Can the landlord charge above the reference rent?

Only with a complément de loyer justified by an exceptional feature, stated in the lease. Without that justification a tenant can demand a reduction and recover the overpayment.

What deposit is legal?

One month's rent excluding charges for unfurnished, two months for furnished. Anything more is not a market exception.

France · EUR

Rentin Paris

Paris caps rents. Every lease has a reference rent per square metre for its quartier and room count, and anything above it needs a justified complément de loyer or the tenant can have it struck out — retroactively.

Lyon Marseille Bordeaux Nice Toulouse

Notaire-verified path

DPE & diagnostics

3D map

≈7%acquisition costs on an existing home

2contracts: compromis, then acte authentique

10 daysstatutory buyer cooling-off (loi SRU)

DPE A–Genergy label required in every file

What a purchase really costs

€400,000 home in Paris

Droits de mutation (DMTO) (5.8%): €23,200
Émoluments du notaire (≈0.8%): €3,200
Formalités & débours (≈0.4%): €1,600
Cash needed at the notaire: €428,000

≈ +7% over the price. Roughly +7% on an existing home — that is the famous frais de notaire, most of which is departmental tax rather than the notaire’s fee. A new-build runs nearer 2–3% because VAT is already inside the price. Several départements, Paris included, applied the 2025 uplift toward ~6.3% DMTO — confirm the rate on your acte, not on a blog post.

Rentals run on rules

The rent side, in three lines

Deposit caps at one month’s rent unfurnished and two months furnished (loi du 6 juillet 1989).
Encadrement des loyers fixes a reference rent per m² in Paris, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Marseille — a lease above it is challengeable.
A DPE rating of G has been barred from new lettings since 2025 and F follows in 2028 — the energy label is a rentability test, not a sticker.

Qualitative anchors only. Live reference rents come from the préfecture’s published grid, never a hardcoded table.

Cities

Six metros, one notarial machine

The deed is national; the money is not. DMTO is voted département by département, and rent control only bites in the designated zones tendues. Each city guide carries its own number.

Unfurnished is a three-year lease with a one-month deposit; furnished is one year, or nine months for a student, with two months. The tenant can leave on one month's notice in a zone tendue, which Paris is. Underwrite the turnover.

The dossier decides who gets the flat: proof of income around three times the rent, and a French garant or a Visale guarantee. Landlords cannot legally demand documents outside the statutory list.

The DPE is now a letting test, not a label. Class G has been barred from new lettings since 2025 and F follows in 2028, which turns an unrenovated top-floor chambre into a capex decision.

FAQ

Can the landlord charge above the reference rent?: Only with a complément de loyer justified by an exceptional feature, stated in the lease. Without that justification a tenant can demand a reduction and recover the overpayment.
What deposit is legal?: One month's rent excluding charges for unfurnished, two months for furnished. Anything more is not a market exception.

All markets: sivrce.com · Georgia marketplace: sivrce.ge · Prices and availability are published only when a verified listing exists. Market currency: EUR.