dossier for long term apartment rental

The first they will ask for is your long term stay visa or at least the application. That is your biggest huddle. After that it is just checking the boxes. Generally the visa is acquired prior to arrival. How have you handled that requirement?

Actually it’s a lot more complicated than that especially since you aren’t working. Landlords look at salaries and not what you have in the bank or investments. It’s kind of crazy in your case. There are companies that help with the dossiers. Go to an expat group on FB and and ask for recommendations for filling out the dossier and the guarantors, again crazy that you might have to have a company that will guarantee or cover for you if you skip out on the rent.

Second, you can’t get the visa without the address. I know people who signed longterm rental contracts before they applied for their visa. They were searching using relocation specialists.

This is where those relocation specialists are handy. Not only do they know how to sell yourself via the dossier, but also they know all sorts of available apartments and the landlords than you’ll ever find via the three big search engins like Se loger.

We bought two apartments and it was a lot easier than trying to rent longterm in France. All my info is from people I know or Fb group questions.

My experience is for Lyon and a smaller town in Bourgogne rather than Paris, but I think the process would not be much different, considering how highly regulated and standardized this process is in France.

I disagree with the first respondent and agree with the second, partially.

In my experience, landlords don't care so much about your visa situation. In fact, I don't recall being asked to present any documentation whatsoever on that point while arranging our rental leases in France. If you're in France, I think they'll assume you've handled that aspect.

What they care about is: (1) that you have a French bank account through which you can set up a recurring automatic payment for the rent, and (2) that you can provide evidence of periodic income sufficient to assure them that you can make the rental payments consistently and without lapse or drama. In addition (3) they may ask about your rental history in France if you have any (i.e., the contact information for past French landlords)

That's about it. Of course, there are racist landlords who will discriminate against people with names associated with, say, largely Islamic nations. And you may encounter the random one who is reluctant to rent to you because you're American/Canadian/British/Black/Asian/whatever. But those are the exception. Mostly, they want to know that you have the means and ability to make the payments.

And Elizabeth is correct that they s-t-r-o-n-g-l-y prefer income to savings. You can wave your fat and ample 401(k) statement in front of a landlord's squinty eyes until the cows come home but if he has a piker with a steady income, even if it's far less than you can afford with your savings, he'll opt for the piker every single time.

This is where a bit of prior knowledge comes in handy. If you focus on apartments run by large companies, your chances of success are lower unless you can prove a steady income well in excess of the rental obligation.

But going through smaller or individual operators, say, through leboncoin, a local paper's listings, or something similar, you have a better chance of dealing with an individual who is open to reason rather than a corporate lackey seeking to check boxes on a form.

Good luck. Don't worry so much about the dossier. Think more about the landlord and how you're going to convince them you're a good risk. And a one year lease is a potential problem. It would be better if you were able to commit to a standard three year lease.

Individual landlords or real estate agencies are not allowed to ask you what you have in the bank.

Here are the documents they are allowed to ask for:

• Proof of identity (passport)

• Proof of address

• Proof of professional activity

• Proof of regular income, salary or pension (last 3 months)

You can provide a copy of the original document. However, the landlord has the right to demand the presentation of the original. The document must be written or translated into French.

The legal duration of a rental lease is 3 years minimum. You can leave before this 3-year period by officially informing the landlord in writing at least 3 months before your departure.

See the government website on the page dedicated to this subject: (in French)

https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1169

You may find this video interesting. It is from Jay Swanson, an American living in Paris, who interviewed a woman who specializes in helping expats set up their dossiers and find apartments in Paris. She probably charges a fee but it's a start. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdV2lHYHmmQ And this video is from the woman mentioned above: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgetfranced

Note that furnished apartment leases are a minimum of one year. Unfinished is three.

The minimum lease period is indeed one year. Anything less is considered short term. You can submit an Airbnb address with your VLS-TS application, if you have one. You could also stay in Airbnbs but any one location would be limited to 120 rental days per year. It could be a temporary solution while you look for a regular lease.

Do you have the option of prepaying rent for one year? If you do, not everyone does, you will not need any dossier, your transition will be greatly simplified. I know people who have purchased property, possibly before they should have, just to avoid the complications of qualifying for a rental.

You can use a realtor to help. Expect to pay the equivalent of several months rent for their services, or you can rent without the help of a realtor. These are the resources I might suggest to search on your own:

http://www.seloger.com/
http://www.pap.fr/
http://www.logic-immo.com/
http://location-vente-immobilier.leparisien.fr/

I used to follow Les Frenchies on YouTube and I recall they had a video where they talked about moving to France and the challenges of getting a place to live. And he is a French citizen who speaks fluent French I would assume. They did finally find someplace, but you might try going over there and finding that if you can on YouTube,

To do just this last summer, I prepared a very comprehensive dossier following advice from various websites (including but definitely not limited to https://aide.dossierfacile.logement.gouv.fr/fr/, https://edito.seloger.com/preparer-dossier-de-location-book-4215.html, https://mylifelivingabroad.com/rent-apartment-paris-without-losing-mind/`).
The usual guideline is you need proof of income equal to 3 times the rent. In many circumstances you may be asked for a guarantor in case you don't pay; we were not asked for this (senior citizens with ample pension).
Most places I contacted just didn't respond at all to phone messages. We ultimately rented from an agency that specializes in renting to business people needing a temporary home or foreigners. They rent on a kind of lease that only applies for second homes. It is advantageous for the landlord because it permits greater flexibility with respect to conditions of lease and allowed rent, and gives less protection to the tenant (but still more than in the US). But for us it doesn't seem like it makes much difference. The agency we used is Eiffel Housing. They were great for the rental process and have been completely useless for maintenance afterwards. I'm sure there are other similar agencies.

PS I meant to say that we rented an Airbnb for a month prior to renting the apartment. This was sufficient for getting the VLS-TS.