Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. The trêve hivernale is governed by article L. 412-6 of the Code des procédures civiles d’exécution and surrounding case law; rules and dates can be modified by special legislation in extraordinary circumstances (as happened during COVID-19). Always consult a qualified French notaire, avocat, or chartered accountant before acting on anything you read here. The English Investor accepts no liability for decisions taken on the basis of this article.
The single most disorienting thing about French eviction law for a British landlord is the trêve hivernale. You can have a watertight case, a clean jugement, an enforced commandement de quitter les lieux, and a tenant who has been six months in arrears — and from 1 November to 31 March every year, the law simply will not let you remove them. The trêve was introduced in 1956 as a humanitarian measure and its current 1 November to 31 March window was set by the loi Alur of 24 March 2014. This piece walks through what it actually does, who is covered, who isn’t, and how British landlords can plan around it. If you haven’t yet read the broader procedural picture, our pillar guide on evicting a French tenant sets out the full timeline from first missed payment to commissaire de justice — the trêve sits inside that timeline.
What the trêve actually is
The trêve hivernale is a five-month annual suspension of the physical execution of evictions for residential premises. It is codified in article L. 412-6 of the Code des procédures civiles d’exécution. It applies automatically — no court order is needed, no application is required. From 1 November to 31 March (inclusive) of the following year, no commissaire de justice, accompanied by no police force, can lawfully remove a tenant from their résidence principale.
The historical origin matters because it shapes the modern interpretation. The trêve was created by the loi n° 56-1223 of 3 December 1956 after vigorous parliamentary debate, framed explicitly as a “mesure d’humanité“. The current dates were set by the loi Alur of 24 March 2014, which extended the end-date from 15 March to 31 March, adding 15 days of protection. As info.gouv.fr — the French Prime Minister’s official news portal — sets out, the same window applies every year unless special legislation modifies it (as happened during COVID-19).
One subtlety the courts repeatedly stress: the trêve only protects occupants de bonne foi. That is the conceptual lever the legislator uses to exclude squatters as a class — they entered without title or permission, so they have no claim to the humanitarian protection.
What the trêve does NOT suspend
This is the part that confuses most British landlords. The trêve hivernale suspends the physical execution of the eviction — the day the bailiff actually opens the door. It does not suspend:
- The signification of the commandement de quitter les lieux. The bailiff can deliver it on 15 December.
- The right of the landlord to seize the juge des contentieux de la protection — including in référé (urgent) — to obtain a jugement, an indemnité d’occupation, and damages.
- The accumulation of unpaid rent, which the tenant continues to owe day by day.
In practice this means a landlord whose tenant stops paying in October can serve commandements, run through the court hearing, win the jugement, and even get the commandement de quitter les lieux signified during the winter — but the actual physical removal will not happen before 1 April.
The exceptions to the trêve
Article L. 412-6 CPCE itself, together with article L. 412-7 and adjacent code provisions, sets out the situations where the trêve does not apply. These exceptions are tightly construed by the courts, but they exist and can be decisive.
Exception 1: Squatters and other occupants entered par voie de fait. Article L. 412-6, alinéa 2, excludes occupants who entered the premises by an act of force or fraud — the classic squatter case. The Conseil d’État confirmed in CE 29 mars 2002, JCP 2002. II. 10179 that the legitimate possessor of premises occupied par voie de fait can obtain their release during the winter period. As Service-Public.fr — the French government’s official public-information portal — sets out, this applies whether the squatted property is the owner’s principal or secondary residence. See our dedicated squatters guide for the full mechanism.
Exception 2: Student housing where the student has lost eligibility. Article L. 412-7 CPCE excludes occupants of student accommodation (typically CROUS-managed) who have ceased to satisfy the conditions under which the housing was granted to them — typically because they have failed exams or are no longer enrolled.
Exception 3: Properties under an arrêté de péril. Where the building has been declared dangerous by the mayor or préfet, the safety of the occupants themselves justifies removal — winter or not.
