Furnished or unfurnished letting: lease, taxation, duration

Letting a property unfurnished or furnished does not involve the same lease, the same duration or the same taxation. The choice has concrete consequences for your rents, your tax bill, the stability of your tenants and your obligations. This guide compares the two options point by point to help you decide with full knowledge of the facts.

Unfurnished and furnished lettings: two different leases

An unfurnished (bare) letting rents out a property without furniture: the tenant furnishes it entirely themselves. A furnished letting provides a property equipped with the furniture needed for normal occupation, the minimum list of which is set by décret n° 2015-981: bedding, a hob, a fridge, crockery, a table, seating, storage, lighting and cleaning equipment.

Both fall under loi n° 89-462 of 6 July 1989, but the furnished lease is governed by a separate section, with its own durations and rules. A property let as a main residence cannot be stripped of its furniture during the tenancy in order to circumvent these rules.

Lease duration and notice period

This is the most visible difference: the furnished lease is shorter and more flexible, while the unfurnished lease offers greater stability.

• Unfurnished lease: minimum duration of 3 years (landlord who is an individual) or 6 years (landlord that is a legal entity), renewed automatically by tacit agreement.
• Furnished lease: duration of one year, reduced to 9 months for a student (with no automatic renewal in that case).
• Tenant's notice period: 3 months for an unfurnished letting (1 month in a high-demand area or with a legitimate reason), 1 month for a furnished letting regardless of the reason.
• Landlord's notice period (notice to sell, to repossess or on legitimate grounds): 6 months before the term for an unfurnished letting, 3 months for a furnished one.

Security deposit and service charges

The maximum security deposit also differs: it is capped at one month's rent excluding service charges for an unfurnished letting, and at two months' rent excluding service charges for a furnished letting. The time limit for returning it is the same: one month with no deductions, two months if any sums are withheld, failing which a penalty of 10% of the monthly rent applies for each month of delay.

Recoverable service charges (those that can be passed on to the tenant, listed in décret n° 87-713) may be charged on an actual-cost basis with an annual reconciliation, or, in furnished lettings only, as a fixed, non-reconcilable service-charge flat fee.

Taxation: property income or BIC

This is often the deciding argument. Rents from an unfurnished letting are taxed under the property income (revenus fonciers) category; those from a furnished letting fall under industrial and commercial profits (BIC), under the non-professional furnished lessor (LMNP) status.

• Unfurnished letting: micro-foncier (a flat-rate allowance of 30% if annual rents do not exceed €15,000) or the régime réel (the actual-expenses regime, deducting expenses and loan interest, with any property deficit — déficit foncier — offsettable against overall income up to €10,700 per year).
• Furnished letting: micro-BIC (a 50% allowance for a standard furnished letting, up to €77,700 of receipts) or the régime réel BIC, which in addition allows you to depreciate the property and the furniture — the taxable result is often very low, if not nil.

Depreciation under the régime réel BIC is the main optimisation lever of furnished letting. In return, the accounting is heavier and, since the 2025 Finance Act, the depreciation deducted is added back into the calculation of the capital gain on resale.

Furnished or unfurnished: which to choose?

There is no universal answer; the right choice depends on your property, your market and your objectives.

• Favour furnished letting for a studio or small property in a student area or one with high turnover: higher rent per square metre, lease flexibility and advantageous BIC taxation.
• Favour unfurnished letting for a family home looking for stable tenants: less turnover, lighter management, and a useful property deficit (déficit foncier) if you are financing works.

In every case, first check that the property is fit to let (its EPC/DPE energy rating) and that the rent complies with any rent controls in your municipality.