Visale guarantee 2026: conditions, maximum rent, steps

Who can get Visale?

According to visale.fr, the tenant is eligible if they meet at least one of these conditions:

• be under 30, from 17 years and 10 months (service-public.gouv.fr), whatever their status: student, work-study trainee (alternant), employee, civil servant, unemployed;
• be an employee over 30, provided they were hired less than 6 months ago (excluding a CDI (permanent contract) past its probation period), or earn up to €1,710 net a month, or are on a work-related relocation, or have a job offer taking effect within 3 months;
• be eligible for the bail mobilité (short-term furnished lease for people in training or on assignment);
• be housed by an intermédiation locative body (an organisation that rents homes from private landlords to house people in difficulty).

The income cap for employees over 30 rose from €1,500 to €1,710 net a month at the start of 2026 (visale.fr). The tenant and the landlord must not be from the same family: grandparent, parent or child (service-public.gouv.fr).

Which homes are covered?

The home can be furnished or unfurnished. It must be the tenant’s main residence, be décent (meet the legal standard for decent housing), be let under a lease and comply with the rent cap (visale.fr). In the private sector, the residential lease or the bail mobilité must include a clause résolutoire (a termination clause allowing the lease to end automatically if rent goes unpaid) (service-public.gouv.fr).

The maximum guaranteed rent in 2026

Rent including service charges, per month, since 6 January 2026 (visale.fr):

The student flat rate applies to a student or work-study trainee with no proof of income. Above it, their income must exceed a threshold: €2,000 in Île-de-France, €1,680 in large urban areas, €1,360 elsewhere (service-public.gouv.fr). For other tenants under 30, the rent must not exceed half of their income. The exact amount guaranteed is shown on the tenant’s visa (approval certificate).

What Visale covers

For a private-sector home, excluding seasonal workers (service-public.gouv.fr):

For a tenant who is a seasonal worker, the guarantee covers from 1 to 9 months of arrears. This 36-month cap does not apply to every lease: according to the ANIL (the national housing information agency), in the private sector the guarantee covers “for unfurnished lets, the first 36 monthly instalments; for furnished lets, the first 12 monthly instalments (renewable twice up to a limit of 36 months), the first nine monthly instalments in the case of a bail étudiant (student lease); for baux mobilité, up to ten monthly instalments, depending on the length of the contract”. After 3 years, the landlord can benefit from Visale again if the tenant is still eligible and makes a new application (visale.fr). Guarantees entered into before 6 January 2026 keep their original conditions.

How to apply, step by step

The application must be made before the lease is signed (service-public.gouv.fr):

1. the future tenant creates an account on visale.fr and uploads their supporting documents;
2. Action Logement checks eligibility and issues a visa within a few working days;
3. the tenant gives this visa to the landlord;
4. the landlord creates an account, enters the visa number and approves the automatically generated acte de cautionnement (guarantee deed);
5. the lease is signed.

For the landlord: reporting unpaid rent

The service is entirely free and the landlord receives the rent “with no excess and no waiting period” (visale.fr). If rent goes unpaid, the landlord sends the tenant a mise en demeure (formal notice) by registered letter within 15 days. As soon as the arrears exceed one month of rent and service charges, net of housing benefit, the landlord reports them online; Action Logement issues a quittance subrogative (a receipt transferring the landlord’s claim to Action Logement) and pays the sums within 5 working days. Damage must be reported within 60 days of getting the home back (service-public.gouv.fr).

Visale or unpaid rent insurance? A landlord who is a private individual and has already taken out insurance against unpaid rent can only ask for a guarantee if the tenant is a student or an apprentice (service-public.gouv.fr).

Which professional to consult

The agent immobilier (estate agent) managing the letting can accept a Visale application and complete the steps on the landlord’s side. For a home to let, the diagnostiqueur (property surveyor) provides the surveys to be attached to the lease.