Exception 4: Tenants whose relogement is already assured. If the occupants will be moved into satisfactory alternative accommodation that respects family unity and needs, the trêve does not apply. Service-Public is precise on the standard: the alternative housing must have a number of rooms that matches the number of occupants. There is no humanitarian reason to delay if rehousing is genuinely lined up.
Exception 5: Eviction ordered by the juge aux affaires familiales. Where the JAF has issued an ordonnance de protection against a violent partner or has, in a divorce, attributed the matrimonial home to one spouse and ordered the other’s expulsion, the eviction can be enforced even during the winter period. This exception sits outside L. 412-6 — it flows from the JAF’s order itself, which Service-Public expressly identifies as overriding the trêve.
How the trêve is invoked (and when the judge gets involved)
The default is automatic. The tenant doesn’t have to apply for the trêve; the commissaire de justice and the préfet simply can’t enforce against a residential occupant during the winter period. There is no form to fill in.
The judge becomes involved only in the reverse case — when the landlord wants to invoke an exception and proceed during the winter. The competent judge is the juge de l’exécution of the place where the property is located, under article R. 412-4 CPCE. The landlord’s burden is to prove the exception: that the occupants entered par voie de fait, that the property is under arrêté de péril, that relogement is assured, or that a JAF order is in place.
The penalty for going around the trêve without a proper exception is severe. A landlord who organises a self-help eviction during the winter period (or otherwise breaches the suspension) faces criminal sanctions of up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of €30,000, as info.gouv.fr makes explicit.
The L. 412-2 hardship extension: a separate mechanism
It is worth being precise here, because the trêve hivernale and the hardship extension of article L. 412-2 CPCE are often confused. They are two different protections layered on the same eviction file:
- The trêve hivernale (L. 412-6) is automatic, applies to a class, and runs from 1 November to 31 March every year. Squatters and other par-voie-de-fait occupants are excluded — they are not de bonne foi and the legislator considered them undeserving of the mass humanitarian protection.
- The L. 412-2 hardship extension is discretionary, judge-granted, and assessed case by case. The juge de l’exécution can grant an additional delay of up to three months on top of the normal two-month delay where the eviction would have conséquences d’une exceptionnelle dureté — in particular “du fait de la période de l’année considérée ou des circonstances atmosphériques“.
Counter-intuitively, the L. 412-2 hardship extension is most often invoked precisely by the categories who are excluded from the trêve hivernale — squatters and occupants of buildings under arrêté de péril. They are denied the automatic mass protection of L. 412-6, so they fall back on this case-by-case judicial review for whatever extra time they can persuade a judge to grant. The two mechanisms don’t conflict; they sit at different levels of the same protective architecture.
The energy and water angle
Beyond eviction itself, the trêve hivernale also imposes a parallel ban on energy and water cut-offs for non-payment in the principal residence. Suppliers cannot disconnect electricity, gas or heating during the trêve, even where the bill has been unpaid for months. The rule is codified at article L. 115-3 of the Code de l’action sociale et des familles, in the version currently in force since August 2022.
For a landlord, this is mostly a tenant-protection rule that doesn’t directly touch the eviction file. But it matters indirectly: a tenant who spends the winter without facing utility cut-offs is less likely to seek alternative housing and more likely to remain in place until 1 April.
A note for landlords with property in the DOM
If you own property in the French départements d’outre-mer — Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion, Mayotte — there is a parallel trêve cyclonique that may apply on top of (or instead of) the metropolitan winter window. Service-Public.fr flags that the dates vary by département, so check with the relevant préfecture before planning any enforcement action in the southern hemisphere summer months.
What this means for British landlords in practice
Time your commandement de payer. The single biggest practical implication of the trêve is that the timing of when your tenant first defaults — and when you trigger the procedure in response — matters enormously. A tenant who stops paying in October will likely sit through the winter with full procedural protection, and you will not see physical removal until April or May the following year. A tenant who stops paying in February gives you a real chance to complete the procedure before the next 1 November.
