An attestation d’hébergement is a free, sworn letter written by someone who houses you at no charge, confirming that you live at their address in France. You need one whenever an administration asks for proof of address and you have no lease, utility bill, or tax notice in your own name. The document costs nothing, needs no stamp from a town hall, and works for everything from residence-permit renewals to opening a bank account.
What the Letter Must Contain
The attestation can be handwritten or typed. Following the model published by the French Interior Ministry, it must include:1Ministère de l’Intérieur. Modèle attestation sur l’honneur hébergement
- The host’s first name, last name, date and place of birth
- The complete street address of the residence
- The host’s phone number
- The date the guest began living at the address
- The host’s signature and the date the letter was written
The official template on service-public.fr uses the phrase déclare sur l’honneur héberger, meaning “I declare on my honor that I am housing” the named person.2Service-Public.fr. Attestation d’hébergement That phrase gives the letter its legal weight. Leaving it out turns the document into an ordinary letter that most agencies will reject. The safest route is the government’s own template generator, which pre-fills the required language.
Some agencies want the guest to co-sign alongside the host. Driver’s license applications, for example, require a document “signed by the host and the person being hosted.”3Service-Public.fr. Demande de permis de conduire – quels justificatifs de domicile sont acceptés CPAM offices use a co-signed version as well. When in doubt, have both parties sign from the start.
Documents to Attach
The letter alone is never enough. Agencies expect a packet of three items: the signed attestation, a copy of the host’s valid photo ID, and a recent proof of address in the host’s name.
Accepted ID includes a French national identity card, a passport, or a valid residence permit. For proof of address, agencies accept a utility bill for electricity, gas, water, or a phone line, a tax assessment or non-assessment notice, a non-handwritten rent receipt, a property title, or a statement from the family allowance fund mentioning housing aid.3Service-Public.fr. Demande de permis de conduire – quels justificatifs de domicile sont acceptés
How recent the proof of address must be depends on the agency. Driver’s license and vehicle registration applications accept utility bills up to six months old. Most other procedures, including bank account openings and social security enrollment, ask for documents less than three months old. Check with the receiving agency before assembling the packet. Showing up at a prefecture with a four-month-old electricity bill gets you turned away.
Who Can Write One for You
The host must be an adult who actually lives at the declared address as their primary residence. They must be either the property owner or a tenant with a valid lease. Foreign residents can serve as hosts as long as they hold a current residence permit.
If Your Host Rents
A tenant does not need the landlord’s written consent to house someone for free. Under Article 4 of the French housing law of July 6, 1989, any lease clause banning a tenant from housing people who don’t normally live with them is automatically void. French courts have consistently upheld a tenant’s right to house family members, and in practice it is very difficult for a landlord to challenge non-family hosting either.
There are limits. The arrangement must be genuinely free. The moment money changes hands, it becomes subletting, which does require landlord authorization. Minimum habitable surface-area rules also apply: roughly 9 square meters for one occupant, 16 for two, and 25 for three. If hosting pushes the apartment into overcrowding, the landlord has grounds to ask the guest to leave. The tenant remains responsible for any damage or disturbance caused by the guest.
If Your Host Is a Foreign National
A non-EU citizen living in France can sign an attestation d’hébergement as long as their residence permit is current. Include a copy of the host’s titre de séjour in the packet alongside their ID and proof of address. Officials will check that the permit has not expired and that the address on the supporting documents matches the one in the attestation.
Where the Letter Is Accepted
The attestation d’hébergement works as proof of residence across a wide range of French procedures:
- Residence permits: prefectures accept it when you apply for or renew a carte de séjour.2Service-Public.fr. Attestation d’hébergement
- Bank accounts: banks can ask for it when you open an individual account and have no address proof in your own name.4Service-Public.fr. Compte bancaire individuel
- Driver’s license: the application specifically lists the attestation as one of the three required documents for applicants living with someone else.3Service-Public.fr. Demande de permis de conduire – quels justificatifs de domicile sont acceptés
- Vehicle registration (carte grise): accepted as address proof.2Service-Public.fr. Attestation d’hébergement
- Health insurance (CPAM): a co-signed attestation with the host’s supporting documents satisfies the address requirement.
- School enrollment: mairies and schools generally accept it for registering children in public schools.
Submission methods vary. Prefectures increasingly require online uploads through the ANEF platform. Banks usually want the originals in person. Driver’s license and vehicle registration go through the ANTS portal, where you scan and upload the full packet.
How Long It Stays Valid
No law sets a fixed expiration date. In practice, most agencies treat the attestation as valid for about three months from the date it was signed. Long-stay visa and residence-permit applications sometimes accept letters up to six months old. The safest habit is to prepare a fresh version whenever a procedure is coming up rather than reuse an old one. A saved template with the details pre-filled makes this easy to repeat.
Supporting documents follow the same freshness logic. A utility bill older than three months (or six for driver’s license applications) will likely be rejected. Tax notices, issued annually, are accepted throughout the year they cover.
Not the Same as an Attestation d’Accueil
These two documents get confused, and the mix-up can delay an application by weeks. The attestation d’hébergement is what someone already living in France uses to prove their address. The attestation d’accueil is a separate procedure for a non-European foreign national coming to visit France for a private or family stay of fewer than three months. It requires the host to appear at the town hall, file Cerfa form 10798, and pay a non-refundable €30 fee in fiscal stamps.5Service-Public.fr. Attestation d’accueil If the person needing to prove their address is already in France, the attestation d’hébergement is the right document.
Penalties for a False Attestation
The letter carries real legal consequences if the information in it is untrue. Under Article 441-7 of the French Penal Code, creating a false sworn statement, altering a genuine one, or knowingly using a fraudulent document is punishable by up to one year in prison and a €15,000 fine.6Légifrance. Code pénal – Article 441-7 When the false attestation is used to defraud a public agency or another person, the penalties rise to three years of imprisonment and a €45,000 fine. Both the host who writes a false letter and the guest who submits one knowing it is fraudulent face prosecution. Prefectures do cross-check addresses against tax records and utility accounts, and inconsistencies can trigger a formal complaint.