CAF and APL: French housing benefit, decoded for Britons
France will help pay your rent — even as an incomer, even as a retiree — through a benefit most people just call "APL." It's real money, often €100 to €300 a month, and it's yours to claim. But it comes with a set of very French rules that catch Britons out in ways nobody warns you about, chief among them the savings and property you left behind at home. Here's how it actually works in 2026.
The short version
- "APL" is shorthand for housing benefit. There are actually three — APL, ALF and ALS — and you can only get one. CAF works out which; many British renters actually receive ALS. The rules and application are the same across all three.
- Britons can claim — nationality is no bar — but you need a valid titre de séjourThe umbrella term for a French residence permit.. It's a renters' benefit now: new claims by owner-occupiers ended years ago.
- Your income is assessed in near-real-time (a rolling 12 months, refreshed quarterly). UK pensions and self-employment aren't fed automatically — you must declare them yourself, or face a clawback later.
- The big British trap: savings and property over €30,000 count against you — and that includes a house you've kept in the UK and your ISAs. It can shrink or wipe out the benefit entirely.
- APL is never backdated. Rights start the first of the month after you apply — the month you move in is never covered. Apply the day you sign the lease.
- You'll need a French bank account (RIB) and an attestation de loyer signed by your landlord. Apply free at caf.fr — never a paid third-party site.
- Budget for a gap. Between the no-backdating rule and roughly two months' processing, plan for about three months before the first euro lands.
Ask a room of British expats about "the APL" and you'll get a range of reactions, from "oh, we get that, it's marvellous" to "I assumed that was only for French families." The truth is that France's housing benefit is genuinely open to incomers — including retirees living on a modest pension — and for a lot of renters it's a few hundred euros a month they simply aren't claiming. The catch is that it's wrapped in some distinctly French logic, and one rule in particular ambushes Britons who've kept a foot on the property ladder back home. Let's walk through it in the order you'll meet it.
First, a small vocabulary problem
Everyone says "APL," but there are three housing benefits and you can only ever receive one of them. APL (Aide Personnalisée au Logement) attaches to the dwelling when the property is under a state agreement — most social housing, and increasingly some private lets. ALF is the family-situation version. ALS is the catch-all that everyone else falls into — which, for a childless couple or a retiree renting privately, is very often the one you'll actually get.
The good news is you don't need to work out which. You apply once, CAF decides, and the eligibility rules, the calculation and the process are essentially identical across all three. So when this guide says "APL," read it as "housing benefit" — and don't be thrown if your award letter says ALS.
Don't self-reject
A "€0 APL" result doesn't mean "no help"
Because everyone fixates on the word APL, some Britons run the simulator, see they don't qualify for APL specifically, and give up — when they'd actually qualify for ALS. Let CAF make the call. Run the official simulator, submit the application, and let the system route you to whichever of the three fits. Talking yourself out of it is the commonest way to leave money on the table.
Can you claim it? (Yes, with a permit)
Nationality isn't the gatekeeper — legal, stable residence is. As a non-EU national since Brexit, a Briton needs a valid titre de séjour to claim. Those resident before the end of 2020 hold the Withdrawal Agreement card; those who arrived since are treated like any other third-country national. Either way, once you hold a valid permit and live in your French home as your main residence (at least eight months a year), you're through the door.
Two things to know. It's now effectively a tenants' benefit — the version for owner-occupiers repaying a loan was closed to new claims years ago, so assume you must be renting. And there's no age cap: retirees claim on exactly the same footing as workers. What differs between a retiree and a worker isn't eligibility — it's how your income is counted, which brings us to the machinery.
How it's worked out — and the real-time income trap
Four things drive the amount: your income, your rent, your geographic zone, and your household size. France is divided into three zones — Paris and its ring (Zone 1), big cities and Corsica (Zone 2), and everywhere else (Zone 3), which is where most rural British movers live and where the rent ceilings are lowest. Rent above the ceiling for your zone and household simply isn't counted. Typical awards land somewhere between €100 and €300 a month, though it varies enormously with your circumstances — always run the official simulator for a real figure.
