French Tenancy – Extended Winter Protection Rules

You may be aware that tenants in France cannot be evicted during winter, well as of 10 February 2021, that has now been extended, well beyond winter.

There are many British owners of French property, and some owners rent out the French property to tenants.  Tenants in France have very strong rights compared to tenants in the UK.  One of those rights is that they cannot be evicted during the winter.

There is empathy with this when you live in the UK and and feel the cold, damp dark days, dragging on.

It is often frustrating for UK owners of French property in the South of France, where the tenants can avoid paying rent whilst experiencing a typical winters day  as warm as a British Summer, with 9 hours of sunshine, and very little rain.

Tenants in France are protected from eviction during the winter months, known as la trêve hivernale so no tenant can be evicted between 1 November and 1 April, even if they are not paying rent.

However, in the light of the difficulties posed by the Covid Pandemic, this has now been extended by two months to 1 June 2021. 

So, for 2020 to 2021 the Winter Protection rules run from 1 November 2020 to 1 May 2021.

Likewise, cutting off Gas and Electricity has been suspended between those dates.  Property owners will be indemnified apparently.  

Great news for tenants in France, and perhaps just a Gallic shrug for landlords of French property, all too familiar with such rules.

Ref. L’Ordonnance no 2021-141 du 10 février 2021 relative au prolongement de la trêve hivernale.

 John Kitching

Director

French Law Consultancy