, “If I were you I would put in a skylight, too.”  Wow, what an idea! And so, estimates for a skylight were called in. Today I work in a light-filled “eyrie,” as a friend calls my office. 

Almost “Done”

Over time I have had other work done: I had stained glass created for my oculus window as well as for my door.

My son’s room needed to be rewired because after 40 years in this house, we only just discovered the electricity was not grounded.

I’ve put in air-conditioning.

I have had the wooden stairs leading to the basement removed to be replaced by cement, as I could not get rid of the woodworm that had set in.  

Big stuff, small stuff, a house remains forever a work-in-progress. But more importantly, as other authors have often shared on the blog, it’s about the willpower to complete a project paired with the patience to put up with the lunacy of how building works in a country like France and a city like Paris compared to how it can in America.

Still and all, it was worth it, and my friends love the “garden parties” they can attend with me without having to leave the city.

Photo is the home as seen from the entrance to the garden. The building on the right is the “addition.”

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Paris apartment photo

Getting a Paris Apartment: My Story

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Stephanie shows by this article that you don’t always have to have your plans figured out before you get here, as long as you’re willing to hustle a bit. 🙂 -SH

The many expats I’ve met in Paris all seem to have organized their move to France with precise detail, preparing months and months in advance. TAIP’s upcoming book is an example of that.

My experience was a little different.

I pretty much threw things together, gave myself just over a month to prepare (from applying for the visa to hopping on the plane), and left everything in my NYC apartment just in case my big Paris move did not go as planned.

Fortunately, everything worked out, with a few bumps here and there.

Pivoting to Paris

My decision to move to France came about after experiencing the sudden loss of a close member of my family. I was absolutely devastated and a tsunami of grief consumed my mind and soul.

I needed to get away from NYC. I needed to heal. Paris was the place I wanted to be.

Returning to live in France had been on my bucket list ever since spending a few years in Bordeaux right after college. The dream had remained on the back burner for years until the family crisis put everything into perspective.

France healed me many moons ago and I knew it could heal me now. And it was imperative to make things happen quickly before my logical brain tried to convince me to stay put.

While the move might have looked risky to those around me, it really wasn’t. My business is portable and I had tried on the digital nomad lifestyle the year before. It worked then and I knew it could work in Paris now.

After a helpful phone consult with the TAIP team, I moved full speed ahead with the visa paperwork and a little over a month later arrived in Paris with a reservation for a two-week stay in an Airbnb in the 2nd arrondissement, one large suitcase in hand and the goal to get an apartment of my own.

Because I spoke the language and had a good sense of the culture, I thought I could roll into Paris and things would come together quickly.

Nope.

In retrospect, things ended up coming together pretty quickly, but at the time, it was stressful with a lot of uncertainty and bumps along the way. It’s clear I underestimated what was entailed.

One Step At A Time

Almost immediately after landing in Paris, I began looking for permanent digs. My goal was a furnished one-bedroom apartment in central Paris, i.e. a single-digit arrondissement.

Coming from NYC, the land of small and expensive apartments, I found that rents in Paris were less than what I would expect to pay back home. Newcomers from less-pricey locales may experience sticker shock or surprise at the size of the average Parisian rental.

A friend who had lived in Paris suggested looking at the English-language site Fusac. Fusac is an online ad space with varied listings including rental apartments and sublets.

With Fusac, it’s a bit catch-as-catch-can. Listings are not extensive but one in the Marais (3rdarrondissement) caught my eye.

While the place turned out to only be available for a short-term sublet, it was perfect as a stop-gap as it allowed me to stop paying nightly Airbnb rates should the search drag on.

The owner’s son was able to show me the apartment right away; it turned out to be spacious, charming, and well-located. The Belgian owner lived in Bali, and rented his place out for a few months at a time at a nightly rate that was much less than what I was paying at the Airbnb.

I grabbed it right away as a short-term solution while I continued to look. No papers were signed on either side nor was a security deposit requested. I simply wired the money for the first month and picked up keys from the neighbor. Sending money without a written agreement might have seemed risky at the time — and I would certainly never recommend it — but it felt right and everything turned out great.

