Things You’ll Need for a French Apartment

The French bureaucracy is infamous for being an overall nightmare. I experienced this the first time when I had to fight with an insurance agency because they wouldn’t give me coverage without a carte gris… but I needed a carte gris to get insurance. Or something. (There’s always the misinformation lost in translation… and inherent to rural offices.)

Turns out that renting an apartment is just as complicated. To even be considered by the landlord, you will need to give:

• Pièce d'identité: Copies of your government issued IDs (i.e. passport, driver’s license)



• Contrat de travail: Letter confirming that you are employed



• Dernières fiches de paye: Last three pay stubs



• Dernier avis d'imposition: Last tax statement



• Caution d'un tierce personne: Signed letter from a “financially responsible individual” promising to bail you out if need be, and his or her last three pay stubs to prove that he or she can afford to bail you out



• Caution bancaire française: Guarantee issued by a French Bank (There are apparently ways around this…)



• Your first born child.