France: templates and forms

A service agreement between two businesses in France, for an assignment of fixed or open-ended length: services, best-efforts or result obligation, price before VAT and invoicing rhythm, payment term within the sixty-day limit, late-payment penalties and the €40 indemnity of article L. 441-10 of the French Commercial Code, confidentiality, right to use the deliverables without assignment of copyright, termination on notice or for breach, French law. Signed in two originals. In French.

For a landlord in France whose tenant owes rent or charges. The French letter lists the months owed and the total, sets a payment date, offers a payment plan and the free help available (ADIL, CAF, the housing solidarity fund), then states the next step: a formal demand for payment served by a commissaire de justice, then the lease's termination clause, six weeks after an unanswered demand, or two months where a lease signed before July 2023 says so. A first friendly reminder or a formal demand, as you choose. A copy can go to the guarantor.

For the landlord and tenant of a furnished home let as the tenant's main residence in France. The model contract, compulsory since 1 October 2026, is published free on Légifrance; this French lease follows its headings: one year renewed tacitly, or nine months not renewed for a student, one month's notice for the tenant, a deposit of at most two months, service charges as advances or a flat sum, the minimum furniture of décret n° 2015-981, the termination clause and an optional rent-control section. In French, printed and signed by each party.

For giving an assignment to a registered independent in France (micro-entrepreneur, sole trader or one-person company) without the relationship looking like salaried employment: assignment and deliverables, freedom over organisation, hours, place and other clients, no relationship of subordination, price and invoicing, payment term and late-payment penalties, registration documents and the URSSAF vigilance certificate, right to use the deliverables, termination. Signed in two originals. In French.

For the landlord and tenant of an unfurnished home let as the tenant's main residence in France. The model contract, compulsory since 1 October 2026 (décret n° 2026-596), is published free on Légifrance; this French lease follows its headings, ready to fill in: a term of three or six years depending on the landlord, rent, yearly review by the IRL index, service charges, a one-month deposit, the termination clause that applies six weeks after an unanswered formal demand to pay, and an optional section for rent control. In French, printed in one original per party and signed by each.

The French labour ministry's site code.travail.gouv.fr offers a free model resignation letter. This document is a resignation letter for an employee on an open-ended contract (CDI) in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte: it gives notice of resignation, refers to the notice period set by the collective agreement, the contract or custom, can ask to be released from working it, and asks for the end-of-employment documents. French law prescribes no form; send it by registered post with proof of receipt or hand it over against a signed receipt, to prove the day the notice starts. In French.

A letter for a former employee in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte who wants to denounce the final-settlement receipt (reçu pour solde de tout compte) signed at the end of the contract. Sent within six months of signing, it stops the receipt from discharging the employer from the amounts listed in it (article L. 1234-20 of the Labour Code), and can name the amounts disputed. The withdrawal goes by registered post (article D. 1234-8 of the Labour Code) and the six months run from signing: use proof of receipt and send it early enough to arrive in time. In French.