A viewing often lasts fifteen minutes, sometimes less, with other applicants waiting on the stairs. That's not long for a place you'll live in for months, maybe years. The answer is to arrive prepared, know what to look at, and know what to ask. Here's the checklist.
Before the viewing: what to have ready
- Your rental application, complete and up to date, ready to send the same day: in Paris, a flat often goes to the first solid application.
- A charged phone, for photos, the torch and testing the signal.
- A tape measure, or a measuring app, if a sofa, bed or desk has to fit.
- Your questions, written down in advance (the list is below).
- The advertised rent, checked: in Paris it has a legal cap, and the rent checker gives it to you in a minute.
A viewing is never charged separately. With an agency, it's part of the fees capped per square metre, payable only when the lease is signed. Without an agency, you can't be charged anything at all. The caps are in our article on letting agency fees.
The room-by-room checklist
Damp and mould
Look at the corners of the ceilings, the bottom of the walls, behind furniture and around the windows: dark patches, bubbling paint, peeling wallpaper. A lingering musty smell is a clue. Fresh paint on a single wall deserves a question.
Windows
Open and close them. Single or double glazing? Seals in good condition? Shutters or blinds that work? Windows tell you a lot about noise and about the heating bills to come.
Heating and hot water
Ask what kind of heating it is: individual electric, individual gas, or a shared building system (then paid through the charges). Check the state of the radiators and the size of the hot-water tank, especially if there are two of you.
Water pressure
Turn on the kitchen tap and the shower. Flush the toilet. Check that hot water arrives in a reasonable time. Look under the sink for signs of leaks or swollen wood.
Electrics
Find the fuse box: modern circuit breakers are reassuring, old fuses and loose wires much less so. Count the sockets in each room, especially where you'll work.
Noise
Listen with the windows closed, then open. A busy street, a bar downstairs, a lift against the bedroom wall? If you can, walk past again in the evening.
Light and orientation
Ask which way the flat faces, or check with your phone's compass. A viewing at noon in midsummer tells you nothing about a ground-floor flat on a courtyard in winter. Look at what the windows face, too.
Phone signal
Check the signal bars in every room and make a call. Ask whether the building has fibre broadband.
Storage
Cupboards, a cellar, a bike room: in Paris, storage is often scarcer than square metres. Open the kitchen and bathroom cupboards.
Furnished flats
A furnished let must include a minimum set of equipment: bedding with a duvet or blanket, curtains or shutters in the bedrooms, a hob, an oven or microwave, a fridge with a freezer compartment, crockery and kitchen utensils, a table and chairs, shelving, lighting and cleaning equipment. Check it's all there and working.
Questions to ask the landlord or agent
- Charges: how much, and what do they cover? Cold water, hot water, shared heating, upkeep of the common areas, the household waste tax? A monthly provision adjusted once a year, or a flat rate (allowed for furnished lets)?
- The energy rating (DPE): it must appear on the listing, from A to G. Since 1 January 2025, a flat rated G can no longer be let; F-rated flats follow in 2028. The rent on an F or G flat can't be increased, but its heating bills will be high.
- The previous tenant's last rent: in Paris, it must be stated in the lease. And when a flat is relet less than 18 months after the previous tenant left, the new rent generally can't be higher, apart from the annual review and exceptions set by law.
- The availability date: when can you move in, and does the lease start on that date?
- The type of lease: unfurnished (3 years with a private landlord), furnished (1 year, or 9 months for a student), or bail mobilité (1 to 10 months, with no deposit).
- The security deposit: 1 month's rent excluding charges at most unfurnished, 2 furnished.
Red flags
- A payment asked for before the viewing or before the lease is signed: a deposit, a "reservation", application fees. It's not allowed, and it's the most common sign of a rental scam.
- No viewing possible: a landlord "abroad" who offers to post you the keys.
- Rent far below the going rate for the area, with no explanation.
- Documents the law forbids them to ask for: bank statements, an ID photo, a certificate of good account standing, your health insurance card (carte Vitale).
- Vague answers on charges, the energy rating or the type of lease, or a refusal to put them in writing.
- Hidden damp: a strong smell, a dehumidifier running, new paint on just one wall.
After a viewing you liked: move fast
In Paris, the best flats go within hours. If this one suits you:
- Say so on the spot, simply, to the landlord or agent.
- Send your application the same day: your complete set of documents in one go, with a short message about this flat, not a generic one.
- Put any open questions in writing (charges, move-in date), so there's a record.
- Follow up once if you've heard nothing after a few days.
- Pay nothing before the lease is signed.
Sources: service-public.fr, ANIL.
