This week, the Vannes court sentenced to four months in prison and 2,500 euros in compensation a tenant who falsified several payslips to obtain accommodation. Decryption with Charlie Cailloux, legal adviser for Particular to particular and PAP.fr
franceinfo: Is this type of court decision common?
Charlie Pebbles: No, I do not think so ! On the one hand, because landlords do not act for false documents, if the tenant pays the rent. However, among the tenants who falsify their documents, there are dishonest people who agree, but there are also tenants whose resources do not meet the very demanding criteria of the owners but who, in reality, will pay their rent ruby on the nail every month.
On the other hand, this court decision is particularly severe because this tenant was sentenced three times before and did not appear at this hearing.
Beyond this case, how can a landlord check the documents presented to him by a tenant?
The first thing is to require that the tenant bring the originals of his pieces during the visits, simply because it is a little more difficult to falsify an original than a simple black and white copy.
Second advice: in the tenant’s file, there is a key document, it is the tax notice! It is the centerpiece because it contains all the important information: the identity and the resources of the tenant. And this tax notice, it is possible to check it simply. On the taxes.gouv.fr site, there is a service (free of course) for checking tax notices. It’s called VERIFAVIS, you can search for it directly in your search engine.
How it works ?
You fill in the tax number and the reference of the tax notice you have in your hands, and you will be able to access the information recorded by the tax authorities: this allows you to check that the notice has not been tampered with. And once you have checked the tax notice, you can check the consistency of the payslips.
What about payslips? Is there a way to check them? Can the landlord call the tenant’s company?
Nothing prohibits it, even if it may seem a little intrusive and nothing guarantees an answer. Note that the verification of the tenant’s file is part of the services offered by unpaid rent insurance (therefore paying). They are responsible for checking the tax notice and pay slips by cross-checking. That said, they have no special investigative powers.
The main interest for the lessor is to be certain that the unpaid rents will be covered by the insurance. By choosing a tenant guaranteed by Visale, the landlord also has the certainty that the tenant’s file has been verified.