You have decided to let your French apartment directly, without going through a platform. That is perfectly possible, but the contract stops being someone else's business: the French tourism code requires every seasonal letting offer and contract to be in writing, stating the price and including a description of the premises. And the choice between arrhes and acompte, often treated as a formality, determines what each party can do if the booking is cancelled. For an owner based outside France, these French law concepts deserve five minutes of attention before the first direct booking.
Why this matters mostly when you let directly
When a booking goes through Airbnb or Booking.com, the platform supplies the framework: cancellation conditions chosen from a list, payment collected by the platform, disputes arbitrated under its rules. You may never have seen a rental contract in your life.
When you let directly, none of that exists until you have written it. The guest sends you money months before setting foot in the property, and you block weeks of your calendar on their word alone. The contract is what protects both sides.
What the French texts say
Article L324-2 of the code du tourisme is short and unambiguous: every seasonal letting offer or contract must be in writing and state the asking price, together with a description of the premises. The written form is not a precaution for the cautious, it is a legal requirement, including between private individuals.
In practice the contract is signed in two copies, one for each party, and the description of the premises is given to the guest before the letting.
Seasonal letting itself is defined by its duration: a letting concluded for a maximum, non renewable period of 90 consecutive days. The official service-public guidance states the same limit on the guest side: the same client cannot total more than 90 consecutive days over the calendar year. Winter weeks fall comfortably within this frame.
What the contract should state
The official guidance lists what the contract must mention. As a minimum, include:
- the price of the stay and what it covers;
- the payment terms: the sum paid at booking, its nature (arrhes or acompte), the date the balance is due;
- any charges billed on top;
- the precise address of the property;
- arrival and departure dates and times;
- the landlord's status (professional or non professional furnished landlord);
- the description of the premises.
The description of the premises deserves a sentence of its own: it is the factual description of the property (rooms, sleeping arrangements, equipment, location) given to the guest before the letting. It fixes what was promised. A precise description protects you as much as it informs: a guest cannot hold against you the absence of something that was never advertised.
Arrhes or acompte: two opposite logics
Everything turns on one word, and the two regimes are symmetrical. There is no exact English equivalent for either, which is why the French term should appear in your contract.
Arrhes leave a way out, at a price. If the guest cancels, they forfeit the arrhes paid. If you cancel, you must return double the arrhes received: this rule comes from article 1590 of the French civil code, cited by the official guidance. Either side can walk away, but nobody walks away for free.
An acompte is a firm commitment. It is a first instalment on a binding contract. If the guest cancels, you can claim the full price of the stay, unless you manage to relet the dates. If you cancel, you must refund the guest and compensate their loss.
In both cases, force majeure is the exception: an unforeseeable and irresistible event that prevents the stay is not treated as a simple change of mind.
Which to choose for a ski resort apartment
There is no universal answer, there is a trade off. Arrhes give both sides flexibility, which makes sense for a booking placed ten months in advance. An acompte secures your most sought after weeks, the ones you are not certain to relet if they free up three weeks before the stay.
What is not a trade off is leaving the contract silent. If the document does not qualify the sum paid, you will discover its nature at the worst possible moment, that is, at the moment of disagreement. Write the word arrhes or the word acompte, in full, next to the amount.
And if your property is under a management mandate
When management is entrusted to an agency holding the French professional licence for property management (the carte G), the agency contracts the stays and collects the funds, within the loi Hoguet framework: written mandate, funds held on a dedicated account, financial guarantee. This article covers the case where you let on your own, and where these protections rest entirely on the document you write.
Frequently asked questions
Is an email exchange enough as a written contract? The text requires the written form without specifying the medium. In practice, a contract signed in two copies, with the description of the premises attached, remains the only formula that leaves no room for debate about what was agreed. A scattered email thread protects poorly, in both directions.
What percentage should be asked at booking? No text cited by the official guidance sets a percentage. The decisive point is not the amount, it is the qualification: arrhes or acompte, written in the contract.
Can I let to the same guest for more than 90 days in a row? Not within seasonal letting: it is defined by a maximum, non renewable period of 90 consecutive days, and the same client cannot exceed 90 consecutive days over the calendar year. Beyond that, you change letting regime, with different rules.
What happens in case of force majeure? The official guidance reserves this case: when a force majeure event prevents the stay, the rules on forfeiting arrhes or paying the full price do not apply as they stand. The qualification is assessed case by case.
Is the description of the premises really compulsory? Yes: article L324-2 of the code du tourisme states it expressly, on the same footing as the price. It is also a concrete protection in the event of a dispute about the condition or equipment of the property.
Sources
- « Location de vacances entre particuliers (meublé de tourisme) », guidance sheet F2045, service-public.fr, sheet verified on 20 August 2026, consulted on 24 September 2026.
- « Location immobilière saisonnière », DGCCRF practical guidance, economie.gouv.fr, consulted on 24 September 2026.
- « Location saisonnière : les règles à connaître », DGCCRF practical guidance, economie.gouv.fr, consulted on 24 September 2026.
- Article L324-2 of the code du tourisme and article 1590 of the French civil code, as cited by the guidance above.
This article is general information, current as at 24 September 2026. It is not personalised legal advice: for your own situation, please consult your adviser.