Get early access

Launching in Lyon

If you can see it here,
you can actually rent it.

Renting in France shouldn't depend on a French guarantor, a CDI, and three years of tax returns you can't possibly have yet. Every landlord on Cajou has agreed to accept non-standard files, so all you bring is a guarantee certificate and a verified dossier.

Get early access See how it works
Not required here
A French guarantor A French tax history A CDI contract
A sunlit, furnished apartment with a window looking onto a classic Lyon street, the kind of home Cajou helps you reach.

€980/mo

Furnished 2-room · Croix-Rousse, Lyon · 44 m²

Applications open · 6 days left

Open to non-standard files

You apply with
Visale or GarantMe DossierFacile

The rejection roulette

You can afford it. The paperwork says no anyway.

Expats spend weeks firing sensitive documents at listings they were never eligible for, and the rejections are opaque. Four blockers do most of the damage:

  • No French guarantor

    Agents demand a flesh-and-blood French guarantor and wave away Visale or GarantMe, something you can't produce after just arriving.

  • No CDI

    Freelance, self-employed, or on a foreign contract? You're filtered out before anyone reads your file, even when you clearly earn enough.

  • No French tax history

    Your avis d'imposition is a standard dossier item. As a first-time filer you don't have one, regardless of your income.

  • The landlord's insurer decides

    Many landlords are bound by unpaid-rent insurance (GLI). Its rules (CDI, tenure, tax history) quietly lock even a willing owner out.

The Cajou promise

Eligibility certainty, before you spend a single evening applying.

Listing on Cajou means a landlord agrees to one thing: they won't demand the French paperwork a newcomer can't have yet, like a French guarantor, a long French track record, or a permanent contract. Bring whatever combination you actually have, plus a guarantee and a verified dossier, and any home here is open to you.

  • A Visale or GarantMe certificate, which proves you can afford it
  • A DossierFacile link: your documents, verified and watermarked by the state
  • That's the whole bar. Every home here is open to you

€980/mo

Furnished 2-room · Croix-Rousse, Lyon · 44 m²

Applications open · 6 days left

Open to non-standard files

You apply with
Visale or GarantMe DossierFacile

Every home here, on the same terms. No filtering, no guessing whether you qualify.

How it works

A calmer, fairer way to find a home, built around your privacy.

We invert today's scramble. Interest is proven before your data is shared, in four deliberate steps.

  1. Browse only homes you can rent

    Every home here already accepts non-standard files, so you're eligible from the start. No more applying to places that would never have considered you.

  2. Apply with your guarantee card

    Landlords first see verified affordability: your Visale or GarantMe ceiling and a state-verified file, not a pile of personal documents.

  3. View before you reveal

    Shortlisted? Book a viewing, in person or by video from abroad, before you hand over a single sensitive document.

  4. Share your full file only if you both want to

    Release your DossierFacile link with one tap, and revoke it the moment you've signed elsewhere. You stay in control.

A warm, lived-in kitchen with plants and wooden stools, the kind of home a private owner lets directly.

For landlords

Open your door to more of the right tenants.

Whether you let your place yourself or through an agent, Cajou is for owners who don't need the full French paperwork wall, just a solvent tenant backed by a guarantee and a verified dossier. List here and you reach a motivated, under-served pool the standard checklist filters out.

  • Tenants arrive guarantee-backed, with affordability already checked
  • A fair-rent assistant prices you within Lyon's legal ceiling
  • Compliance guardrails (DPE, deposit caps) baked into listing
List your home

Know before you sign

French renting, explained for both sides.

Short, clear explainers for tenants and landlords, so nobody signs a lease guessing what the rules actually are.

Paying a year upfront won't help

A landlord can't demand rent far in advance, and offering a lump sum can even look like a red flag. The fix is the right guarantee, not more cash.

Lyon caps what you can charge

Lyon and Villeurbanne limit rent to a set ceiling by area, size and furnishing. Go over it and you risk repaying the difference and a fine. Cajou computes the legal maximum for you.

Who actually holds your deposit

There's no government deposit scheme in France; it's paid straight to the landlord. Capped at 1 month unfurnished, 2 furnished, and returned within a month of the keys going back.

Read the full guide