Where to live in Montpellier

French tenancy under the loi du 6 juillet 1989, as amended by the loi ALUR, is protective. An unfurnished lease from a private landlord runs three years and renews automatically; the landlord can only end it at term, with six months' notice, and only to sell, to house themselves or close family, or for a legitimate and serious reason. A furnished lease runs a year, or nine months for a student. The deposit is capped at one month's rent excluding charges unfurnished and two months furnished. Montpellier is a zone tendue, so your own notice is one month rather than three — and, unusually, it also caps rents: the perimeter was set by décret n° 2021-1144 of 2 September 2021 and the scheme has applied since 1 July 2022, with the préfet of the Hérault fixing reference rents by arrêté each year.

1. 1

   Check the reference rent for the exact address before you sign anything

   The préfet publishes three figures per zone, per number of rooms, per construction period and per furnished status: a median rent, a loyer de référence majoré at median plus 20% which is the legal ceiling, and a minoré at median minus 30%. The city is divided into five zones. A landlord may only exceed the majoré figure with a complément de loyer justified by specific exceptional features, stated in the lease. If your rent is above the cap you can demand a reduction and reclaim the excess, through the commission départementale de conciliation if the landlord refuses. And check the commune, not the postal town: the cap covers Montpellier itself and stops at the boundary.

2. 2

   Apply for Visale before you view anything at all

   Visale is a free guarantee from Action Logement standing in for the personal garant French landlords expect. It covers people up to the age of 30 whatever their situation, and employees over 30 either on a modest salary or inside a professional-mobility window — hired within the last six months, relocated within the last six months, or holding a job offer starting within three months. The certificate is issued online in days. Two limits changed in January 2026: the guaranteed rent is capped, at the level applying to communes of more than 100,000 inhabitants, and the guarantee runs three years from signature rather than for the life of the lease. Check the current ceiling against the asking rent before relying on it. In a market this student-heavy, arriving without a guarantee means being filtered out before anyone reads your file.

3. 3

   Build the dossier through DossierFacile before you start looking

   French landlords choose on paperwork. DossierFacile is a free state service that verifies your identity, residence permit, employment contract, payslips, tax assessment and guarantee and packages them into a single certified file with a shareable link. Landlords trust it far more than a folder of scans, and it means you can apply within minutes of a listing appearing rather than spending an evening assembling documents — which is the whole game in September.

4. 4

   Read the DPE energy rating, and read it for summer as well as winter

   Every listing must show an energy performance rating from A to G, and it is not decoration. Under the loi Climat et Résilience the worst-rated homes have been progressively barred from being let, starting with class G in mainland France from January 2025, with class F scheduled for January 2028 — a timetable that has been politically contested, so check the position that applies now. In Montpellier the rating matters in both directions: a top-floor flat under an uninsulated roof with no shutters is a genuinely difficult place to sleep in an August heatwave, and air conditioning is far from universal in the older stock.

5. 5

   Check the flood risk for the address, especially south and east of the centre

   The Hérault gets Mediterranean episodes in autumn that can drop extraordinary volumes of rain in hours, and the ground south of the city toward Lattes and the lagoons is low. Every commune's risk mapping is public, and the état des risques document must be given to you before you sign. Read it rather than filing it — the practical questions are whether the building has an underground garage, what floor you are on, and whether the street has flooded before. Neighbours will tell you if you ask.

6. 6

   Do the état des lieux slowly, then apply for the CAF and the transport pass the same week

   The entry inventory is compared line by line against the exit one and decides whether you get your deposit back, so photograph everything with a timestamp. Then do two things with your new address: apply to the CAF for APL, the means-tested housing allowance that is open to foreign residents holding a valid permit including students and that a great many eligible people never claim; and apply for the Pass Gratuité, which makes the whole TaM network free but needs a proof of address in your own name.