French rental knowledge | Most rent special vocabulary explanation (1)

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When you first come to France, the most important thing is to rent a house! Not only to find a foothold for oneself, body and soul, but also the beginning of all the tedious paper in France. Because there is no fixed residence, it means that there is no permanent residence card, there is no bank card, there is no housing subsidy, ah ah ah, so the house is very important ah!

So for international students, especially those who have just come to France to study, how can we successfully communicate with French partners when renting a house, how can we avoid being cheated? Here are some common vocabulary in French renting a house, and hurry to learn it!

Bail/Contrat de location Housing lease: A contract between the proprietaire (proprietaire) and the locataire (loyer) concerning the term (date), rent (loyer), charges (charges), notice of early eviction (preavis), depot de garantie (deposit), etc. Once signed by both parties, the lessee shall keep an original copy as proof of his residence and the rent paid. During the period of residence, the tenant has the obligation to maintain the room clean and tidy, and the landlord has the obligation to manage the house.

Caution House guarantee: When renting a house, the homeowner asks a third party to guarantee it, so that if the tenant fails to pay the rent, the guarantor will pay it instead. Student housing is less restrictive, and private landlords often require guarantors to earn more than three times the rent.

Depot de garantie Deposit: It will be returned to the tenant at the end of the contract after the owner has completed a condition inspection to confirm that there are no problems. If there is any damage, part of the deposit will be deducted.

Preavis: Preavis is an important concept that is often encountered in housing leases and many other contracts. The notice period refers to the minimum amount of advance notice that the tenant should give the landlord when terminating the contract early, usually one month to three months, which is clearly stipulated in the lease. If the tenant does not comply with this notice period, the tenant is required to pay the rent for this period even if he has moved out of the house.

Quittance de loyer Rent receipt: This is proof of monthly payment of rent. When going through many formalities in France, it is often used as evidence that this is your real residence.

According to French law, on the first of January every year, anyone who owns or rents a home has to pay a residence tax. The residence tax is a local tax, that is, the tax rate is determined by the municipal, provincial and regional levels of local government. Therefore, the amount of tax will vary depending on where you live, and some places can reach two months 'rent (for example, Xiaobian lives in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, and last year's tax was 225 euros). Even if you just moved here 1 month ago, the residence tax is paid for the full year. Tax notices are issued around October 15 each year and must be paid by December 15. However, students who live in CROUS apartments and students who live with a landlord are not required to pay. If you share a house, you also have to pay, but sometimes the tax bill may only write a person's name, so the general situation is that this person pays first, and other tenants of the shared house then supplement this person.

Taxe d 'Enlevement des ordures menageres (TEOM) garbage tax. This in itself is a tax paid by the owner of the house, but if the house is rented out in its entirety and the landlord does not live there, then the tenant pays. Typically, this tax will be added to the charges recuperables, paid by the landlord and reimbursed by the tenant. But for Crous, and for most students in student housing, there is no additional payment.

CAF: The Administration of Family Benefits, this agency is responsible for the application and payment of residence benefits, family benefits, etc., after settling down, please contact the CAF in the city or region where you live. The web address is: www.caf.fr. We usually call CAF is the housing subsidy, but in fact, the actual name of the housing subsidy we applied for is APL (L 'aide personnalisee au logement), but the application agency is CAF, so we are used to calling the housing subsidy CAF, but in fact it is not. According to the above introduction, we can see that CAF is not only responsible for housing subsidies, but also other family subsidies, pregnancy subsidies, RSA and many other types.

Etat des lieux Housing inspection. In France, Etat des lieux (house condition check) is an essential step when renting a house. On the day of check-in or the day of moving, Etat des lieux (house condition check) must be done with the landlord or agent to ensure that the house is in the same condition as when you moved in.

If there is improper damage at the time of inspection, the landlord may deduct the repair cost from the deposit according to the difference between the time of check-in and departure. (Here you can refer to our previous article: House condition inspection)

So, these are some of the basic concepts of renting a house. In the next part, we will explain the vocabulary we need to use when we look at a specific house.

Thanks for reading, and I wish you all a pleasant stay in France