Renting out rooms in your French property

If you have extra space in your home in France and would like to create some additional income, here’s how to get started.

For expats who want to earn a rental income from their French property yet would also like to live there full time, renting out part of the house is a good solution, provided you take the correct steps and meet criteria.

SeLoger.fr, the French online real estate company, has released a guide on how to go about renting out one or more rooms in your house in keeping with the necessary regulations.

Firstly, to be able to rent out a room in your property it must meet certain criteria. It must have a window which opens to outside allowing light and ventilation, it must provide the tenant easy access to the kitchen and bathroom, and must also be installed with the most recent standard of electrical sockets. Furthermore, the room is required to have a minimum area of 9m² with a ceiling height of at least 2.2m, providing a total volume of at least 20m³.

If your room fulfils these criteria, you can begin to take the steps to prepare for the rental. SeLoger advises that if you live in a condominium, you first check that the rules do not prohibit renting out part of the condo. You must then inform your home insurance company of your plans, and have a certified professional carry out mandatory property diagnostics before the tenant signs the lease. These diagnostics include:

– DPE (Energy Performance Diagnostics)

– CREP (Observation of the risks of exposure to lead)

– Testing for asbestos

– ESRIS (Statement of Risks and Soil information)

Once these have been carried out, you must sign a rental lease with the tenant establishing the rights and duties of each. As the owner, you have the right to request a security deposit based on the rental amount. You can also calculate the tenant’s share of expenses and add this to the rental package, as is the usual method when renting furnished rooms. In the same way, it is also possible to recover a portion of the housing tax.

Homeowners in France can also benefit from tax exemption when renting out a part of their property, although again this requires some basic criteria to be met. Firstly the property must be your principal residence and the room must be in keeping with the necessary quality criteria. There is also a threshold for the amount of rent you can charge – in 2019, the maximum rent you can charge within ?le-de-France is €187/m², and for all other parts of France €138/m². Additionally, if your income exceeds €32,900 you have to declare it on your annual tax return in the Industrial and Commercial Profit (BIC) category.

For anyone in need of further advice on renting out a room in your house, it is always advisable to consult a professional in the area, including notaires.

If you’re interested in renting out your property in France, you may find these useful:

Completing your French income tax return

How to let your French property out for short-term holidays