Anyone know french rental agency law

[Continentalmama]

Hi all, I'm hoping for some guidance as to whether what has happened here is just the way things work in France or if there is something we can do.

My husband is employed by a french company who rented a property on our behalf through a rental agency. Long story short we have since moved out and have been charged 600 euro from the deposit, which we fully refute. We received an email from his company stating these charges (and they are ridiculous) which we responded to immediately saying that we disagreed with them and what was the next step to resolving this and that they (his company who had rented it) did not have our permission to pay the 600 euro on our behalf. We got a reply saying too late they've paid it and essentially there is nothing we can do and they will deduct the amount from my husbands salary.

Obviously I'm very unhappy with this but I'm wondering if there is anything I can do or is this just how it works in France? Essentially the rental agency can just do what they want and the renter sucks it up?

Thank you for any guidance.

Bump!

What were the charges for? Did they do an Etat de Lieux when you moved in / moved out? I'm not an expert on the law, but UK seems very lax compared to continental rules on wear and tear - you are expected to leave the place exactly how you found it. Taps descaled, all lightbulbs working, picture holes refilled etc. There is normally a standard list of charges for e.g. repainting. I know people who have had to pay because there was moss in the lawn, and the hedge was higher. It can be quite ridiculous unfortunately. Last time I moved I bought a new oven as no way could I clean it to the required state of newness after 7 years.

Thanks for your reply, yep we did an état de lieux both on entry and exit. When we moved in it essentially stated that the house was not in a good shape (we deliberately chose a cheaper place to save max money for 2 years so we could buy). The charges are mostly cleaning things although we handed it back in a better shape, really ridiculous things like being charged for a chain on the kitchen sink plug because it wasn't documented there wasn't a chain to begin with. I think we are so angry because the landlord didn't fulfil promises of doing things during our stay but we let it go but to now have these ridiculous charges which we don't even agree with is very annoying. I also don't know how they can claim for them when the moving in sheet commented on the poor state of nearly every room, so how they can say that we handed it back worse i don't know. I think our main complaint though is with my husbands company who agree and paid the charges without any discussion and are now taking money from his salary. Can that be legal that a company can spend money on your behalf without your consent (and actually we specifically wrote for them not to)?

Thanks!

Do you have legal cover on your insurance? It’s fairly standard and usually they would deal with disputes like this.

It's really strange that they would take the money from the salary. In France all deposits have to go into a special holding account. It's meant to give both the owner and renter some security. Are you able to make a claim to the holding company?