How to Give Notice as a French Landlord (Congé Bailleur)

A French residential landlord (bailleur) cannot terminate a lease at will. The Loi du 6 juillet 1989 restricts landlord-initiated termination (“congé bailleur”) to three statutory grounds under article 15-I: sale (congé pour vendre), recovery for own use (congé pour reprise), and serious or legitimate motive (congé pour motif légitime et sérieux). This how-to walks through the procedural requirements for each, the timing, the form requirements, and the points where a non-compliant notice will fail in court.

Step 1 — Confirm the Lease Type and Anniversary Date

The congé regime in this article applies to:

• Bail vide (unfurnished principal residence) — 3-year term (or 6-year for SARL/SAS landlords)
• Bail meublé (furnished principal residence) — 1-year term

Bail mobilité (1–10 months, ELAN 2018) and bail commercial (commercial lease under Code de commerce) follow different rules.

The congé must be served to terminate at the end of the contractual term. Mid-term termination is not available to the landlord under any of the three grounds.

Primary source: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/LEGITEXT000006069108/

Step 2 — Calendar the Notice Period

Late notice = lease auto-renews for another full term. This is the single most common landlord error.

If the lease is for 3 years ending 31 December 2026, the congé must be received by the tenant on or before 30 June 2026.

Step 3 — Choose the Statutory Ground

Ground 1: Congé pour Vendre (Sale)

• Right of preference (droit de préemption) given to the tenant
• Tenant has 2 months to accept the offered price; if accepted, sale completes within 2 months (or 4 months if loan needed)
• If tenant refuses, sale proceeds at the same or higher price
• If sale is at lower price than offered to tenant, tenant has a second right of preference at the lower price (article 15-II)
• Not available in zones tendues unless the property has been owned by the landlord for ≥ 3 years (anti-speculation rule)

Ground 2: Congé pour Reprise (Owner-Occupier)

• Landlord (or specified family member) intends to occupy as principal residence
• Specified family: spouse, PACS partner, concubin (cohabitant), parents, children, or those of the spouse
• Reprise must be genuine and serious — courts annul congés where the landlord did not actually occupy or where it was a pretext to vacate the apartment
• Anti-speculation rule: in encadrement zones, the new occupier must remain for ≥ 1 year; otherwise the tenant has compensation right

Ground 3: Congé pour Motif Légitime et Sérieux

• Tenant has breached lease obligations (non-payment, nuisance, illegal use)
• Landlord must document the motif in the congé itself
• Subject to court control — tribunaux assess seriousness
• Most common motifs: repeated late payment, neighbour complaints, unauthorised subletting

Reference: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1168

Step 4 — Draft the Congé in the Required Form

The congé must include (article 15-I):

• Date of the notice
• Identity of the landlord and tenant
• Identification of the property
• Statutory ground invoked
• For vendre: the price, terms, and right of preference notice
• For reprise: the identity of the intended occupier and stated purpose
• For motif légitime et sérieux: detailed facts
• Date the lease will end
• Reference to article 15 of the Loi du 6 juillet 1989
• Information notice for tenants over 65 with low resources (see Step 6)

A defective congé is invalid — the lease auto-renews. Courts apply this strictly.

Step 5 — Serve the Congé Properly

The congé must be served by one of three methods specified in article 15:

1. Lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception (LRAR) — registered post with delivery receipt
2. Acte de commissaire de justice (formerly huissier) — bailiff service
3. Hand delivery against signed receipt (rarely used)

The date of service is the date of receipt for LRAR (the date stamped on the AR) or the date of the acte for huissier.

Notify all co-tenants (named on the lease) and notify PACS partner / spouse / cohabitant living in the property as a separate addressee — failure invalidates against the unnoticed party.

Step 6 — Apply the Protected Tenant Rules

If the tenant is 65 or over AND has resources below the social housing ceiling (PLUS — Plafond de Logement à Usage Social, around €25,000/year for a single person in 2026), the landlord cannot give congé pour vendre or reprise unless:

• The landlord offers a suitable replacement housing within the same arrondissement or commune (or no more than 5 km away in rural areas), or
• The landlord is also 65+ with comparable low resources

This protection under article 15-III is strict. A congé that fails this test is null even if otherwise procedurally correct.

Step 7 — Manage the Tenant’s Response

After Congé pour Vendre

• Tenant has 2 months to accept (right of preference)
• If accepted: 2-month sale completion (4 with loan)
• If refused: lease ends at the term-end date; tenant must vacate
• Landlord must sell within reasonable time at no less than the offered price

After Congé pour Reprise

• Tenant must vacate at term-end
• Tenant can challenge in court within 2 months for fraud
• Landlord must occupy or arrange family occupation; subsequent failure exposes landlord to damages

After Congé pour Motif

• Tenant can challenge in court for defective motif
• Court hearing typically within 6 months
• Tenant may obtain delays of up to 1 year if hardship demonstrated

Step 8 — Recover Possession

If the tenant does not vacate by the term-end date, the landlord must:

1. Send mise en demeure (formal demand)
2. Initiate court proceedings (Tribunal Judiciaire)
3. Obtain a jugement d’expulsion
4. Engage a commissaire de justice (huissier) for enforcement
5. Respect the trêve hivernale (1 November to 31 March) during which evictions are suspended

Time from congé to physical eviction in disputed cases: 12–24 months commonly.

Common Mistakes — Gyoseishoshi View

Special Cases

SCI (Société Civile Immobilière)

A SCI landlord can give congé pour reprise in favour of an associate, provided the associate qualifies under article 15-I rules. Limited recognition under case law — verify with current jurisprudence.

Couples in PACS / Concubinage

Both partners are co-tenants if the lease so provides. Congé must be served to both. Notification of one alone is invalid.

Subletting / Airbnb Without Authorisation

Constitutes a motif légitime et sérieux. Document with online listings, neighbour statements, building syndic letters.

Conclusion — A Procedural Discipline

Congé bailleur is one of the most error-prone landlord actions in French residential law. The procedural strictness — notice period, form, ground specificity, protected-tenant check, service method — leaves no margin. A single defect invalidates the notice and renews the lease automatically.

A Gyoseishoshi cannot serve French legal notices or represent landlords in French courts. Scrib🐮 produces fully compliant congé templates for all three grounds, with procedural checklists, calendar prompts for timing, and protected-tenant verification frameworks.

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Disclaimer

Legal information, not legal advice. MmowW Scrib🐮 is operated by a licensed Gyoseishoshi (行政書士) office in Japan. We are not avocats.

Sources

• Loi du 6 juillet 1989: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/LEGITEXT000006069108/
• Service-public.fr (donner congé): https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1168
• ANIL (logement): https://www.anil.org/
• Code de procédure civile: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000006070716/