Finding Home Sweet Home

So you want to rent an apartment in France, do you? GIVE UP. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE.

Okay, that's not true, but it's certainly no easy feat and it seems that there isn't a lot of information out there on how the whole rental process works in France. What is out there is a lot of conflicting ideas and incomplete answers. I will attempt to shed some light on the situation and hopefully you'll have an easier time of it than I have had. You should keep in mind, however, that the property owners and rental agencies vary GREATLY and you may have a completely different experience. That has been a large part of my frustration but read on and all will be explained...

Pro Tip 1: Buy yourself some time to get to know your new city by having a temporary place to live lined up before you arrive. It could be with a friend, a French family (exchange student-style) in a student residence, or at an appart-hotel. All these places will afford you some basic comforts without the cost of a full blown hotel while you figure your life out. My "studio" is really just a dorm room in the suburbs but at least I had a place to sleep and put my stuff the day I got here.

Pro Tip 2: Even with temporary housing, you have to give between one and three months' notice before you can leave. If you hate your place, let your landlords know immediately so that you can move sooner rather than later. Early lease termination is sometimes possible but not always easy so just be aware.

Throughout January and February, long stretches of my days were dedicated to trolling the internet for available apartments. I started out by just Googling "location appartement bordeaux" and finally stumbled across some useful websites where I could enter my search criteria and they populated a list of places that matched. Try these:

• Se Loger: There's a French version (which may be more complete) and an English version (which is sometimes just in French...)
• Nexity
• Century21
• Foncia
• La Forêt

By early March, I found a pretty ideal place through Century 21. It was close to tram and bus lines, right up the street from Auchan, just a few minutes from Centre Ville and the quai. I was eager to get the paperwork signed because I was hoping to have the place set up by the time Jason arrived.

NOPE.

There's no credit check in France so you have to prove you have the money to pay your rent. Here is what a typical housing application file will include in France:

• Copies of your ID (passport)
• Bank account information (RIB)
• Work contract and/or bank statements proving that you can pay the rent
• It is the law in France that you cannot rent an apartment that is more than one-third your net monthly income.
• Last three pay stubs
• Last two income tax statements
• Proof of current address in France (gas/electric/water/landline phone bill)
• Your cell phone bill is not sufficient
• Copy of previous lease agreement

Once you have gathered a small forest's worth of papers, you may also be asked to find a garant (sometimes also called a caution). It's explained very well here (in French) but the long story short is that they are a co-signer so that in the event that you don't pay your rent, the agency will come after your garant for the money. This was completely insane to me, but apparently it is normal in France. The law here is very much in favor of the renter. Landlords cannot evict you in the winter and it can take up to two years to kick you out, regardless of the season, even if you don't pay your rent during that whole period. When I learned this, it made sense why some of these apartments were available for so long. Better to take a month to find the right person than to rent to the first bum off the street who might not pay anything at all after the deposit and first month.

Sometimes all a garant has to do is sign the lease along with you, as was the case with Ashley and Guillaume. His mom rolled up and with a flick of a pen, they had a new place to live. Not so in our case, even though we were also going through Century 21. (WTF??) The agent needed the garant to provide all of the documents that we had provided. I was floored. I have been here for four months and the only people I know are my Chinese classmates and my teachers. There's no way I could ask any of them for all that stuff. Jason arrived the day after I got this news and we asked around at his job to see if anyone was willing or able to do it. Some people said it was normal for agencies to require it and they had their parents do it for them, others said it was completely outrageous. Either way, no one was volunteering. Even though we had proved we had the money for it (and then some), we still needed someone to sign with us.

Back to the drawing board.

Pro Tip 3: When you find a place you like, ask up front if they will require a garant. You may need to explain your situation and provide some documents about it, but it's better than getting your hopes up, only to be told you will be systematically denied for lack of a garant. If you absolutely need one and don't know anyone in France, you may be able to get one through a company. Check out Loca-pass and this website, which is a registry of companies that may offer you garant services if you don't know any French people. Be aware, though: We didn't qualify for these because we're too old and because Jason has a real job. Oh well.

What ultimately led me to finding our new apartment was the French version of Craigslist: Le Bon Coin. You can search for pretty much anything on there, including apartments. Armed with the knowledge from my failed initial attempts and a bit of urgency since sharing a twin bed is the worst thing ever, I was on the hunt again. I now knew the right questions to ask (When is the apartment available? Do you require a garant? How much is due up front?) and didn't waste time going on visits to places that weren't going to work out anyway.

Pro Tip 4: If you're anything like me, you will be tempted by big-name agencies because you will think them to be more credible. This may not be the case. Some agencies are bums and will not take care of problems in your apartment if you have them. Your colleagues may offer a friend of a friend who knows a guy who has a place to rent. Against your American judgement, this might be your best bet. They probably won't charge you an agency fee and they might treat you better because you're a friend (of a friend of a friend). YOU JUST NEVER KNOW. Ask around as much as possible to get a feel for the rental climate in your area.

Once I figured it out, it really wasn't too difficult. I saw the ad two weeks ago on a Monday and replied to it, I set up a visit for later that week, I brought my application file with me and gave it to her that day. Two days later, she called me and told me our application had been accepted. I had to go by the agency and pay the deposit last week. Today, we had our état des lieux meeting, in which you go through everything in the house and write down it's condition, and then she handed us the keys. The furniture is being dropped off on Friday and we'll be sleeping in a real bed by this weekend! We thought of furnishing the place via Le Bon Coin as well but since we don't have a car and the new apartment is on the top floor of the building, we just decided to buy everything from Ikea and have it delivered. Problem solved.

Why someone couldn't have just told me all that when I got here, I don't know, but I figured it out and I am glad it's over. I hope that this post can help other poor souls looking for a place to live in France. This website is also incredibly useful. That link is the housing page but they have all kinds of other information for anglophones, too. It is a long and arduous process but it's a pretty good feeling to be living in a place that I actually enjoy coming home to. Worth it.

Can't wait to throw a housewarming party!!