Unpaid rent: the time allowed to the tenant falls from two months to six weeks

It looks like a technical amendment, but it touches the most sensitive moment in the life of a lease: unpaid rent. A decree published on 6 July 2026 reduces from two months to six weeks the time given to the tenant to pay their debt after a formal demand for payment (commandement de payer). It will apply to residential leases signed or renewed from 1 October 2026.

What the decree changes in practice

When a tenant stops paying, the landlord has a formal demand for payment served by a court officer (commissaire de justice). This document opens a period during which the tenant can clear their debt and keep their lease. Once this period has passed without settlement, the termination clause (clause résolutoire) included in the contract can take effect: the lease is terminated by operation of law, and the owner can refer the matter to the court.

Two weeks fewer may seem anecdotal. In an unpaid-rent case, they most often correspond to one more rent instalment avoided, as Le Figaro Immobilier noted in July 2026, drawing on the analysis of a lawyer specialising in property law. On a debt that grows every month, the difference is measured in hundreds of euros and in weeks gained over the procedure as a whole.

Which leases are concerned?

• Leases signed or renewed from 1 October 2026: the new standard lease applies automatically, with the six-week period.
• Leases signed between 6 July and 1 October 2026: landlords can already rely on the text and specify six weeks in their termination clause.
• Current leases signed earlier: they remain governed by the rules in force on the date they were signed. The period to state in a formal demand for payment therefore depends on the clause actually signed, two months or six weeks.

This reduction is not entirely new: the law of 27 July 2023 already provided for it. But the regulatory standard lease, the one on which most leases are based, continued to state two months. The decree of 6 July 2026 finally corrects this inconsistency and brings everyone up to date, private landlords and professional managers alike.

The lease, the first document in the file

Many owners regard drafting the lease as an administrative formality: you sign, hand over the keys, file the contract away. Yet it is at that moment that the speed of a procedure that may arise two years later is decided. An up-to-date lease does not protect against unpaid rent, but it avoids losing months when it occurs, and seeing a procedure that is sound on the merits fail on a procedural defect.

The decree brings two other useful clarifications. The standard lease now provides for the optional inclusion of the tenant's telephone details, so that the person concerned can be reached more quickly from the first late payment. And failure to pay the deposit features among the grounds for termination by operation of law: this still has to be proven, which argues for traceable collection rather than payment in cash.

Three reflexes to adopt right now

1. 1Reread your current leases to find out what period their termination clause actually provides for: it is that period, and not the new one, that will have to be stated in any formal demand for payment.
2. 2Use the up-to-date standard lease for every new letting or renewal, in order to benefit from the six-week period.
3. 3React from the first late payment: an immediate amicable reminder resolves the majority of situations, well before a court officer has to step in.

This article presents general information up to date as at August 2026. It does not constitute legal advice: for a particular situation, consult a legal professional. Reference source on this decree: Le Figaro Immobilier, article of 24 July 2026.