Residential lease: work to be carried out by the owner (lessor)

Verified 10 July 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Do you want to know what works are paid for by the owner? You are an owner and you want to know how to do work with the tenant during the lease? You are a tenant and you want the landlord to intervene at your home to do the work that is at his expense? We present you with the information you need to know.

At the rental

The landlord must offer to rent accommodation in good condition.

If this is not the case, the landlord and his future tenant may agree, in some cases, that the tenant should restore it, at the owner's expense.

The landlord must issue the tenant a decent housing, i.e. a dwelling which meets all of the following criteria:

  • Be of a minimum area
  • Comprise at least some elements of equipment and comfort (electrical installation, sewage disposal...)
  • Meet an energy performance criterion
  • Not pose a risk to the health and safety of the tenant
  • Not be infested with pests (for example, rats) or parasites (for example, bed fleas, cockroaches)

The equipment in the accommodation must be in good working order.

When the dwelling is not in good condition when entering the premises of the tenant, the owner and the tenant may agree together that the tenant will undertake the work or repairs necessary for its restoration (at the owner's expense).

To do this, the lease must contain a work clause.

This clause must contain all of the following information:

  • Nature of the work that the tenant does or has done
  • How the amount of the work will be deducted from the rent
  • Duration of this temporary rent reduction
  • If the tenant leaves early, how he will be compensated for the expenses he has made. To do this, the tenant must provide the landlord with proof of the expenses he has made.

Warning  

Such works or repairs made by the tenant in connection with the work clause must not be linked to the decency of the housing.

During the lease

Throughout the term of the lease, the landlord must do all the work that is not at the tenant's expense, that is, all the work that is not rental repairs.

The owner is therefore required to do the following:

  • Improvements in the communal and private areas of the same building (e.g. installation of a digital code)
  • Work necessary for the maintenance of the dwelling (e.g. defective shutter)
  • Improvement of the energy performance of the dwelling (insulation work)
  • Work to meet the criteria of a decent housing
  • Maintenance of roofs and green facades

Warning  

  • This obligation does not apply where the work is made necessary by the fault of the tenant.
  • When caused by dilapidated or the force majeure, the rental repairs shall be at the expense of the owner.
  • The tenant may retrofit the energy of the home, at its own expense, and on condition that it has informed before the owner.

Inform the tenant

Before the work begins, the landlord must notify the tenant. To do so, he must send her a notification by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or hand it to him.

This notification must specify the nature of the work (improvement sought, urgency, energy performance planned...) and the way it will be done (start date, duration, need for access...).

If this work is urgent (for example, the water heater in winter), the tenant must allow access to his accommodation for the preparation and execution of the work. However, it is not obligated to allow access on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

To compensate the tenant

The tenant must allow access to his accommodation for the preparation and execution of the works at the owner's expense.

However, if the repairs or work lasts more than 21 days, the landlord must grant the landlord a rent reduction proportional to the duration of the work.

In some cases, the tenant may use the protection litigation judge the court on which the dwelling depends.

This is the case when the work:

  • are abusive in nature
  • or do not comply with the conditions set out in notification of works
  • or make the use of the dwelling impossible or dangerous.

The tenant can then ask the judge:

  • the prohibition of work undertaken
  • or the interruption of work undertaken
  • or, where the work renders the dwelling uninhabitable, termination of the lease.

When the landlord does not do the work for which he is responsible, the tenant must notify the landlord when a damage occurs.

If, despite this warning, the landlord does not take the necessary steps, the tenant must demand that he fulfill his obligations.

To do so, he must send him a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

A sample letter is available:

Require the owner to make the major repairs that are his responsibility

If, 2 months after sending the letter, the tenant and the landlord have not reached an agreement, or if the landlord has not replied, the tenant can seize the Departmental Conciliation Committee (CDC) or the court registry.

Who shall I contact

Warning  

Even if the landlord doesn't do the work he or she has to do, the tenant still has to pay the rent.

If the judge finds that the work is part of the owner's obligation, he can compel the owner to do the work. But it can also authorize the tenant to do the work and instruct the landlord to reimburse the tenant.

The judge may also grant the tenant damages for disturbance of enjoyment.

Video: What to do when the owner doesn't do the work?

Vidéo - Housing - Owner's obligations: received wisdom?
Credits : Public Service (DILA)

Conversation between two friends, via SMS

* I still don't have hot water

* Again?? Your landlord still hasn't done anything?

* I called him but still nothing

* Stop paying the rent until he does the repairs!

Received idea?

Do you have the right to stop paying your rent if your landlord doesn't do the work? No!

Response from expert Service-Public.fr

No, you can't do yourself justice. You must meet the obligation to pay the rent or your lease may be terminated.

As a first step, you should verify that repairs are not included in the list of rental repairs, i.e. small repairs equivalent to routine maintenance of the dwelling that are the responsibility of the tenant.

If this repair is not the responsibility of the tenant, the landlord has an obligation to make this repair to restore the hot water. You must inform them of the problem.

If he does not respond, you must demand that he make this repair by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. If he does not reply, you have the opportunity to refer the matter to the departmental conciliation committee.

And as a last resort, you can go to court.

Key takeaways

· You must pay your rent

· Verify who is to perform the work

· Owner must restore hot water

· Your efforts:

1. Alert the owner

2. Put him on notice

3. Enter the departmental reconciliation commission

· Last resort: go to court

Who can help me?

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