HOUSING
In France, you have some options for renting a place to live:
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University or Social housing, it is the cheapest option but also very demanded, unless you have a preference, there are long waiting lists.
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Private housing, here you have the option to rent an apartment or studio by yourself :
https://www.pap.fr/,https://www.logic-immo.com/)
or
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To share an apartment by renting a room, this is called colocation :
(https://www.lacartedescolocs.fr/,
In both cases, beware of scams and go see the apartment before signing any contracts or sending any money.
For renting you need many documents, such as:
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Responsabilite Civile, it is an obligatory insurance you need to cover everyday life possible damages, most usually you can hire it with your bank.
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Caution, before entering a rented apartment the landlord will ask for an amount of 2x or 3x times the rent, to cover any damages you may cause to the appartement, if everything is good at the end of the contrat the landlord will give this amount back.
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Guarantor, you also need a French citizen that earns at least 3x times the mount of the rent to be your guarantor, which means they will assume the responsibility of paying your rent in case you fail to. If you don’t know someone, you can have a service by the french government called Visale (https://www.visale.fr/) they will provide a guarantee of up to 1000 euros/month on the Ile de France region.
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Assurance Habitation (Housing Insurance), this will be a service to cover damages to the apartment, you can hire it with your bank, or from one of these companies: Luko, MAAF, Macif, Mamut, etc.
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CAF, as a student you usually have the right for a government help, after applying to it (http://www.caf.fr/) they will calculate an amount, based on your profile, to help with the rent payment. Remember that the landlord has to have an agreement with CAF to allow you to demand this help, ask them before signing the rent contract.