Twelve attachments, crooked scans, a tax notice the landlord can't tell is genuine. For tenants and landlords alike, swapping documents by email is slow and insecure. DossierFacile was built to fix exactly that: it's the French government's digital rental file. You upload your documents once, a team checks them, and you share them behind a single link.
The service is free. It's run by the DGALN, the directorate in charge of planning, housing and nature within the ministry responsible for housing, and its official address is dossierfacile.logement.gouv.fr.
How to create your DossierFacile
The real work is gathering your documents: uploading them is quick once everything is ready.
1. Create your account. On the official site, with FranceConnect or an email address.
2. Upload your documents, category by category. They match the legal list:
- an ID document;
- proof of your current address (rent receipts, a hosting certificate...);
- proof of your professional situation (contract, employer certificate, enrolment certificate...);
- proof of income (payslips, scholarship notice, CAF simulation...);
- your tax notice (avis d'imposition).
Documents must be readable and still valid. Prepare clean PDFs rather than photos.
3. Add your guarantor, if you have one. A guarantor isn't required. An individual guarantor uploads their own documents in the same categories. If you have Visale, Action Logement's free guarantee, DossierFacile is a partner: your visa is enough.
4. Sign the sworn statement. A checkbox confirms your information is accurate. A false statement is a criminal offence in France (article 441-1 of the penal code).
5. Submit it for checking. As a couple or in a flatshare, every linked file has to be validated for the whole to be.
What DossierFacile checks
A team of operators reviews your file document by document: completeness, consistency between documents, readability. Your tax notice is authenticated automatically with the DGFiP, the French tax administration. Suspicious files are flagged.
If a document doesn't pass, you get the reason and the fix. Once your file is validated, your documents are watermarked. That's real protection: a watermarked document is hard to reuse, including by the people behind fake listings who harvest tenants' paperwork.
How long it takes
A complete file is usually checked in under 24 hours. At very busy times it can take a little longer.
The smart move: create it before you start viewing flats, not the night before an appointment. In Paris, a good listing is often decided within hours, and a file still "being checked" won't help you that day.
What the landlord sees
Once validated, you share your file by link. DossierFacile offers two versions:
- a link with your documents, which the landlord can open;
- a link without the documents, showing your file is complete and verified without handing over your personal paperwork.
Which one to send? For a first contact, the link without documents is often enough: it proves your file has been verified without exposing your paperwork to a stranger. Keep the full link for the landlord who has shown you the flat, or who asks for it.
You can create one link per recipient, with an expiry date, see when it's been viewed and cut access whenever you choose. On the other side, DossierFacile also offers landlords a space to assess the files they receive.
For a landlord receiving dozens of applications, the appeal is obvious: one link, documents already checked, and an authenticated tax notice.
Our take: the limits worth knowing
DossierFacile is by far the best foundation for your documents. It also has a clear scope.
It checks documents, not an application. The service doesn't tell the landlord whether your income is enough for this particular rent, and it doesn't guarantee payment. The landlord still decides.
It doesn't speak for you. Your file says who you are on paper, not why this flat. The message that goes with your application matters as much as the documents.
No landlord has to use it. Some still ask for documents by email. They remain bound by the legal list of documents: no bank statements, no reservation cheque.
It needs keeping up to date. Your last three payslips change every month. A file from the winter shows its age by spring.
An example. You earn €2,600 net and you're after a studio at €850 including charges. DossierFacile proves your payslips and tax notice are genuine. What makes the difference next is the landlord reading "Permanent contract since 2024, €2,600 net, Visale guarantee, available 1 November" before opening a single document.
DossierFacile and LivedIn
Keep your DossierFacile: your documents stay there, and your application page links to it when you decide. LivedIn adds a tailored message and a link per listing, the open alert and all your applications in one place.
Your documents only go out if the landlord asks for them, with your consent: that's when you add your DossierFacile link.
Sources: dossierfacile.logement.gouv.fr, DossierFacile help centre, service-public.fr, décret n° 2015-1437.
