Air conditioning in a rented home: what the landlord can impose, what the tenant can demand in 2026

"It's been 34 °C in the bedroom for ten days, I asked my landlord for air conditioning and he said no." And on the other side, a landlord: "My tenant installed a split system on his own, and I only found out from the photo in the move-out inventory. Who repairs the wall?"

We get these two calls every summer, and they both say the same thing: in the vast majority of cases, air conditioning in a rented home is governed neither by the lease nor by the 1989 law. There is no obligation on the landlord, and no automatic ban on the tenant. A legal vacuum in which everyone improvises — and which often ends in a dispute over the return of the security deposit.

This guide sets out the real framework in 2026, then describes the three arrangements that actually work in the Paris region rental market, with who pays what at each stage.

First point to clarify: the landlord is not required to provide air conditioning

There is no legal obligation to provide air conditioning in a residential dwelling in France.

The criteria for decent housing are set by decree no. 2002-120 of 30 January 2002, supplemented since then by energy performance requirements. That decree requires, in particular, a heating installation, sufficient ventilation, airtightness, and the absence of any risk to the health and safety of occupants. It makes no mention of any maximum summer temperature threshold, unlike heating, for which case law has long held that a dwelling that cannot be heated to 18–19 °C in winter is substandard.

In other words: as the law currently stands, a tenant cannot require their landlord to install an air conditioner on the grounds that it is too hot.

The two exceptions worth knowing

1. Heat that makes the dwelling objectively uninhabitable. If indoor temperatures result from a defect in the building attributable to the landlord — an uninsulated roof on a top floor, converted attic space with no insulation, an unshaded glass roof, a ventilation defect — the tenant can act on the grounds of decency and the obligation to deliver the premises (article 6 of law no. 89-462 of 6 July 1989). The judge will not order "air conditioning": they will order works. Insulation, shutters, blackout solutions, sometimes ventilation. Active cooling is only one of the possible answers, and rarely the one a court chooses.

2. Dwellings with existing air conditioning. If the air conditioning appears in the lease or in the move-in inventory as part of the dwelling's equipment, it becomes an element of the leased property. The landlord then owes peaceful enjoyment of it: a unit broken down all summer amounts to a reduction in the service provided, and in such cases case law accepts a rent reduction or works ordered under penalty payments. This is the point most often overlooked by landlords who advertise a furnished rental "with air conditioning".

Remember the distinction: no obligation to install, but an obligation to maintain and repair what has been leased.

Second point: can the tenant install air conditioning on their own initiative?

Yes, subject to conditions — and these conditions are cumulative.

The landlord's written consent

Article 7 f) of the 1989 law prohibits the tenant from altering the dwelling or its equipment without the owner's written consent. The line between fitting-out (free) and alteration (subject to consent) is drawn by the nature of the works.

A split air conditioning system involves:

• drilling through a wall for the refrigerant line (55 to 80 mm in diameter, often a load-bearing wall or a façade);
• fixing an outdoor unit to a wall, balcony or terrace;
• a new condensate drain;
• sometimes a dedicated electrical circuit at the distribution board.

This is very clearly an alteration. Without written consent, at the end of the lease the landlord may either keep the installations without compensation, or require the property to be restored at the tenant's expense — filling holes, redoing render, repainting. On a Parisian façade, restoration alone commonly costs between €400 and €1,500, including scaffolding or a cherry picker if the unit is high up.

Authorization from the homeowners' association

The landlord's consent is never enough in a multi-unit building. The outdoor unit is fixed to a common area (façade, railing, roof terrace), which requires authorization from the general meeting. The landlord is the co-owner: it is they, not the tenant, who must put the request on the agenda. We set out the procedure, the applicable majorities and the documents to provide in our guide to installing air conditioning in a co-owned building.

Local planning rules

In Paris and in most densely built municipalities of the Île-de-France region, an outdoor unit visible from the public highway requires a prior declaration and, in a protected area or near a listed monument, the opinion of the Architecte des Bâtiments de France. The Paris bioclimatic PLU regulations are particularly restrictive regarding technical equipment on street-facing façades.

Here again: the applicant is the owner, not the occupant.

Practical conclusion

A tenant who wants a fixed air conditioning system needs three green lights: landlord, homeowners' association, planning authority. That takes time (an annual general meeting, two months to process a prior declaration), which explains why the vast majority of tenants in the Paris region fall back on portable units — with the limitations we set out in our analysis of the portable monobloc air conditioner for tenants.

The three arrangements that work in the Paris region rental market

Arrangement 1: the landlord installs and builds it into the rent

The owner has the equipment installed, declares it in the lease as part of the dwelling's equipment, and passes the investment on. Two routes:

• A higher initial rent when re-letting. In the Parisian furnished rental market, a reversible air conditioning unit in a studio or one-bedroom flat translates into rent that is €30 to €60/month higher depending on the neighbourhood, and above all into shorter vacancy periods.
• The contribution for sharing savings on charges, provided for by article 23-1 of the 1989 law and decree no. 2009-1438. After energy improvement works and subject to strict conditions (consent of the sitting tenant, demonstration of the savings, a cap at half the estimated saving, a maximum duration of 15 years), it allows an extra line to be added to the rent receipt. A reversible air-to-air heat pump replacing electric convector heaters can fall within this framework — provided the case is properly documented, with before/after assessments to back it up.

This is the most legally robust arrangement. It also makes the most sense when the dwelling has electric heating: the gain comes from the heating, not from the cooling. The detailed calculation can be found in our article on replacing electric radiators with an air-to-air heat pump in a flat.

Arrangement 2: the tenant pays, the landlord gives written authorization

The tenant pays for the equipment and the installation, and the landlord authorizes it through an addendum to the lease. The addendum must settle five points, otherwise the debate will reopen three years later:

Point to settle	Wording to include
Ownership of the equipment	Who owns it during the lease, and who owns it afterwards
Fate at the end of the lease	Removal at the tenant's expense, or left to the landlord without compensation
Restoration of the property	Filling holes, façade repairs: who pays, based on which quote
Annual servicing	Who is responsible, with an obligation to pass on the invoices
Insurance	Declaration to the tenant's comprehensive home insurer

Always attach, as an annex, the equipment's technical data sheet and the installer's certificate of competence: these are the documents the landlord will ask for, and the ones the manufacturer will require in the event of a warranty claim.