What to do when the tenant abandons the accommodation (departure by the wooden bell)?

Verified 05 December 2025 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

You own a rental unit and you have the impression that the tenant has definitively left, without having informed you? He hasn't given you his home insurance certificate, he's no longer taking the mail out of his mailbox, or he's no longer paying you rent.... You want to take back the property? We explain how to do it.

The approach is different depending on whether the dwelling was rented empty (i.e. with an empty residential lease) or rented furnished (i.e. with a furnished residential lease or with a mobility lease):

Empty housing

You must follow these steps:

Step-by-step approach

If you assume that the tenant has abandoned the dwelling you own, you must load a commissioner of justice to deliver to the tenant a formal notice to justify that it occupies the housing well.

FYI  

In the event of unpaid payments on the part of the tenant, the Commissioner of Justice may incorporate the formal notice to one command to pay or a command to prove rental insurance.

After the meaning of the formal notice by the commissioner of justice, the tenant has 1 month to reply.

Without a response from the tenant within this period, the Commissioner of Justice may the state of housing abandonment.

To do this, he must enter the accommodation in the presence of 2 witnesses:

  • The mayor of the municipality, or a municipal councilor, or an authorized municipal agent and a police or gendarmerie authority
  • Or, as a last resort, 2 adults, unrelated to the Commissioner of Justice or yourself

If the dwelling appears abandoned, the Commissioner of Justice shall draw up a notice of abandonment. If goods (e.g. furniture) have been left behind, it shall take stock of them and indicate their market value.

Approach

You must refer the matter to the protection litigation judge on query delivered or sent to the court office of the place where the rented accommodation is located.

The query must include the following information:

  • Subject of the request (request to terminate the lease with a view to taking over the abandoned premises)
  • Identity of the tenant and address of his domicile
  • Identity, occupation, address, nationality, date and place of birth of the owner (if the owner of the dwelling is a natural person), or form, name, registered office and name of its legal representative (if the owner of the dwelling is a legal person)
  • Indication of the supporting documents on which the application is based
  • Indication of the court before which the application is made

The request must be dated, signed and accompanied by all supporting documents (lease...), including the notice of abandonment drafted by the Commissioner of Justice.

FYI  

By the same request, you can also request the condemnation of the tenant to the payment of the unpaid related to the lease.

Decision of the judge

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The judge considers that the motion is well founded

The judge makes his decision by order. It shall terminate the lease and order the return of the premises.

In the event of unpaid payments, it may also decide on the payment request.

When the dwelling still contains property, the judge decides on their future. Based on the inventory made by the Commissioner of Justice, he can authorize the public auction of certain properties and declare the others abandoned, after a period of one month granted to the tenant to remove them from the dwelling.

The judge dismisses the motion

The judge makes his decision by order.

You can't challenge the judge's decision.

But you can initiate a procedure to terminate the lease (for lack of rental insurance or for non-payment) and request deportation.

When the judge recognizes the merits of your application, you have 2 months to instruct a commissioner of justice to signify the order to the tenant.

Warning  

If the order is not served within that period, it becomes null.

The service must mandatory provide the tenant with the following information:

  • Date of the act of the Commissioner of Justice
  • Name, surname, occupation, address, nationality, date and place of birth of the owner (if the owner of the dwelling is a natural person), or form, name, registered office and name of the legal representative (if the owner of the dwelling is a legal person)
  • Name, surnames, address and signature of the Commissioner of Justice
  • Name and address of the addressee of the service
  • How to challenge the judge's order (time limit, competent court, form of challenge)
  • How to read the documents on which the owner's request is based
  • Inability to challenge the order after the legal deadline and subsequent right of the owner to take back possession of his home
  • If the order takes into account the furniture left on the spot, possibility to remove it from the dwelling within one month, indication that without disputing the order within the legal period the furniture will be sold or removed, and reminder of 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of Article R433-5 and Article R433-6 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures.

If the justice commissioner gives the tenant the service personally, he must also inform him verbally of his rights.

Warning  

The tenant may challenge the order within one month of serviceby sending or filing a declaration at the Registry of the Court. You and the tenant are then summoned to the hearing by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. The judgment issued replaces the order of the judge. If the court finds that your original application was abusive, you may be fined a civil penalty of up to €10,000.

If the tenant does not contest the order within one month of service, you must then appoint a commissioner of justice to take over the premises.

To do this, the justice commissioner goes to the housing. He stands there a report of resumption of the premises, which shall contain the following information:

  • The operations carried out by the commissioner of justice, the identity of the locksmith and witnesses
  • The designation of the court competent to challenge the expulsion.

This report must be delivered by hand or served on the evicted tenant.

FYI  

The tenant's papers and personal documents are placed in a sealed envelope and kept by the Commissioner of Justice for 2 years. Goods with a market value will be auctioned off. The proceeds of the sale, after deducting the costs and sums due to you, are returned to the person expelled through the Caisse des dépôts et consignations.

Furnished accommodation

In the case of a rented accommodation with a furnished dwelling lease or with a mobility lease, you must appeal to the judge to obtain termination of the lease and eviction of the tenant (on the grounds of unpaid rent, for example).

The competent judge shall be protection litigation judge on which the rented accommodation depends.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • Administrative information by phone - Allô Service Public

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