Questions on ending furnished tenancy

[Daft Doctor]

Hi, for all the information available through using google, I cannot find the answer to 2 questions about tenants ending their furnished principal residence tenancy in France.  I wonder if anyone out there has knowledge of such matters, and I apologise in advance if the answers seem blatantly obvious, I simply cannot find confirmation and things in France aren't always as intuitive as they seem!

1.  As tenants we must give one month's notice to quit, but the information I've seen online suggests that this month of notice starts when the landlord receives the letter of notice (sent by lettre recommandé with AR).  This implies that the end date is rigidly one month later, and the specific date would solely depend on when the landlord gets your letter.  Is it not possible to specify a particular date in advance for the end of the tenancy (e.g. the last day of a particular month), as long as that date is AT LEAST one month after the landlord gets your letter of notice?  In other words, can you not give greater than one month's notice to quit?

2.  If you decide to end your tenancy mid-month and you pay monthly rent, must you pay a full month's rent for the last month, or are you only obliged to pay a proportion depending on your quit date?

As always, any guidance much appreciated and taken at face value.  [:)]

[idun]

I would really call your local ADIL. With landlords like yours you should not get this wrong, as they are holding your deposit aren't they.

ADIL DE LA HAUTE-SAVOIE

ANNECY

4, avenue de Chambéry

74000 ANNECY

Tel : 04 50 45 79 72

[suein56]

This is from the ANIL site : http://www.anil.org/profil/vous-etes-locataire/faq-vous-etes-locataire/?tx_smilecategorization[uid_rep]=242&tx_smilecategorization[uid_cat]=298

La durée du contrat est d’un an s’il s’agit de la résidence principale

du locataire. Toutefois, cette durée peut être raccourcie à 9 mois si le

locataire est étudiant. Le locataire peut mettre fin au bail à tout

moment, à condition de respecter un préavis d’un mois.

Although we were in an unfurnished rental we gave our prescribed 3 months notice by registered letter on Feb 8 to take effect from May 10.

As our landlord lived literally down the road and round the corner from us we were quite safe in allowing only 2 days for the registered delivery to arrive.

This is the pro-forma I used :

 le mercredi

08 février 2012

Madame Monsieur

                                              Objet : préavis de départ du logement

                                           

Lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception

Par cette

lettre de résiliation nous vous faisons part de notre intention de terminer notre

contrat de location de la maison située (address of rented property) que

nous occupons depuis le (whenever your contract started).

Conformément à l’article 12 de la loi

du 6 juillet 1989 cette résiliation sera effective

en date du (date you want to leave) respectant ainsi le délai de trois mois (one month for you) auquel nous

sommes tenus.

Nous vous prions

d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de nos salutations distinguées.

 Signature    

   

This worked fine for us.

Sue                                                                    

[suein56]

[quote user="Daft Doctor"]

If you decide to end your tenancy mid-month and you pay monthly rent, must you pay a full month's rent for the last month, or are you only obliged to pay a proportion depending on your quit date?

[/quote]

You are required only to pay for the portion of the month you have been there.

As we left our rented house on the 10th of the month we made our last payment on the 1st of the previous month. Our proprietor took payment for the final 10 days from our deposit.

She also deducted a pro-rata amount for the taxe ordures ménagères which would have been due the following October/November.

If you have been paying taxe d'habitation then you will receive a bill for the rental property for the whole of the year.

Sue

[Daft Doctor]

Thanks Sue, your template will be very useful.  As many on the forum already know, our landlords live downstairs, but they've still told me to send the letter by recommandé & AR!  

[suein56]

[quote user="Daft Doctor"] As many on the forum already know, our landlords live downstairs, but they've still told me to send the letter by recommandé & AR!  [/quote]

This is the only legal route as it protects both parties concerned.

Sue

[idun]

Yes, do it properly.

Seems like the difference between us is that I always check with competent bodies, no matter what I read on here or elsewhere. When I have a problem that is really what I always do, check up.

We rented furnished property so long ago in France, that I cannot remember what on earth we did, we were in our unfurnished property far longer and I do remember that, especially as our house was not ready when it should have been and the landlord was lovely and said to move when the house was ready.

The other thing I remember is that the bail was held by a bail agency and that we did not get all our deposit back, not because of misuse of the property, but a % reduction for the time we were in the property. I may not have spoken much french then, but I went along and looked into it and it was right, AND as I said, that is what I do, have always done and will continue to do so.

[suein56]

[quote user="idun"]Yes, do it properly.

Seems like the difference between us is that I always check with competent bodies, no matter what I read on here or elsewhere. When I have a problem that is really what I always do, check up.[/quote]

Which is exactly what I had to do when we wanted to rent here as we had to rent privately due to not having any history here or any employment trail in France. Fortunately the Internet gave me most of the answers I needed, especially the ANIL site, to deal with our (very) French landlady; who worked fairly locally in a busy Mairie and for whom everything had to be exactly right. It was an illuminating experience, a case of from zero knowledge to quite a comprehensive understanding in a short time, one I wouldn't have missed.

Sue

[Daft Doctor]

Interestingly enough, whereas I was fully informed regarding the tenancy that I'd signed and my rights as a tenant in France, my Landlords didn't know about the need for them to give us 3 months notice in advance of the end of the tenancy not to continue with it, nor that without that notice the tenancy was automatically renewed for a further year.

idun, I'm no different or less thorough than you, just use different methods.  For the most part my French is good enough to understand and interpret the information available online through reliable French websites, e.g. vos-droits.fr, etc, so usually no need to go banging on people's doors.  The information freely given by forum members is of course invaluable, but I would never take it for granted to be true, as I always point out when asking for such advice.  It does help however not to have to recreate the wheel every time something new comes up, as others have often recently been through the same thing, process, whatever.  I always cross check information given, but it gives me a good clue where to start.  We have been here 2 years now, and I've steered our family through the administrative maze, bought cars, changed insurers, moved house, had a house built, changed health care arrangements, tackled the quirks of the education system, dealt with tax, VAT, etc, etc, the lot.  There's no doubt you have to do it right, and thankfully I've managed so far to do just that.  Could be just luck, but actually it isn't, its down to efficient research, thoroughness, anticipating problems ahead, and applying what intelligence I have to problem solving, something I did all of my professional life.  [:D]