Why is it so hard renting in Paris as a foreigner?
NOTE: THESE ARE INDEPENDENT VIEWS TAKEN IN A SNAPSHOT OF TIME AND NOT NECESSARILY DEFINITIVE VIEWS
Question
Literally I’ve tried so hard, I’ve found multiple apartments and I’ve tried to contact the sellers through email and trying to arrange something, it gets taken the next day. I’m seriously giving up soon and it’s breaking my heart. If anyone studied in Paris from another country how did you do it? Social media makes studying abroad look so easy…
It took me 6 months to find a place to live despite being French and having a job for almost a year
Demand is much greater than supply.
What most students – and even young new comers starting a career – do, is to look for roommates and often unofficially.
- The demand for apartments exceeds the actual availability, leading to a situation where there are more people seeking apartments than there are apartments available. For every listing, there are often hundreds, if not thousands, of other individuals interested in it as well.
- When it comes to real estate and flat owners, they tend to prefer tenants who have a strong profile. Dealing with certain complications that may arise from renting to foreigners, such as having a guarantor located outside of France, a short-term visa, or having income from other countries, can make the process more challenging for them. As a result, they usually prefer local applicants who have a simple and stable situation. Sometimes, even a slight accent can lead them to assume potential complications, prompting them to reject the applicant.
- If possible, visit the agency in person, you will get a chance to properly introduce yourself and maybe convince them that your are a good, responsible guy with all what they ask for. Sometime they might keep your number and get back to you if there will be something else available.
- Check online groups like “Apartments in Paris” on Facebook, sometimes people look for roommates, last minute offer etc.
- Remember that if the offer seems too good to be true or if something about it appears suspicious, it probably is.
Never send your application documents online unless you are willing to take the risk of someone misusing your personal information, such as opening a bank account in your name or obtaining a loan without your knowledge (which actually happened to a friend of mine). - Have you though about dorms in the Cité Universitaire?
I rented my place through parisattitude.com – It was easy as. I think I paid around 8.5% for an agency fee though.
It’s hard for everybody.
When you see an interesting flat on an agency site, you have to call them and make a reservation for visiting. Then, usually the next day during working hours so you have to take a day off, you have to go visit with 15 other people and it’s basically a game of “who gives his full dossier first.”
I had to do this more than 10 years ago (and hope to never do it again), at one point I called for a visit 1h after the ad being published and they declined because they already had too many people visiting the next day (like, more than 30 people).
1/ Look for a single room in a flatshare, landlords are usually less picky.
2/ Don’t only focus on intra-muros Paris. If your school is next to a metro station, try to find something in the neighboring cities which are linked to the same metro station without transit. You can even find some cities which are “far” from Paris, like Chelles, Meudon, Juvisy, but they are only 15 minutes away from a big train station. Sure, if there is an issue with transportation, you can’t go to your school, but it may be a temporary solution so you can be next to Paris for your search.
Hello there. I’d recommend you try on PAP. Most of the time agencies are much more selective. With PAP you go directly through the landlord. You can have bad surprises however, be careful for sketchy demands such as paying 3 month at once or to pay for visits. If your dossier is solid enough, what worked for me is to made my application a little bit more personal. I’ve made a ppt presentation, nothing too heavy, just a quick sum up with my background, things I like, a little picture and ofc the main infos about income and such. That had me 4 flats in a week. Best of luck to you ! 🙂
If you’re a student, try applying to cité internationale (https://www.ciup.fr/), it worked out well for me and a lot of my classmates too.
It’s hard even as a French person with a job (CDD) and a good garant. The real estate agent and owners ideally want someone with a stable job (CDI) who earn three time the rent. So if you have a 800€ 20m2 studio you will have to earn 2400€ per month which is insane.
Wanted to add : talking from experience, I gave up on searching for a place to live by myself in Paris and the suburbs, I’m 26 and still live with my grandma. I have a stable job and commute for 3 hours round trip everyday. I used to have a flat in another city when i was a student.
You don’t have a rental history, and I assume you don’t have a guarantor (garant) either. Landlords don’t know if you’re a default risk, and know they can’t come after you if you are. Have you tried, like, the Cité Universitaire?