Having a reasonable place to stay for two months was a Godsend. I now had some breathing room while I continued to search for a permanent place.

Apps, Listings, and Unresponsive Brokers, Oh My!

Paris has a number of apartment listing apps where you can set up alerts with your desired criteria: neighborhood(s), apartment size, rent range, elevator or walk-up, furnished, etc. Some of the ones I used are seloger.com, pap.fr, nestoria.fr, and jinka.fr.

Pap is short for particulier à particulier, person to person, with the big bonus of no agency fees though there is a heightened risk of being scammed.

The other sites mainly have agency listings.

What’s terrific about Paris is the surfeit of furnished listings. And when I say furnished, we’re not just talking furniture. In the case of the apartment I eventually rented, it came with everything, including sheets, towels, pillows, and bedding, a fully-equipped kitchen with plates, glasses, and silverware, even an umbrella, iron, coat hangers, and cleaning supplies. It feels like an Airbnb where you roll up with your suitcase and you’re ready to go.

As a foreigner arriving in Paris with just a suitcase, furnished apartments are a godsend.

The one drawback is that the landlord can (but doesn’t always) ask for two months of security deposit for a furnished apartment as opposed to one month for a non-furnished apartment, but that seemed like a fair exchange compared to the savings in time, energy and money outfitting an apartment.

Upping My Chances

To rent an apartment in Paris, the barrier to entry is high, and not being French makes things harder. The market is competitive and because renters’ rights are very strong in France and it’s hard to kick out non-paying tenants, landlords are risk averse.

As a self-employed American without a CDI which proves that the person has a permanent job and a regular paycheck, I needed a guarantor to co-sign the lease alongside me, guaranteeing the rent would be covered if I stopped paying. French friends could have done this for me, but it seemed like too much of an ask to have them submit a ton of financial paperwork, so I went with the private guarantor service garantme.

The garantme process involved submitting a bunch of financial paperwork (tax returns, bank statements, and a letter from my accountant), but within about 24 hours I was approved and received a Certificate of Eligibility which stated that I was good to pay up to X amount per month. I then submitted the certificate number as part of my dossier for any apartment I was interested in.

Garantme does not come cheap. The tenant pays Garantme 3.5% of the annual rent including charges and this is for every year of the lease. The landlord pays nothing. There is no upfront fee with garantme; the fee is paid only at lease signing.

The Search Unfolds

The alerts I had set up were working and I was getting pinged several times a day with new listings. Some looked decent; some not so much.

Initially, I sent out messages and…crickets.

Things changed for the better once I had the garantme certificate in hand, which I made sure to mention in my outgoing messages to agents. Finally, some responses.

Eventually some apartments actually started being offered to me: through Fusac, a six-floor walk-up on the Left bank that was only available as a long-term sublet, and a duplex apartment in the Marais which looked amazing on video but could only be viewed via video, not in person.

Neither felt quite right and I wasn’t desperate yet thanks to the breathing room my two-month sublet gave me. I declined both.

Then through seloger came a listing for a super cute one-bedroom in the Marais just down the street from my sublet. It ticked all the boxes: great neighborhood, cute design, elevator, bike storage, and air conditioning. The biggest plus was that the agent actually responded to my message. A visit was set up.

The place was better than many I’d seen and by this point the search was wearing on me. I talked up the garantme certificate to the agent and he told me that there were three other interested parties. I just wanted to be done. I needed to get settled and start my business back up. To sweeten the deal, in typical NYC closer fashion I offered up an additional 100 euros a month beyond the advertised rent.

The landlord was making her decision later in a week.

In the interim, another option came in through PAP. Located in a landmark building in the heart of the Marais, the apartment was impeccable and could have easily appeared in a designer mag. It had everything I could have wanted and I would have given anything to live there. I sent the landlord a heartfelt note about why I would be an amazing tenant, but alas, she went with another applicant.