The mechanism that trips Britons is the income assessment. Since 2021, CAF no longer looks at your income from two years ago; it uses a rolling 12 months, refreshed every quarter, drawn automatically from French tax and employer data. That's fine if your income is French and on the system. But foreign pensions and self-employment income aren't fed in automatically — you have to declare them yourself, each quarter. Britons living on a UK pension who forget to do this can sail along on an inflated benefit, then get a demand to repay the overpayment (an indu) months later. Declare your UK income promptly and the problem never arises.
The €30,000 trap that's peculiarly British
This is the one to tattoo on the inside of your eyelids. Since 2016, if your total assets exceed €30,000, they're factored into the income CAF uses — and "assets" explicitly includes property and savings held abroad. For a Briton, that means the house you kept in the UK, or a healthy pot of savings and ISAs, can quietly reduce or even eliminate your housing benefit, even on a modest French pension.
Your French main residence is excluded, and so is anything already producing taxable income you've declared. But the retained UK house and the ISA stash are exactly the sort of thing a British mover has and a typical French claimant doesn't — which is why this rule feels like a hidden tripwire rather than a headline. Know it's there, and there are no nasty surprises.
Applying, step by step
The whole thing is online and free at caf.fr. Start with the simulateur — five minutes, no commitment — to see roughly what you'd get. Then create your espace allocataire, which generates your numéro d'allocataire (your CAF reference). You'll typically need: your titre de séjour, proof of social-security affiliation, twelve months of income evidence (pension statements, tax notices, payslips), your signed bail (tenancy) and an attestation de loyer signed by your landlord, and — this one's non-negotiable — a RIB, your French bank details. A UK account won't do.
The rule that costs a month's benefit
APL is not backdated — ever
Housing benefit starts on the first of the month after you apply, regardless of when you moved in. The month you move in is never covered, and there's no recovering past months you didn't claim. So apply the very day you sign the lease — every week you delay is money you simply won't get. Combine that with roughly two months of processing and you should plan for about three months before the first payment lands: not a reason to wait, a reason to apply immediately and budget for the gap.
Once approved, payment usually arrives around the 5th of each month, for the previous month. For properties under a state agreement, CAF often pays the landlord directly and simply reduces the rent you hand over.
A few more things worth knowing
Your home has to meet basic decency standards — broadly, a main room of at least 9m² with proper height, running water, heating and no safety hazards. A sub-9m² studio won't qualify. If a landlord's property is judged non-decent, CAF can withhold the benefit until it's put right. Students can claim too (usually ALS), assessed on their own income rather than their parents', though claiming means they're no longer counted as a dependent on the parents' CAF file — occasionally a reason to do the sums both ways.
Finally, the amount is revalued every October, so expect a small annual step. And whatever you do, apply through caf.fr itself — there's a cottage industry of sites that "help you claim" for a fee, and they do nothing the free official service doesn't.
Still house-hunting?
Housing benefit only matters once you've found somewhere to live. Our renting guide covers the French tenancy from the inside — the bail, the deposit, the état des lieux, and the paperwork a landlord will expect from a British tenant.
Read the renting guide →Sorting your first tax return?
The UK income you declare to CAF is the same income France wants to see on your tax return — and the two need to tell the same story. Our first-tax-return guide explains how UK pensions and accounts are handled, in plain English.
Read the tax guide →One useful email, most weeks
Pimpernel is building the practical side of British life in France — the tools, the calendar, and the guides like this one. Join the list for the next pieces and the benefit changes that actually affect you.
Join the waitlist →This guide offers practical, general information, not legal, financial, or benefits advice. Pimpernel are not CAF advisers, accountants, or lawyers. Eligibility rules, income and asset thresholds, rent ceilings, and the figures quoted change — housing benefit is revalued each October and reforms happen — and how they apply depends entirely on your own circumstances: your permit, your income, your assets in the UK and France, and your household. Always confirm the current position and run the simulator on caf.fr, and take advice where your situation is at all unusual.