Don’t panic if the tenant stops paying in October. The five-month wait is annoying but predictable. Keep the procedural clock running through the winter — get your jugement, get the commandement de quitter les lieux signified, get the indemnité d’occupation fixed. By 1 April you’ll be in execution position. The worst thing you can do is pause the procedure for the winter; that gives the tenant another tranche of time and pushes the eviction toward the next 1 November.
Treat any long-term Airbnb guest with caution. The trêve is codified for locaux d’habitation, and short-term tourist accommodation typically doesn’t qualify. But where the same guest has been in place for many months and the property has effectively become their primary residence, a court can requalify the contract as a residential lease. If you have a meublé de tourisme guest who has overstayed their welcome, take legal advice before assuming the trêve doesn’t bind you. Our guide to short-let regulation in France covers the wider compliance picture.
Commercial leases are not covered. The trêve only applies to locaux d’habitation. A defaulting tenant in a commercial lease or a local professionnel can in principle be evicted year-round. The wider French commercial-lease framework (the 3-6-9 statutory regime, renewal rights, indemnité d’éviction) is a separate animal and brings its own delays — but the trêve itself is not one of them.
Plan your tax year accordingly. A tenant who occupies free for five months during the trêve is a tenant who generates zero rental income but ongoing French ownership taxes (IFI, taxe foncière, copropriété charges). The procedure also creates a paper trail you can use for a déduction des loyers irrécouvrables on your French tax return — the French tax provision that lets you deduct rent you cannot recover from your taxable rental income, so you don’t pay tax on rent you never received. It requires evidence that recovery was genuinely attempted (the bailiff and court file you’ll have built up during the procedure does that job). For the broader French tax calendar that this collides with, our French tax deadlines 2026 guide is the reference.
Frequently asked questions
What are the dates of the trêve hivernale 2025-2026?
From 1 November 2025 to 31 March 2026 (inclusive). Article L. 412-6 CPCE codifies the same range every year unless modified by special legislation. Eviction enforcement resumes on 1 April.
Can I evict a tenant during the trêve hivernale?
Not for residential premises with a regular tenant. The trêve only excludes squatters who entered par voie de fait, occupants of student housing who have lost eligibility, properties under arrêté de péril, tenants whose relogement is already assured, and cases where the juge aux affaires familiales has ordered the eviction (typically a domestic-violence ordonnance de protection or a divorce attribution order).
Does the trêve hivernale apply to commercial premises?
No. Article L. 412-6 CPCE applies only to locaux d’habitation. Commercial leases and professional premises remain subject to year-round eviction enforcement, though they are governed by a separate statutory regime with its own delays.
Does the trêve hivernale stop the procedural clock?
No. The trêve only suspends the physical execution of the eviction. You can still seize the juge des contentieux de la protection during the winter — including in référé — to obtain or enforce a jugement. Use the time to keep the procedural clock running so you’re in execution position on 1 April.
What if the tenant entered the property unlawfully?
Squatters and other occupants who entered par voie de fait are excluded from the trêve hivernale by article L. 412-6, alinéa 2. The Conseil d’État confirmed this principle in CE 29 mars 2002: the legitimate possessor of premises can recover them during the winter months. The article 38 prefectoral fast-track applies year-round.
Can the judge extend protection beyond 31 March?
Yes, in theory. Article L. 412-2 CPCE allows the juge de l’exécution to grant an additional delay of up to three months where the eviction would have “conséquences d’une exceptionnelle dureté“, particularly given the time of year or weather conditions. This is mostly used for occupants who don’t benefit from the formal trêve (squatters, péril cases) but it can in principle extend protection past 31 March in particularly hard cases.
Can I cut off the heating to a non-paying tenant during the trêve?
No. Energy and water cut-offs for non-payment in a principal residence are also banned during the trêve hivernale, under article L. 115-3 of the Code de l’action sociale et des familles. Suppliers can reduce gas and electricity supply but cannot disconnect entirely.
What happens if I evict a tenant anyway during the trêve?
It is a criminal offence. A landlord who organises a self-help eviction during the trêve hivernale faces up to three years’ imprisonment and a €30,000 fine. Wait until 1 April or invoke a recognised exception through the juge de l’exécution.
