A year later the girlfriend herself decided to move out, but he was able to convince her to let him move back in without informing the landlord, and therefore without taking her name off the lease. He then married my client, they had a child, and the family lived in the apartment.

When they divorced, the judge gave custody of the child to the mother along with the right to live in the family home, i.e., the said apartment. Recently she panicked because the ex-husband informed the landlord that an intruder was living there. Consequently, the landlord sent her a threatening letter. The good news here is that the tenant, my client, is well protected under French law and can prove the reality of the legal relationship as well as a long lasting usage of the lodging in good faith. Because she had several years of rent receipts made out first in both names, Mr. and Mrs., as well as a few in her own name, she could prove that the landlord had known for years that she had been living there. From the legal standpoint the landlord is showing bad faith to argue that she has no lease. If she should have a problem paying the rent, the landlord cannot use the lease argument when the issue was never brought up before.

The key here is being able to prove that the lodging is your domicile or your home. This illustrates again that the best thing to do in France is to keep all relevant documents and receipts in a file in case there is a legal challenge.

Jean Taquet holds a masters degree in law from the Sorbonne University and the French BTS accounting degree. He served as a jurist officer in the French Army in1985. He has been managing the refugee ministry of the American church since 1993, and has written the Question and Answer column in the Paris Free Voice. Read his complete bio .

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