She had made it clear she was looking for a stable tenant who would stay for the long term, and in retrospect as a self-employed American having just arrived in Paris, I don’t think I quite fit the profile she was looking for.

Eureka!

Back to Plan A. The super cute Marais one bedroom was offered to me, and it was an immediate yes on my part. The idea of getting the apartment search off my to-do list was pure relief.

The next steps involved paying garantme, signing the lease, paying the security deposit, and then obtaining renters’ insurance, which my landlord required. The real estate agent connected me with a company that assisted with getting the electrical bill switched to my name and setting up wifi.

Having a signed lease in hand became the golden ticket allowing me to open a French bank account, which up to that point had been a time-consuming and fruitless quest.

At move-in I paid the agency fee and the first month’s rent.

Between all the fees and the two months of security, getting my Paris pad has required me to pony up quite a bit upfront. And it was practically a full-time endeavor when I was in the thick of it. But hearing about other expat’s nightmare stories of schlepping from one Airbnb or sublet to the next because they cannot get a landlord to rent to them, I consider myself lucky.  It’s been three months since move-in and now that the stress of the search is over, I couldn’t be happier with my new home.

Photo is of my new place!

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To Rent or To Own in Paris?

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The most important fact to begin this discussion — which is directed at those who wish to live in Paris, not those who wish to buy rental properties in Paris — is that the current interest rates for fixed mortgages are between 2-3%.  When interest rates are so low, buying becomes attractive, even in Paris.  Add in the fact that tenants of properties have right of first refusal on a property to be sold and buying becomes easier.  But attractive and easy do not necessarily equal simple.  There are a few things to keep in mind.

Selection

I would not recommend buying in a neighborhood that you have never lived in.  With Airbnb and other such options, you have the ability, like never before, to stay some weeks in a neighborhood or arrondissement to get a sense of the scale and speed of it.  Meet the shopowners.  Take a coffee.  Walk around.

Primary vs Secondary

One of the ways that the French state discourages real estate speculation is by levying a significantly higher tax on the sale of a secondary residence vs your primary one.  The “buy and flip” model doesn’t really work here, as a result.

Roots

If, like me, you reject modern notions like “starter home” or the idea that your home is an “investment” that you can sell, like a piece of art or a watch, when the price is right, selection becomes even more important.  What are my neighbors like?  The noise level?  Cleanliness?  This is where you will spend most of your time so it should be better than just tolerable.

Paperwork

The dossier you prepare when you’re renting will remind you of that for the prefecture, except unlike at the prefecture, where if you follow directions you stand a good chance of gaining what you went in there for, when renting you’re competing against others in a zero-sum game — if you get the apartment, they can’t, and vice versa.  You’re going to need:

  • Photocopies of your ID(s) = passport + carte de séjour
  • Photocopy of your CDI or CDD if employed, as well as your last three payslips
  • If you are self-employed, your most recent tax filings and/or bank statements from your business account can serve as substitutes for the CDI + payslips
  • Your last three rental receipts from your last landlord, whether that was in France or elsewhere
  • If you think you need a guarantor, you’ll need their EDF and the last three payslips as well

You’ll make multiple copies of this dossier, both in hard copy and digitally, so that you can send them in the format that your potential landlord prefers.

The French, because the law is so dramatically in favor of tenants, really want assurance that they will have the rent reliably paid and in full, and as such will usually pick the highest-earning dossier.  As such there is a common practice of forging/using a friend’s high-income pay slip to “enrich” your dossier.  Many Parisians know at least one person who has done this to get an apartment, if they have not done so themselves!

In extreme cases some landlords will require a year’s rent to be held as escrow as security against a default — but I’ve only read about this, and have never actually met anyone who had to do this.

The guarantor (or cosigner, as we would call it in America) is the most frequently-used device, however, for the risk-averse landlord, and a friend recently told me that despite the dual incomes of her and her husband which totaled far above the rule-of-thumb “three times the monthly rent” at least one potential landlord asked her if she also had a guarantor.

All leases in France are governed by the 2015 Alur Law and you cannot simply make up your own lease.  If you want to do the simplest thing, which I did while negotiating my recently-signed three-year lease, just click here to use a free template which conforms to the law.

