Student accommodation deposit: what you need to know

What are the solutions if you have not found a guarantor for the deposit for your student accommodation? Why is a security deposit required? All the answers to your questions about the student accommodation deposit.

 

Student accommodation deposit: what you need to know

 

The deposit is an important element of student accommodation. It is very rare that a landlord accepts a student rental without a deposit. He is aware that a student does not always have a lot of resources and does not present many guarantees. If you haven't yet found a guarantor for your bail, there are solutions.

 

What is the deposit for accommodation?

 

The term of bail, in the field of housing, is often confusing. It is often used to designate sometimes the security deposit (the sum that is lent to the lessor at the start of the rental and which will be returned at the end), sometimes the guarantor (the person or organization that undertakes to settle unpaid debts). Either way, this is a mistake. The surety refers more specifically to the contract where one person agrees to reimburse what another would be unable to pay.

 

 

What is the deposit for an accommodation used for?

 

 

Even if it is not strictly speaking compulsory, the deposit is an essential practice in the field of housing. It guarantees the owner or lessor of a home to receive the amount of the rent each month. And this guarantee allows the person looking to obtain housing. There is no longer any rental accommodation without a deposit.

 

Who can provide the deposit for your student accommodation?

 

Anyone around you can stand surety for your student accommodation. The guarantor can be a relative or a family member. It can also be an organization such as Studapart or Action Logement.

 

Studapart offers you the Studapart Guarantee which makes your apartment search easier. Thanks to this guarantee, you can choose your accommodation on the Studapart site. At each of your requests, the lessor will be informed that you are under the Studapart guarantee, which is a reassuring point. You can then get in touch with him, make an appointment for a visit and quickly conclude your rental. With Studapart, the landlord can be assured of receiving their rents throughout the rental, even if you encounter payment problems.

 

Action Logement is an organization dedicated to housing. It offers the Visale guarantee. This is a "visa for accommodation" which provides you with a reliable deposit recognized by the majority of rental owners. This Visale guarantee is open to students looking for accommodation. More generally, Action Logement is aimed at tenants under the age of thirty (but also pre-retirees from the private sector).

 

 

How to calculate the amount of the deposit?

 

When a guarantor commits to the deposit for your accommodation, he gives the owner-lessor a deed of deposit, or surety bond, in which he indicates his commitment to settle the tenant's defaults if they should occur during the rental. A guarantee amount and a guarantee period must be specified. By default, the deposit lasts for the duration of the rental. When the lease is renewed, a new surety contract must be given to the lessor. Important note: if no date is indicated on the guarantee contract, the guarantor implicitly undertakes to guarantee the tenant until the latter leaves the accommodation.

 

The guaranteed amount is the maximum amount that the guarantor agrees to repay if the tenant was no longer able to pay. This amount is freely fixed after negotiation between the guarantor and the lessor. If this amount is not specified on the surety bond, the guarantor implicitly commits for an unlimited amount.

 

The duration of the deposit and the guaranteed amount are elements that are very quickly settled when you go through an organization such as Studapart or Action Logement. If your guarantor is a natural person, he must provide the lessor with guarantees of his financial capacity. He is often asked for his last three payslips or a tax notice. By convention, the lessor ensures that the income of the guarantor corresponds to the amount of the rent multiplied by three.

 

How to calculate the security deposit?

 

The security deposit is an amount that the tenant of a home gives to the landlord when signing the lease (rental agreement). This sum allows the landlord to maintain financial security in the event of deterioration of the accommodation during the tenant's occupation, or even in the event of unpaid rent.

 

If at the end of the rental, none of the items specified in the inventory is recognized as damaged by the lessor, the security deposit is returned in full to the lessee. Otherwise, the amount or part of the amount is kept by the lessor so that he can carry out repairs. The lessor cannot withhold the money unless the damage affects an item that is not specified in the inventory.

 

The amount of the security deposit is regulated by law. It is capped at the equivalent of one month's rent excluding charges in the case of unfurnished accommodation. If it is a furnished rental, the amount can go up to two months rent excluding charge. The furniture loaned by the lessor has in fact an additional value to the accommodation, hence the higher guarantee amount.

 

Please note, the amount of the security deposit must be clearly written on the rental agreement. Although it is often the amount of a rent or two, it is not the default amount.

 

When to pay the security deposit?

 

The security deposit is paid at the time of signing the lease. It is the tenant who gives the sum to the landlord in a form agreed between the two parties (check, transfer, cash ...). The sum can also be paid by the guarantor of the deposit or a dedicated organization.

 

Action Logement allows the tenant to finance the security deposit. His Visale guarantee allows him to advance a sum (up to € 1,200). The tenant can also apply to the FSL, housing solidarity fund, to obtain a security deposit, if it meets the award criteria. It is up to the tenant to ensure that he owns the amount to be paid. The lessor does not have to take any action.

 

If the security deposit is paid in cash, the tenant must request a receipt from the landlord, in order to have proof of payment. If payment is made by check, the landlord owner can cash it upon receipt. He is even advised to do this because a check is only valid for one year. Of course, the lessor is aware that this is an amount that he will have to return at the end of the rental.

 

 

When can we get the security deposit back?

 

On the very last day of the rental, the tenant and the lessor-owner carry out a check-out inventory of the accommodation. It is a matter of finding by mutual agreement the state of the various elements that were specified on the entry inventory.

 

If this inventory does not find any degradation, the lessor must immediately return the amount of the security deposit to the lessee. If some elements are degraded, the lessor and the lessee define the amount taken from the security deposit that the lessor can keep in order to carry out the repairs. The lessor may also not return all or part of the security deposit if the lessee is not up to date in his payments. It may also happen that the lessor keeps 20% of the amount and that at the time of the inventory he does not yet have the rental charges statement.

 

In the case of a roommate, the amount of the security deposit is divided by the number of roommates. But if one of the roommates has to leave the accommodation before the end of the lease, the landlord is not obliged to immediately return his share of the security deposit. He can wait for the effective end of the entire joint tenancy, that is to say when the last roommate leaves the accommodation (however, nothing prevents stipulating an agreement in the rental contract which allows a roommate to receive its amount upon departure).