3 years in prison and €45,000 fine for falsified documents: here's how to strengthen your rental file while remaining within the rules

The difficulty in finding accommodation to rent is such, particularly in large cities, that some tenants use fraudulent documents to convince an owner to sign a lease. At the end of August, the advertisement portal SeLoger indicated that the supply of properties for rent had been divided by more than 2.5 since 2019, with declines of more than 50% in large cities like Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille... And if the observatory of the advertisement site Bien'ici indicated a small increase in the third quarter of 2026, of 2% over one year, the level of offers in absolute value remains very low.

Faced with this shortage, the temptation to produce false documents to increase your chances is therefore great. Especially since not all deceptions are discovered, in particular because “more than 60% of landlords manage the rental of their accommodation themselves and do not have verification tools”, points out Olivier Descamps, general director of IAD France. For its part, Imodirect, a specialist in rental management, estimates that in 2026, nearly one in four files in Paris and the inner suburbs would include at least one fraudulent document.

But tenants who decide to cheat are often unaware of the risks they run. Indeed, this type of action falls within the legal definition of forgery (article 441-1 of the Penal Code), that is to say the “fraudulent alteration” of the truth in a document intended to establish a right or a fact having legal consequences. Forgery and the use of forgery are punishable by three years' imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. So how do you get a place to rent without cheating?

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“I am surprised by the number of illegible documents sent to us”

First of all, it is necessary to highlight what constitutes the strengths of the file: a low but regular salary, with great seniority in a company, or sufficient income when smoothed over three years. Some also add a letter explaining their motivations to convince the owner to grant them the accommodation they want. You must also prepare your file very rigorously. “I am surprised by the number of illegible documents sent to us,” assures Paul Pereira, manager at Century 21 Pierrimo in Blanc-Mesnil.

The public and free “Easy File” platform can be useful for putting the various elements in order and ensuring that they are easily transferable. The administration checks that these are legible and authentic. Once validated, they receive an official watermark to prevent fraudulent reuse, including identity theft.

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Machine-translated from French