Skip to content

French rent receipt (quittance de loyer) and partial-payment receipt

A landlord must provide a rent receipt (quittance) free of charge to a tenant who asks for one, showing rent and service charges separately. No fee may be charged for it. Two points change everything: where payment is PARTIAL, the landlord must issue a simple receipt (reçu) and not a quittance; and since 11 April 2024, refusing to issue either is a criminal offence punishable by one year's imprisonment and a €20,000 fine.

Up to date for 2026 — verified on September 6, 2026ActioFin templateGuide: about 5 min

This content is part of the path: Reporting my rental income· Step 5 of 8· Next step: Form 2044 — rental income, real regime

Deadlines

On the tenant's request
The duty arises from the request. It is free, and no fee relating to the management of the payment notice or the quittance may be charged.
Annual reconciliation of service charges
The quittance shows PROVISIONS. The breakdown by type of charge is sent to the tenant one month before the reconciliation, and the supporting documents remain available to them for six months.

Documents to prepare

  • Rent and service-charge provisions, as separate amounts
  • Identity of landlord and tenant, address of the dwelling
  • Tenant's express consent for electronic delivery
  • For a partial payment: issue a receipt, not a quittance
See the procedure on the official site

No form is attached to this procedure: the link leads to the official page that describes it.

What you get

  • The document as a PDF, ready to print and sign.
  • The same document in Word (.docx), so you can edit it before signing.

Free, no account and no email address.

The generated document is written in French — the language the receiving French authority expects. This page is in English; the document itself is not translated.

Generate your document

Free. The document is generated on demand: your entries are not recorded in any of our databases and are only used to produce it. They travel in the request body, never in the page address.

All fields are required unless marked “optional”.

Quittance or receipt

Rent and charges paid in full: quittance. Partial payment: receipt — a quittance would certify a balance that has not been settled.

Why we ask this

It sets the title and the wording of the document: a quittance certifies full payment, a receipt records a partial payment without extinguishing the debt. Mixing them up means certifying yourself a balance that was never paid.

Landlord, tenant and dwelling

The owner (person or company) or their agent (letting agency).

Why we ask this

You are the one issuing the document: your name opens the receipt and your signature binds you towards the tenant.

Why we ask this

It identifies the landlord for any body the tenant will show the receipt to (proof of address, housing benefit).

Why we ask this

The receipt is nominative: it certifies that THIS tenant paid. A missing or wrong name makes it useless as evidence.

Why we ask this

The receipt relates to one specific dwelling: this is the address the tenant will rely on as their home.

Period and amounts
Period — from
Why we ask this

A receipt covers a defined period: this field opens the period whose rent and charges are settled.

For example: 27 3 1990

Period — to
Why we ask this

It closes the covered period. Anything paid outside these two dates is not certified by this document.

For example: 27 3 1990

The rent excluding charges for the period, as set by the lease.

Digits, then a comma and 2 cents (for example 1250,00); no space and no € sign

Why we ask this

French law requires rent to be shown separately from charges on the receipt: this amount goes on its own line, never merged into a total.

The service-charge provisions called with the rent, shown separately: the only wording the law requires.

Digits, then a comma and 2 cents (for example 1250,00); no space and no € sign

Why we ask this

Reported separately from rent, as article 21 of the 1989 Act requires. These are provisions: the yearly reconciliation comes separately.

What you actually collected for this period. For a quittance, rent plus charges; for a receipt, the partial amount.

Digits, then a comma and 2 cents (for example 1250,00); no space and no € sign

Why we ask this

This is the amount the document certifies as received. It is written in the main sentence of the document, exactly as you enter it.

Date of payment

Date the payment was received (transfer credited, cheque handed over).

Why we ask this

It places the collection in time: the document records the payment as of that date.

For example: 27 3 1990

Place and date of signature
Why we ask this

The place of signature closes the document, the expected form of a writing handed to a third party.

On (date)
Why we ask this

It dates the issuing of the receipt, distinct from the date of the payment it records.

For example: 27 3 1990

A draft is a file you save wherever you like, just like the document itself: we keep no copy of it and nothing is left in your browser. When signed in, you can also save it to your space to pick it up later — only if you ask.

Document preview, updated as you type

QUITTANCE DE LOYER

Je soussigné(e) …, bailleur, demeurant …, déclare avoir reçu de …, locataire du logement situé …, la somme de … au titre du loyer et des charges pour la période du … au …, payée le ….

Détail des sommes versées

Loyer…

Provisions pour charges…

Total reçu…

La présente quittance atteste le paiement intégral du loyer et des charges de la période indiquée. Elle est délivrée gratuitement.

