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New rules for French rentals to qualify as furnished •Paris Property Group

New rules for furnished rentals in France: inventory of required items published

A new decree specifies a list of items that must be present in a rental property for it to qualify as furnished.

A sofa bed, desk and wardrobe are no longer enough to qualify a rental property as furnished. A decree published on 31st July, under the ALUR law (for access to housing and renovated urban planning) details how a furnished apartment must be equipped by the owner to qualify as such.

This measure, which applies to all new leases, will come into effect on September 1st.

With the ALUR law defining furnished accommodation as a “decent home with furniture in sufficient quantity and quality to provide for the requirement of everyday life and allow the tenant to sleep, eat and live there comfortably”, parliamentary debates denounced the vagueness of such a statement and called for the creation of a short list of required furniture.

An updated list published on Wednesday in the Official Journal details the minimum mandatory furniture. To qualify as furnished a rental property must now contain the following items:

-Bedding (duvet or blanket)
-A window shading device in the bedroom
-A hob (cooktop)
-An oven or micro-wave oven
-A refrigerator and freezer
-Dishes and utensils necessary to the preparation of meals
-A table and seats
-Storage shelves
-Lighting
-Household cleaning supplies

The objective being that the tenant finds all equipment needed for daily life upon moving in.

In addition to being adequately furnished, the entire property must be immediately habitable by the tenant. Therefore if even one room is left empty, the rental will be considered unfurnished.

The new decree specifies that while the furniture does not have to be brand-new, it must be in good working order and the owner must repair or replace it as the need arises.

In Paris, where new rent caps came into force on August 1st amid much controversy, the discrepancy in price references and imprecision of the distinction between furnished and unfurnished properties were at the heart of the debate. The new decree will help make matters at least a little clearer, despite certain factors remaining ambiguous, if not entirely subjective: What qualifies as an essential utensil? Does a colander pot or can opener make the grade?

 

Photo credit: Flickr / Paragon Properties

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