Key takeaways
- In France, a flatshare (colocation) is defined by Article 8-1 of the law of 6 July 1989 on landlord-tenant relations (loi du 6 juillet 1989) as “the letting of a single dwelling to several tenants, constituting their main residence”, under one contract or several, except a letting made exclusively to spouses or civil partners (partenaires de Pacs) at the time the contract is first signed.
- According to Service-Public, a flatshare takes the form of one joint lease signed by everyone, or as many contracts as there are flatmates.
- With a joint liability clause, each flatmate and their guarantor owe the full rent and charges. The departing flatmate stays liable until their notice takes effect if a replacement is named on the lease, otherwise at the latest six months after (Article 8-1, VI).
- Kowo’s time-shared co-occupancy runs on different rules: separate days, one fixed-days lease per occupant, and occupants who are “neither jointly liable nor holders of undivided rights with one another”.
- Example rates outside Paris: two fixed nights a week at €55 a night come to about €476 a month.
All quotations from French law and official French sites in this article are our translations; the links go to the French originals.
Inès has just been hired in Lille and is looking for somewhere to live. A colleague offers her a room in the flat she rents with one other person. The word “colocation” comes up, the French term for a flatshare, and with it a question Inès had not thought about: if one of the three stops paying, who pays instead?
The answer depends on the lease. By the end you will know how to spot the joint liability clause in a French flatshare lease and how long it binds you.
What a flatshare (colocation) is under French law
The reference text is Article 8-1 of the 1989 law, in the version in force since 1 July 2021. Its first paragraph defines a flatshare as “the letting of a single dwelling to several tenants, constituting their main residence, and formalised by the signing of a single contract or of several contracts between the tenants and the landlord, with the exception of a letting granted exclusively to spouses or to partners bound by a civil solidarity pact at the time the contract is first concluded”.
There must be several tenants, one dwelling, and that dwelling must be each tenant’s main residence. The number of contracts is open: one or several. And a married couple or civil partners renting a place on their own are not a flatshare. Service-Public puts it more simply: “Letting a dwelling to a single couple (married or in a Pacs at the time the lease is signed) is not a flatshare.”
One joint lease or individual leases
With a joint lease (bail commun), Service-Public states that the lease “must be signed by all the flatmates and the owner”. Someone who lives there without signing is not a flatmate: “They have no right to the dwelling, even if they pay part of the rent.”
With individual leases (bail individuel), “Each flatmate signs an independent lease with the owner”, and each lease must specify “the bedroom each flatmate has for private use, and the common areas available to all the flatmates”. The law then sets a floor: under Article 8-1, II, the private rooms must have a living area and volume of at least “9 square metres and 20 cubic metres”.
With individual leases, when a flatmate leaves, the same Service-Public page says the owner can choose a new flatmate “without needing the agreement of the other flatmates”.
The joint liability clause and its limits
This is the clause Inès was worried about. With a joint liability clause (clause de solidarité), according to Service-Public, “Each flatmate and their guarantor owe the full amount due (rent and service charges) to the owner”: each one “undertakes to pay the other flatmates’ share if they do not pay it”. Without the clause, each owes only their own share.
Moving out does not end it straight away. Article 8-1, VI sets the rule: the joint liability of the flatmate and that of their guarantor “end on the date the validly given notice takes effect and when a new flatmate is named on the lease. Failing that, they lapse at the latest when a period of six months has passed after the date the notice takes effect.”
So there are two cases. A new flatmate replaces the one leaving during the notice period: according to Service-Public, the obligation lasts until the end of that notice. Nobody replaces them: it lapses at the latest six months after the notice takes effect. The same article protects guarantors: the guarantee deed “must identify, on pain of nullity, the flatmate whose release from joint liability ends the guarantor’s commitment”.
The mobility lease (bail mobilité) bans the clause outright: under Article 25-13 of the 1989 law, “any clause providing for joint liability between the flatmates or their guarantors” is deemed unwritten (void). Our guide to the bail mobilité covers that lease in detail.
Time-shared co-occupancy: what changes
Time-shared co-occupancy, Kowo’s model, also puts several people in one home. What sets it apart from a flatshare is written into the standard lease.
