The Bail Mobilité: France’s Flexible Short-Term Furnished Lease for Expats

What Is the Bail Mobilité?

The bail mobilité is a furnished lease regime created by Article 107 of the loi ELAN (n° 2018-1021 of 23 November 2018), codified in Articles L 255-1 to L 255-19 of the Code de la construction et de l'habitation (CCH). It was designed to fill a gap in the French rental market: between the long-term 1-year furnished primary-residence lease (with its full loi ALUR protections) and the tourist/seasonal rental (with its lack of tenant protections), there was no suitable legal vehicle for the professional who needs an apartment for 3, 5, or 8 months.

The bail mobilité achieves this by combining maximum flexibility — no security deposit, a defined expiry date, no automatic renewal — with a clear legal status that gives the tenant residential stability for the agreed period. For landlords, it offers a route back into the rental market for properties that might otherwise sit empty between longer tenancies.

Who Can Use a Bail Mobilité?

The bail mobilité is not available to all tenants. It can only be used where the tenant is in one of the following specific situations at the time the lease is signed. The tenant must be able to prove the qualifying situation with a supporting document.

Proving Your Qualifying Situation

The lease must state the reason for the bail mobilité and the tenant must be able to provide documentary evidence of the qualifying situation. Acceptable documents include: an employment contract or secondment letter for professional assignments; an enrolment certificate (certificat de scolarité) for students; a training agreement (convention de formation) for professional training; and an internship agreement (convention de stage) for interns. A landlord who signs a bail mobilité without verifying the qualifying situation risks the lease being reclassified as a standard primary-residence meublé lease with full loi ALUR protections.

Key Rules of the Bail Mobilité

Duration: Strict Upper and Lower Limits

The bail mobilité must last between 1 and 10 months. These limits are absolute. A bail mobilité for 11 months is void as a bail mobilité and will be treated as a standard furnished primary-residence lease, with all the attendant protections. A bail mobilité for less than 1 month is also void — properties let for less than a month fall under the tourist/seasonal regime.

The duration must be stated precisely in the lease (for example, "4 months from 1 April 2025 to 31 July 2025"). It can be modified once by mutual written agreement, but the total duration — original term plus any modification — cannot exceed 10 months. After this maximum is reached, a new bail mobilité with the same tenant is not possible. If the tenant stays on, the arrangement automatically converts to a standard 1-year furnished primary-residence lease.

No Security Deposit: What This Means in Practice

The prohibition on any security deposit under a bail mobilité is one of its defining features and one of its most practical benefits for expat tenants. No deposit of any kind is permitted — not a cash deposit, not a guarantee chèque, not a token amount held "just in case." A landlord who demands any form of deposit under a bail mobilité commits an infraction and must immediately refund any amount collected.

This does not mean the landlord has no protection against damage or unpaid rent. The landlord may still require the tenant to subscribe to a responsabilité civile locative insurance policy and to provide proof of it. The landlord retains the right to pursue the tenant in court for any damage to the property or furnishings above normal wear and tear, as documented in the entry and exit états des lieux. The absence of a deposit does not extinguish these rights — it simply means the landlord cannot retain funds pre-emptively.

How the Bail Mobilité Ends

The bail mobilité ends automatically at the expiry of the agreed term. No notice is required from either party — the lease simply expires on the date stated in the contract. This is one of the starkest differences from the standard furnished primary-residence lease, which renews automatically unless notice is given.

Early Termination by the Tenant

If the tenant wishes to leave before the contractual end date, they may do so by giving one month's notice at any time. The notice must be sent by LRAR (recorded delivery) or by bailiff act. The tenant remains liable for rent until the notice period expires — they cannot simply leave without notice and refuse to pay.

Landlord Cannot Terminate Mid-Term

The landlord has no unilateral right to terminate a bail mobilité before its expiry date. The only mechanism available to the landlord for mid-term termination is the judicial clause résolutoire procedure — the same mechanism as for standard leases — which requires a court order and takes several months at minimum. A landlord who simply wants the property back before the agreed end date has no legal means to achieve this unilaterally.

What Happens If the Tenant Stays On

If the tenant remains in occupation after the bail mobilité expires and the landlord does nothing to recover possession, the arrangement converts automatically to a standard furnished primary-residence lease under the loi ALUR framework, for a full year, with all the attendant protections. This conversion is silent and automatic — no formality is required. For landlords, this is a critical risk: if the expiry date passes without the tenant vacating, they suddenly find themselves bound by a 1-year lease they did not intend to grant.

Bail Mobilité vs Other Furnished Lease Types

Who Uses the Bail Mobilité: Common Scenarios

This article is for general information and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Laws and regulations may have changed since publication. Always seek qualified French legal advice before signing or relying on a bail mobilité.