Housing Process and Regulations

Housing process

The University’s housing office offers housing assistance to incoming and returning graduate students and returning undergraduate, full-time degree-seeking students. Finding the right place in Paris can be a challenge, so we can help you find housing in Paris that fits your budget and tastes. We'll accompany you through the process or you can also peruse the housing database to find a new place.

To ensure their safety and to govern the interaction with landlords and the University, students that are housed through The American University of Paris are required to abide by a simple set of housing regulations.

Housing Regulations

By agreeing to be housed through AUP, all students attest to have read and understood the following information. Failure to follow these regulations relieves the housing office from all responsibility concerning the students’ rental, including intervening on their behalf in a housing-related dispute, and prevents them from using the housing office’s services in the future.

Before you are housed

Students housed through the housing office make a commitment to the landlord for a minimum of one semester. Your rental agreement will be automatically renewed at the end of each semester unless you notify your landlord in writing one month prior to the agreement’s end date. When you decide to leave, your departure must coincide with the end of a semester or summer session (at the end of the final exams). The last month’s rent is due in its entirety.

Security deposits (equivalent to one or two month's rent) and the first month's rent must be paid the day you move in. Students should always request a receipt. Students with pets must provide two months of security deposit to their landlord. Unfortunately, few landlords will accept to rent to students with pets so properties available to them may be limited.

Please note: we do not allow students to reserve an apartment prior to visiting it. We require students to meet with us in order to organize apartment visits, therefore we wouldn’t be able to schedule a visit by email.

During the rental period

Students are responsible for paying their rent at the first of every month, directly to the landlord, in cash, unless otherwise specified. Students should always request a receipt.

French law requires that all renters have housing insurance. All students housed by the housing office must sign-up for AUP’s housing insurance policy and their student account will be billed accordingly. The normal rate for a 1-room apartment is €40 per semester. Please see the housing office for prices on larger apartments and for information on filing insurance claims.

Students are responsible for maintaining their apartment in the state in which they received it, and they should fill out and sign an état des lieux, or walkthrough form, with their landlord when they move in. If any problems arise, they must contact the AUP housing office and their landlord immediately.

If a student has outstanding housing-related debts, such as an unpaid electricity bill, unpaid rent, or unpaid damages to an apartment, that either (a) have not been settled ten days after notification via email or (b) exceed 1,000€, a hold will be placed on the student’s account preventing retrieval of grade reports, transcripts, and diplomas until the debt has been settled and the housing office has received confirmation from the landlord.

Students should note that regardless of their AUP Privacy Policy settings, the housing office will provide their personal email address and mobile telephone number—as well as a confirmation on whether or not the student is continuing at AUP the following semester—to the student’s current landlord upon request.

The University's standard of conduct applies to all students who use the housing office's services. Failure to abide by the standard of conduct or any violations of the housing regulations may result in disciplinary action.

Upon departure

If moving at the end of a semester, students must give the landlord one month's written notice, sent by registered mail, the so called lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception. The housing office provides a moving-out checklist as well as a move-out letter template that you can use to notify your landlord. Landlords may also terminate a rental agreement at the end of a semester by giving the student one month’s notice. The housing office is unable to assist students in recovering their deposit if this procedure has not been followed.

Security deposits are used to cover outstanding bills and damages and may never legally serve as the last month's rent. The landlord has up to two months after your departure to assess any damages that need to be fixed before they are required to return your deposit.

Housing obtained through the University may be "passed on" to other AUP students but only after written notification is sent to the housing office via email. Housing obtained through the University may never be “passed on” to individuals who are not current AUP students.

After giving the landlord notice of departure, students are responsible for showing their housing, in a timely manner, to other AUP students who contact them through the housing office.

These simple regulations help protect you from any difficulties with your landlord and will ensure an enjoyable and positive stay in housing organized by the University. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to be in touch with us.