France's New Lease Template From 1 October 2026: What Changes for Landlords and Tenants

Since 2015, a French residential lease for a main home must follow a contrat type, an official template set by Décret n° 2015-587. There are two of them: Annexe 1 for an unfurnished let, Annexe 2 for a furnished one. Each has eleven sections, from the parties (I) to the annexes (XI).

Décret n° 2026-596 of 6 July 2026 was published in the Journal officiel of 7 July 2026. It amends both templates. Its Article 3 sets the date: it applies to contracts concluded or renewed from 1 October 2026.

Two consequences follow:

• A lease signed before 1 October 2026 is not rewritten. It keeps its wording.

• A lease signed on or after that date must use the new wording, even if the landlord's model was compliant in September.

You can read the consolidated text on Légifrance.

The decree makes five edits to each template.

The last two are the ones that matter.

The clause résolutoire lets a lease end automatically when the tenant fails to meet certain obligations. Until now, each landlord wrote it in their own words. The template now fixes the first paragraph. In French, it reads:

« Le contrat de location est résilié de plein droit pour défaut de paiement du loyer ou des charges aux termes convenus ou pour non versement du dépôt de garantie. La clause de résiliation de plein droit ne produit effet que six semaines après la date d'un commandement de payer demeuré infructueux. »

In plain English: the lease ends by operation of law if the rent, the charges or the security deposit are not paid. But only six weeks after a formal order to pay, served by a commissaire de justice, has gone unanswered.

The six-week period is not new. It has been in Article 24 of the Loi n° 89-462 du 6 juillet 1989 since 29 July 2023. What is new is that the lease must now say it in these words.

The template then allows optional grounds, which the parties may add:

• no tenant insurance, effective one month after a formal order;

• nuisance to neighbours, when established by a final court decision;

• for dwellings under the principal-residence easement, failure to live there as a main home.

A landlord cannot add any other ground. Article 4 of the 1989 law treats it as unwritten.

Since the Loi n° 2024-1039 of 19 November 2024, a commune may require that new homes in certain areas be used only as a main residence. This is the servitude de résidence principale, set out in Article L. 151-14-1 of the Code de l'urbanisme.

When a dwelling is under this obligation, the lease must now say so, in section II. B. The tenant then commits to live there as their main home. Article 7 of the 1989 law makes this a tenant obligation.

Most homes are not concerned. The mention is preceded by « le cas échéant », which means it appears only when it applies. If you are not sure, ask the town hall (mairie) of the commune.

The decree does not touch the rules most people ask about.

The mandatory annexes are also the same: the information notice, the technical diagnostics including the DPE, the entry inventory (état des lieux), and for a furnished let the furniture inventory.

For the detail, see our guides on the security deposit, the tenant's notice period and the French lease in general.

If you are a landlord

1. Check the date of your lease model. A model last updated before July 2026 will not carry the new clause.
2. Read section VIII. The first paragraph must match the official text above.
3. Check that the lease follows the eleven sections of the template, in order.
4. Do not add penalties for late payment. Article 4 of the 1989 law forbids them.
5. Ask your mairie whether the dwelling is under the principal-residence easement, if it is a recent build.

If you are a tenant

1. Look for the mention of the decree, or of the template, near the title.
2. Read section VIII. It should name only the grounds listed above.
3. Check the mentions that protect you: the surface area, the rent, the deposit, the DPE class.
4. Remember that either party can ask the other, at any time, for a lease that complies with the law. This is in Article 3 of the 1989 law.

AdminLanding's lease generator follows the official template section by section, for both the furnished and the unfurnished lease. The fixed paragraphs are printed word for word, in French, as the law requires.

The lease is always issued in French. The interface and the explanations are available in English.

A field you leave empty is printed as a blank. The generator does not fill in a value on your behalf. Before it generates, it lists the mentions that would stay blank, so that you can complete them first. And it refuses, before any charge, a lease that would break the law on its face, such as a deposit above the legal ceiling.

Your first property is free. See the lease generator.

This article is general information. It is not legal advice.