Hi all, I hope everyone survived the weather in France last week. We have been renting in Paris for 5 months through a independent landlord who has used an American style contract rather than French. The last day of our lease is Saturday 6th July and then we are being relocated to Germany. The removalists are only available in the afternoon of Saturday 6th July and then I have cleaners booked after that. There is nothing written in our lease about departure time, so I assumed we had a right to be at the apartment for the last day of the lease up until 23h59. We wonât be staying until midnight, but the owner (American) has told us if we have not âchecked outâ by 14h00 on Saturday 6th July, we will be charged 300⏠late fee! We have been living in a furnished, privately rented apartment for 5 months, not an Airbnb!
Does anyone know where I can locate information on whether we are allowed to use the apartment we have been renting for the full day on the last day of our lease if there is no exit time stipulated in the contract?
Tell the landlord to jog on - heâs broken the law by not issuing a standard French contract. Sounds like the one you signed would be unenforceable anyway.
This is going to boil down to possession being 9 parts of the law isnât it?
If you have a security deposit and the landlord withholds 300⏠of it on the basis that you were not out by 14:00 then that will leave you having to seek redress, for 300⏠itâs probably not worth it which is what your landlord is counting on. However, as Simon hints, it might be awkward if things got as far as a court of law so you potentially have leverage.
If the landlord hasnât go anything to hold back then you can tell him to go whistle - maybe you would be pursued in the French courts but for the amount involved I doubt your landlord would bother.
Like Simon has said he has not complied correctly with French law so not sure how he thinks he can enforce a departure time.
Then again, if he withholds money from a deposit Iâm not sure how you would have any redress for that as, again, the contract is not valid in France.
If he does have your deposit money then maybe try a friendly chat to agree a compromise.
the above comes from this link. I know this talks about the tenant and midnight, but I do not see why it would not be midnight as there is no other time mentioned on the lease.
The last day of the lease - is surely that - with 24 hours in a day.
the âstate of the propertyâ will certainly matter if the landlord decides to withhold monies.
and, if I had arranged workers to clean etc, I would want to feel confident that they would be allowed to work and that I would not be fleeced by the landlord.
It is of little comfort (IMO) to know that the other party is in the wrong, especially when one will be (possibly) fighting with them over money.
Thank you everyone for your comments. To make things even more complicated the Landlord has asked me to cancel my cleaner on Saturday 6th July as she would prefer to use her own for the end of lease clean on Monday 8th July. She has assured me she will not be moving in herself until after the end of lease clean on Monday 8th, but her Manger for the property has unwittingly mentioned that the landlords intend to hold a party at the apartment on Sunday 7th July, so I guess they are trying to charge me to pay for their cleaner to come the day after their party!
I donât have any way of proving they will be using the apartment after we leave on Saturday 6th July and before their end of lease cleaner comes on Monday 8th July- other than entering the courtyard using the door code and photographing their gathering in the apartment on Sunday 7th July, but I am sure this would be illegal, so I wonât. Any ideas?
I think I will just keep my cleaner booked for Saturday and make sure the manager includes that the place is cleaned to a highly satisfactory standard at the time we leave. I was told by the owner though that if I use my cleaner and the result is not to a sufficient standard, they will need to still have their own cleaner come on Monday 8th July to âbring the apartment up to standardâ!
I emailed a few days ago and told them firstly they canât pluck a âlate check out feeâ of 300⏠out of the air without any justification (the rent is 2200âŹ/month) and secondly it is not reasonable for them to expect me to pay for their cleaner to do an âend of lease cleanâ on Monday 8th if they plan to use the place on Sunday 7th July. I havenât received a reply from them and I donât expect to.
The Manager contacted me about something unrelated, she wanted to pop over and take a measurement of the oven but during this conversation she also advised that I will need to provide proof of a link to a website about renting in France that shows I have a right to occupy the apartment for the entire day on the last day of the lease before I can expect a reply from the landlords! She also confirmed the landlords have already asked her to book their cleaner for Monday 8th July!!
If anyone knows or is able to find a reference to the expected handover time on the final day of a short term (5 months) furnished private residential lease, I would be most appreciative.
Unfortunately Jeri you have entered into an arrangement that probably seemed like a good idea at the time but clearly wasnât.
Your âcontractâ is unlikely to be enforceable in France as it doesnât confirm with French law. You wonât find any rules in relation to what is, effectively, an informal relationship. You could try an avocat but you would probably be wasting your money.
Your only way forward seems to be to attempt a compromise.
With respect to the views of others, I donât think the answers you have received are all necessarily correct, because some are based on assumptions.
In my opinion:
A correctly written and signed contract is just that - a contract. In so far as it determines the matter in dispute you can therefore undertake proceedings in a court (Tribunal) on the basis of it. In principle the purpose of the contract is not relevant - only the extent, or limitation, of what it actually records.
However, in this instance you plainly are dealing with a rental contract, and any claim must be within French Law on the subject, regardless of what the Agreement says. One requirement is that the contract must be written in French. Is yours?
Assuming that American tenancy agreements are similar to English, the end of the tenancy is determined either a] with reference to the start-date of the tenancy; or b] to a defined finish date. To be an enforceable contract this should be defined in the Agreement/Lease.
Whichever definition is used, the tenant has the use of the property up to the end of the defined termination date - ie. midnight. This is the same under French Law.
A Landlord cannot introduce a penalty clause, or anything else, that is not recorded in the Agreement, and is compliant with the French Code Civil.
Your only problem is that your Landlord may try to deduct the âpenaltyâ from your deposit. Plainly this is not legal, because there is no provision for it in your Agreement.
As regards the cleaning charge - do you care if he has a party in his own house after you have left? Sounds like a good arrangement that you just pay him what you would have paid your own cleaners (not more!). The benefit is a] he canât claim the property was not clean, and hold back deposit money; and b] you can with-hold this payment justifiably, until you get your deposit back. If the deposit is not refunded in full then youâve got a discount on the reduction. He canât pursue you for it by legal action.