Some Recent Prices I’ve Seen

Apart from the Syndic, which I discuss below, there’s also property tax for owners, which is really pretty low — on my apartment it’s around 1000 € a year.  I often stop when passing by an immobilier (real estate agent) on a Paris street, just to get a sense of prices in whatever neighborhood I’m in, and to continue to hone my sense of the market overall.  I am sharing these three examples to give you a sample:

6 rue Guenot, in the 11th, 2 bedrooms, 27 square meters, 240,000 €

161 rue des Pyrenees, in the 20th, 3 bedrooms, 52 square meters, 374,000 €

5 passage du chemin vert, in the 11th, 4 bedrooms, 94 square meters, 810,000 €

Yes, I know I’m exposing a Right Bank bias, but I’ve never seriously looked on the Other Side of the river.

Last Things

When you become an owner, not just a renter, apart from the maintenance of the apartment itself, you will be subject to charges from the Syndic — similar to an HOA in America — that can sometimes be very costly.  They recently installed some new piping in the hallways of our apartment and my landlady’s share was 15,000 €!  If you don’t pay, the Syndic can start legal action against you, though it is so ponderously slow that you’ve got enough time to put together the cash you need before it ever goes to court.  Your monthly fees can be around 50 €/square meter per year, so my 53 square meter apartment costs around 2650 € in Syndic fees — which are paid by the owner, not by you.  The Syndic is usually hired by the association of co-owners of the building — i.e. all of the separate owners — and is a managing agent of sorts.  They ensure that maintenance is done, that the building is cleaned, and if necessary, hire a guardian/concierge (our building doesn’t have one, though my last two apartments did, and we seem to get along fine without one).

I’ve said before that I’d like to get a small place just outside Paris for the occasional weekend retreat, but with the recent signing of this lease, and with my landlady’s indication that she may very well wish to sell at the end of the term, I may be in the market to buy in Paris sooner than I expected.  But the dominant thought on my mind as I signed the lease last week was that it would be three years before I would need to think about either my living or immigration situation again, and that allows me time to focus on other, less paperwork-intensive, subjects.

Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash

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Goodbye to Living in the 2nd Arrondissement

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So, here’s the thing.  I never actually planned to live in the 2nd.  After a year on the eighth floor in the 17th, it had come time for me to graduate to a “real” Parisian apartment instead of just living in former servants’ quarters.  My search first led me to a ground-floor apartment in the 15th, near the Sevres-Lecourbe Métro on line 6.  I was not such an established Right-Banker at the time, with routines and rhythms that I preferred, and I really loved that apartment and the neighborhood.  Alas, during the application process I was competing against an American college student who also wanted the apartment, who first raised her offer (the apartment was going for 1200 €/mo and she offered 1400 €/mo) to try to beat me.  When I matched, she pulled out the nuclear option and had her father pay the entire year’s lease in advance.  I couldn’t come close to matching it, didn’t want it that badly, and let it go.

I tell people there are two rules in Parisian real estate rentals: 1) you don’t get the apartment you want, you get the apartment you get, and 2) it’s always better to jump before you’re pushed.  I’ll start with the second rule first.

Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty

It’s not an exaggeration that getting an apartment in Paris is tough.  As I’ve shared here before, there are many applicants for the most desirable locations, and there may be nothing wrong with your dossier — someone else’s may just be slightly better.  Hence, if you know you’re going to move, don’t wait until your lease is up.  Get active — start looking, and bargain with both your current and new landlord as needed.  When I got my place in the 2nd, there was a lag of about six weeks in between when my lease was up in the 17th and the new apartment was available.  I had been on good terms with my previous landlady (pay your rent on time and this becomes simple) and so we easily negotiated a six-week extension to get me to my move-in date at the new place, and my new landlady was kind enough to give me the keys a week before my move-in as she was going to be out of town.  I had liked this apartment in the dead center of Paris (Metro Réaumur-Sébastopol, on Lines 3 and 4) after being used to a 10-15 metro ride to get to Châtelet, but I was rather hoping the American girl would find out the apartment in the 15th wasn’t for her, nor was Paris, and I’d be there to comfort that landlord by moving in right away.  I negotiated a one-year lease with a 60-day notice to end it with no penalty, and I moved into the apartment in the 2nd, seeing it as a temporary hardship.

