How I found an apartment in Paris with no job and no guarantor

Finding long term housing is arguably the biggest struggle when moving to any major city and Paris is certainly no exception. So how did I get lucky with this and how might you find your own luck? Here’s my story, as an expat from Canada who speaks French.

Part I: Visiting apartments

Having just landed in Charles de Gaulle airport, I was jetlagged but eager to start my working holiday in France. Before arriving, I had booked an Airbnb room in the 11th arrondissement for my first two weeks. At around 100€ per night, it was quite expensive (considering Paris rents can be found for 800-1100€ per month). So although I was eager to start exploring the city, I knew I had to first find a long term housing ASAP. I had begun reaching out on www.lacartedescolocs.fr a couple of weeks before my arrival and so I already had a visit lined up the next day.

The visit went very well; the two roommates seemed great and they also liked me. My only hesitation was that it was a few metro stops outside Paris, but after seeing a couple of other disappointing places the next day, I decided to tell the roommates that I would like to apply for it.

They happily told me that I would need to provide the following: an ID, bank statements, paystubs, and a guarantor. I panicked; even though I had exchanged enough euros in my Wise bank account, I didn’t have a guarantor in France or even a job yet (they prefer people employed on CDI contracts). As a result, I would be considered very high risk by most landlords. I explained my situation and provided what I could. They kindly promised to put in a good word for me to the landlord, who was living abroad.

Part II: Nervousness mounts

Almost one week goes by without any news and I feel more and more anxious with each day. Other visits were either disappointing or were quickly taken. I didn’t have many days of Airbnb left and I really did not want to extend my expensive booking, so the roommates sent a reminder to their unresponsive landlord on my behalf.

As a backup plan, I had also started to look for subleases in Facebook groups but about half of the contacts seemed to be scams. One older lady messaged me to say that her studio is available for a few weeks. Desperate for reasonable housing even for just a few extra weeks, I gladly agreed to meet her for a visit the next day.

The studio was situated in the 15th arrondissement and was much nicer and cheaper than my Airbnb room, so I told her that I would take it for a few weeks (at the reasonable rate of 800€ per month). I offered my ID and she didn’t ask for any guarantor or paystub. Since my Airbnb stay was ending in a couple of days, my plan was to move into this studio and continue my housing search from there.

Part III: The good news

One day before my move-out day from the Airbnb room, the roommates finally got a positive update from the landlord! He literally wrote “Bonjour c’est ok pour moi” to my application. I finally learned that he is an affluent man living in Dubai with several properties in and around Paris and owns other businesses too, so that’s why he took so long to respond. Because of the long distance and his other priorities, he lets his renters handle most decisions. It all made sense now.

Ecstatic and relieved, I could not thank him enough for his hands-off vetting approach. A more traditional or local landlord would have almost certainly rejected me. The lease would start only the following month, so I ended up spending a couple weeks in the studio, which I ended up loving as well.

Conclusion

So in the end, I spent two weeks in an Airbnb room and three weeks in a subleased studio before moving into my awesome long term apartment with my current roommates. If there are lessons to the story, I would say they are the following:

• Prioritize housing right away because you don’t know how long it can take.
• Landlords in France are typically very strict about your dossier paperwork, so try to find flexible landlords or agencies (maybe foreign) with less traditional requirements.
• Facebook groups can be a good way to find lower-barrier subleases, but be very careful about scams; don’t send money to anyone before visiting in person.
• Consider surrounding suburbs of Paris, because competition is much higher within city limits. Area wise, Paris is much smaller than people tend to think (approx. 100 square km).

Even with luck, you may feel moments of panic or desperation. But keep your eyes open to the right opportunities and sooner or later you will find your home sweet home in France.