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Proof of Tenant Reliability: What the Law Really Says

What documents can a tenant legally provide to prove their reliability? Complete overview of permitted and prohibited documents, plus new digital alternatives.

Proof of Tenant Reliability: What the Law Really Says

Finding a rental property has become a real obstacle course. Faced with a tight rental market and multiple applications, many tenants legitimately wonder: what am I legally allowed to provide as proof of reliability? The answer is governed by law, but it's also evolving with new technologies. Here's what you need to know.

A strict legal framework: the ALUR law and the 2015 decree

In France, the list of supporting documents that a landlord can require is defined exhaustively by decree no. 2015-1437 of 5 November 2015, issued under the ALUR law. This text organises the required documents into four main categories.

  1. Proof of identity, a single valid document with photo: national identity card, passport, driving licence or valid residence permit.

  2. Proof of address, a single document is sufficient: the last three rent receipts, a certificate from the previous landlord confirming regular rent payment, a property tax notice or property title deed, or alternatively a sworn statement of free accommodation.

  3. Proof of employment status, the landlord may request one or more documents depending on the profile: employment contract or employer's certificate for an employee, Kbis extract for an entrepreneur, student card or school certificate for a student.

  4. Proof of income, this is the only category for which multiple documents can be combined: the last three payslips, the latest tax assessment notice, proof of property income, social benefits or pensions.

Any request outside this list is illegal and exposes the landlord to a fine of up to €3,000 for a natural person and €15,000 for a legal entity.

Documents you can refuse to provide

It's equally important to know which documents the landlord has no right to ask you for. Article 22-2 of the law of 6 July 1989 formally prohibits certain requests. Among the prohibited documents are notably:

  1. Bank or postal account statements.

  2. Certificate of good account standing or current credits.

  3. Marriage or cohabitation contract.

  4. Medical records or Vitale card.

  5. Criminal record extract.

  6. Additional identity photograph (outside the one appearing on the official identity document).

If a landlord or agency asks you for any of these items, you are entitled to refuse. Bank statements are explicitly among these prohibited documents, which raises a real question: how can you prove your actual financial reliability without resorting to falsifiable or prohibited documents?

A context of fraud that complicates everything

This question is not trivial. The rental market is under severe pressure, and document fraud has reached worrying proportions. According to a FLASHS study for Zelok conducted in June 2025 among 2,000 French people, 26% of tenants admit to having already provided inaccurate information in their application. Among 18-24 year-olds, 21% admit to having submitted an inflated payslip and 19% a falsified employment contract.

On the landlords' side, more than half, or 58%, report having already identified or at least suspected applications containing false documents.

Payslips are the most frequently falsified documents. Employment contracts and tax assessment notices follow. Networks have even become professionalised in producing these forgeries, making visual detection virtually impossible.

This situation creates a vicious circle: honest tenants struggle to stand out, while landlords, wary, multiply requirements that are sometimes abusive. Traditional documents are no longer sufficient to prove reliability.

Open Banking: next-generation proof of reliability

This is where a new approach changes the game. Open Banking, governed by the European PSD2 directive, allows a tenant to authorise, with their explicit consent, the secure sharing of their actual banking data via a certified API. This data is retrieved directly from the source, in real time, without going through the tenant as an intermediary, which eliminates any risk of falsification.

Concretely, this means that a tenant can demonstrate the regularity of their rent payments, without providing a single bank statement (a document legally prohibited in a traditional rental application). The proof is generated automatically, certified and instantly accessible.

Tecto Score and TectoPass: certified reliability, accessible to all

This is exactly the principle on which ImmoTecto has built its tools. Our Tecto Score is a rental reliability score (0 to 110, also presented in labels), at €0 for the tenant, calculated solely on their rent payment behaviour via Open Banking. It's not based on manually submitted documents, but on actual rent payment, observed via Open Banking.

To take the approach even further, the TectoPass allows you to generate a certified PDF, at €0 for the tenant, instantly accessible via QR code, which the tenant can share with any landlord, even outside the ImmoTecto platform. It's a modern, portable and recognised proof of reliability, which perfectly complements the standard legal supporting documents.

In a market where competition between applicants is intense and where mistrust has set in on both sides, having objective and certified proof of reliability represents a decisive advantage.

Conclusion: build a solid and honest application

Building a solid rental application means first respecting the legal framework: provide the four categories of authorised documents, no more, no less. It then means calmly refusing any abusive request. And finally, for candidates who really want to stand out, it means relying on objective and certified proofs.

Get your Tecto Score (at €0) on immotecto.com and discover how TectoPass can transform your rental application into a decisive asset.

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Tenant Reliability Proof: Permitted Documents & Law | IMMOTECTO