Each occupant has set days, fixed for the whole term of the lease, and the fixed-days lease says so: “The Tenant’s right of occupation covers exclusively the following days of each week”. The owner may grant other occupants, “on other days of the week, rights of occupation of the same kind over the same premises”. Each therefore has exclusive use on their own days.
There is no joint lease: each occupant signs their own fixed-days lease, for at least three months. That lease is “governed by Articles 1714 et seq. of the French Civil Code”.
The standard lease has a no-joint-liability clause: “The occupants of the dwelling are neither jointly liable nor holders of undivided rights with one another. Each occupant answers solely for their own obligations under their own contract, in particular for paying their own rent.” It adds that a missed payment or a termination “affects neither the rights nor the obligations of the other occupants of the same dwelling”.
| Flatshare (colocation) | Time-shared co-occupancy (Kowo) | |
|---|---|---|
| Home | One dwelling, let to several tenants | One dwelling, each occupant on their own days |
| Contract | One joint lease or one lease per flatmate | One fixed-days lease per occupant |
| Joint liability | Possible by clause, up to six months after the notice takes effect | None: “neither jointly liable nor holders of undivided rights” |
How the model works in full is set out in part-time co-occupancy. Coliving, often mixed up with both, has its own article: coliving meaning, and how it differs from co-occupancy.
Worked example: two nights a week
Now take someone who only spends two nights a week in Lille, every week. The amounts below are example rates outside Paris, not prices observed in Lille.
| Option | Basis | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel | €125 a night | about €1,100 |
| Holiday let | depends on the listing | about €780 |
| Fixed-days rental | €55 a night | about €476 |
The last line works out as: €55 × 2 nights × 4.33 weeks = €476 a month.
Against the hotel, the gap is €624 a month (1,100 − 476), or €7,488 over a year. Against the holiday let, it is €304 a month (780 − 476), or €3,648 over a year.
The part-time furnished renting page for Lille covers the option there.
For owners: several contracts, no joint liability
For an owner, the joint liability clause in a flatshare on a joint lease is a safeguard: according to Service-Public, the owner may add it “to protect themselves against the risk of unpaid rent”, with each flatmate then owing the full amount. Time-shared co-occupancy does not give the owner that, since each occupant answers only for their own rent.
In return, each contract stands alone. An occupant leaving, says the standard lease, “entails no taking over of their obligations by the remaining occupants”, and the other leases carry on. On the example rates, three occupants at two nights a week bring in about €1,428 a month in gross rent (3 × €476).
To place this model among the other ways of letting a property, our article renting out your second home in France: 5 options compared sets long-term letting, holiday letting, the mobility lease, flatsharing and part-time renting side by side.
What to check before you sign
- The number of contracts. One joint lease signed by everyone, or one lease per flatmate: the rules on leaving and replacement differ.
- The joint liability clause. Look for it in a joint lease. If it is there, you owe the full rent and charges, not just your share. And if you are the one leaving, your liability ends on the date your notice takes effect if a replacement is named on the lease, otherwise at the latest six months after.
- The guarantee deed. It must name the flatmate whose departure ends the guarantor’s commitment, or it is void.
- The bedroom, with individual leases. The lease names the private bedroom and the common areas; the law requires private rooms of at least 9 m² and 20 m³.
- Your rhythm. In time-shared co-occupancy, the days are fixed for the whole term of the lease: count the nights you really spend there before choosing them.
Frequently asked questions
What is a flatshare (colocation) under French law?
Under Article 8-1 of the law of 6 July 1989, it is the letting of a single dwelling to several tenants, constituting their main residence, under one contract or several with the landlord. A letting made exclusively to spouses or civil partners at the time the contract is first signed is not one.
How long does joint liability last after a flatmate leaves?
Under Article 8-1 of the 1989 law, it ends when the notice takes effect, if a new flatmate is named on the lease. Failing that, it lapses at the latest six months after the notice takes effect, for the flatmate and for their guarantor alike.
How does time-shared co-occupancy differ from a flatshare?
Occupants have separate days, fixed for the whole term of the lease. Each signs their own fixed-days lease, and the standard lease provides that they are neither jointly liable nor holders of undivided rights with one another.
The co-occupancy section brings together everything about homes shared between several occupants.