I have to say, I didn’t realize just how wrong I was in those early days.  Those first three months were spent rearranging everything.  I now had a kitchen that was almost the size of my entire previous apartment.  I no longer had to take the Métro into central Paris, as I was in central Paris.  I could have friends over for dinner parties or board game nights (and did!).  It was one night months later, the apartment in the 15th long forgotten, as I was pushing open the enormous old door to the set of buildings that comprised my apartments, that I realized, “Wow, I love this neighborhood.”  My address was on Rue Saint-Denis, an ancient pilgrimage route but now home to many of the trendiest restaurants in the center of Paris as well as adjacent to a whole host of cocktail bars that were part of the nascent mixology culture here in the capital.  I had gone from 8 square meters to 39 square meters, from the quiet and wealthy outskirts of the 17th to the bohemian beating heart of the 2nd.  I was never going to leave…or so I thought.

About a year ago my landlady told me of some changes in her personal life that would necessitate a sale in the medium term — the next 2-3 years — and she was floating the idea of selling to me because, by law, I had first right of refusal as the current tenant if she planned to sell, but also because we had developed an exceptional relationship tried by all the challenges you could have (like leaks) in a landlord/tenant relationship.  We split standard wear/tear items 50/50 (like a broken faucet) and she 100% covered irregular items (like the stove, washing machine, dishwasher, and hot water heater all breaking during my three-year stay).  I would maybe have to meet the delivery man (or occasionally, help him carry these backbreakingly-heavy appliances up 5 flights of stairs) but she was prompt and courteous — which from horror stories told by my fellow denizens — is not the norm in this town (or perhaps, anywhere).

I weighed the decision to buy, but it was mostly academic, because of the cost, and started to cast around for an alternative.  I found it in September of last year and signed a lease.  A friend of mine only needed an apartment for a few months before leaving for an internship in New York, and so she moved in right away and helped to defray the cost before I moved in last weekend, in the waning days of my lease, and she moved into my old apartment, with a prearrangement with my (now former) landlady for special 60-day extension of my old lease, to cover my friend until the day she was leaving Paris.

You Can Have What’s Available

When I say you “don’t get the apartment you want,” I don’t mean that you can only get into undesirable places, but rather that the idea of picking a neighborhood and style of apartment you want is an irrational act of hope rather than a thoughtful and realistic strategy.  Paris is a very particular market because it features almost-fixed inventory against enormous demand.  There are very few new buildings going up inside the Périphérique, and hence rents have to escalate in order to deal with demand.  So when I say you “get the apartment you get,” I also refer to happy accidents like my place in the 2nd.  It was perfectly adequate as an apartment, but the secret I didn’t know (because I was still too new in town) was what an amazing neighborhood it was.  That is true for many parts of Paris, not just the part that was formerly “mine.”

As the weeks approached for my move it began to weigh on me…I was “missing it already” and telling my friends any chance I could get.  I was probably pre-grieving.  The funny thing is I wasn’t moving out of Paris — but I knew that when I moved I would settle into the same routine I did in the 2nd.  When I first moved to the 2nd, I made trips out to my familiar haunts in the 17th, especially one of the first cafés I fell in love with (Le Poncelet: good, simple, no-fuss food, staff that smiled and knew your name, and never got mad when I sat and wrote for hours).  But over time, that kind of behavior dies as you develop new routines, and begin to love the three blocks around your apartment.  Most of Paris is really just a collection of neighborhoods within neighborhoods in that way.  This was my place for the last three years of my journey, and I will miss it.

But the new beginning, and the new neighborhood, is already winning me over.  More about that, soon.

Photo by Yannis Papanastasopoulos on Unsplash

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