Fait pour servir et valoir ce que de droit.

Fait à …, le …

Signature

Document drafted by ActioFin; it carries no legal standing before the tax authorities. Read it through and adapt it to your situation before signing.

This document is signed by hand, after printing: we do not offer electronic signature. Only a qualified electronic signature, issued by a certified provider, carries the same weight as a handwritten one (eIDAS regulation). A mere click would not — and letting you believe otherwise would expose you the day a body challenges it.

Who this applies to

  • Every landlord of a dwelling covered by the Act of 6 July 1989, and their agent — letting agency or property manager.
  • The tenant, who must ask for it: in the private sector the quittance is not owed spontaneously.
  • Social landlords, for whom the regime differs: the quittance is monthly and must expressly state the solidarity rent reduction.

Worked example

Example: Karine pays only €600 of an €850 rent

Karine rents a flat at €700 of rent plus €150 of service-charge provisions. After a hard month she pays only €600. Her landlord must not issue a quittance: a quittance certifies FULL payment of rent and charges, and issuing one would mean signing an attestation for a balance that has not been paid. He issues a €600 receipt, which records the payment without extinguishing the debt. The next month Karine pays in full and asks for a quittance: then the landlord owes her one, free of charge.

How to fill it in, step by step

  1. First check whether payment is in full: if so, a quittance; if not, a receipt. The two documents do not say the same thing.
  2. State the detail of the sums paid, distinguishing rent from service charges — the only item the Act requires.
  3. Charge nothing: neither for the quittance nor for managing the payment notice.
  4. To send it electronically, obtain the tenant's express agreement: silence is not agreement, and the landlord cannot impose the format.
  5. Keep it consistent with the annual reconciliation: what the quittance shows is a provision, not a final charge.

The form, line by line

Rent / charges breakdown
The only item actually required by article 21. Period, payment date and signature come from practice and published templates, not from a statutory list — do not present them as compulsory.
Partial payment
The landlord must issue a RECEIPT. A receipt records a payment; a quittance certifies payment in full and extinguishes that month's debt.
Electronic transmission
Possible with the tenant's express agreement, and only that way round: it is their agreement that is required.
Social housing
Monthly quittance, and express mention of the solidarity rent reduction where it applies.

Good to know

  • As proof of address for an identity card or a passport, only a quittance « from a social body or a letting agency », less than a year old, is accepted. One issued by a private landlord does not qualify — although it is perfectly acceptable in a rental application.
  • In a rental application, quittances belong to a CLOSED list of documents that may be required. Asking for anything outside that list is penalised.
  • A quittance evidences neither the right to occupy nor the existence of a compliant lease: that is precisely why the Act penalises, in the same breath, refusing a compliant lease and refusing a quittance.
  • For housing benefit it is not the quittance that is required but a rent certificate, a separate document completed by the landlord.
  • There is no CERFA number for a rent receipt, and article 21 imposes no formal requirements.

Common mistakes

  • Issuing a quittance for a partial payment: the landlord then certifies a full payment that did not take place.
  • Charging for the quittance or for managing the payment notice: the Act expressly forbids it.
  • Emailing quittances without having obtained the tenant's express agreement.
  • Believing the quittance settles the service charges: it shows provisions, the accounting truth coming from the annual reconciliation.
  • Presenting the period and payment date as legally compulsory items: the Act requires only the rent/charges breakdown.

Frequently asked questions

Must the landlord provide the quittance unprompted?

In the private sector, no: article 21 covers the tenant « who asks for it ». In social housing, by contrast, the quittance is monthly.

What does a landlord risk by refusing?

Since 11 April 2024, refusing to draw up a compliant contract and to issue a receipt or a quittance, or concealing those duties, is punishable by one year's imprisonment and a €20,000 fine. It is a criminal offence, not a mere civil irregularity — and it is very recent.

Can a fee be charged for producing the quittance?

No. Transmission is free, and no fee relating to the management of the payment notice or the quittance may be charged to the tenant.

Quittance or receipt?

A quittance where rent and charges are paid in full; a receipt where payment is partial. The distinction is in the text, and it protects both parties.

Does a quittance work as proof of address?

Not always. For an identity card or passport, only a quittance from a social body or a letting agency, less than a year old, is accepted. One from a private landlord is not, although it is accepted in a rental application.

Go further

Compute the related amounts

Understand this form: the related course

Related forms

Official sources

Read in French

Guide and document provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute personalised legal or tax advice. Check the recipient organisation's requirements and consult a professional if needed.