Difficult to Rent an Apartment in Paris

The apartment hunt has been very difficult. No real estate agency will accept me as a tenant as I don't have someone in France to act as guarantor, someone who will pay my rent if I can't. I don't understand why this is so important and surely most people wouldn't have someone who can do this. How do foreigners rent apartments here, what about French people who don't have any family or aren't on good terms with them or whose family are not financially able to guarantee the rent? Do people in their 30s or 40s have to have a guarantor? I can understand for a young student but for anyone else it sounds absurd.

The other option is to pay a 'caution' which is kind of like a bond but it is for between 6 and 12 months rent and the money stays in your own bank account. The bank prevents you from accessing that money for the period of the caution. The landlord then has access to this money if the tenant doesn't pay the rent. I also find this to be absurd. If the rent is 1000 per month then I'm supposed the leave 12,000 euros sitting in the bank for 12 months gaining minimal interest, if any? There are plenty of other things I would rather do with my money than letting it sit in the bank. Are the French not bothered that they can't invest that money? What a waste.

If you can't provide either of these then the only option is to rent directly with the landlord, although they can have the same requirements. You just have to get lucky and find a landlord who is willing to be flexible. The best place to find landlords looking to rent apartments is in the weekly paper Particulier a Particulier which comes out every Thursday. You can also try Fusac which has mainly furnished apartments.