Winter break 2025: start and end date and consequences

The winter break is a period during which the execution of court decisions cannot take place. For example, if the owner has started an expulsion procedure due to unpaid rents, she is suspended and the tenant cannot be worried. What is the start date and the end date of the winter break in 2025? In what situations does it not apply? Answer.

Capital video: What is winter break?

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How does the winter break work?

The winter break is a specific measure which prevents the execution of justice decisions in connection with the expulsion of the tenants. It is therefore a stay. The court decision remains valid, but its application is suspended. Also, if the owner obtained an expulsion judgment, his validity is not called into question, only his application is delayed. The Alur law of March 2014 (law for access to housing and renovated town planning) fixes the Winter break dates. It aims to protect vulnerable tenants during the coldest months, to prevent them from finding themselves without shelter during the winter.

What legislation supervises the winter break?

A measure provided for by the Code of Civil Execution Procedures

The winter break is provided by the Code of civil execution procedures in article L. 412-6. It provides that “notwithstanding any expulsion decision passed in force of res judicata and despite the expiration of the deadlines granted under article L. 412-3, it is suspended to any expulsion measure not executed on the date of 1ᵉʳ November of each year until March 31 of the following year, unless the rehousing of the interested parties was ensured under sufficient conditions respecting the unit and the needs of the family “.

A measure provided to avoid evictions of accommodation in the middle of winter

This measure is social and humanist. Its purpose is to prevent people in difficulty, families, the elderly and/or sick will find themselves without housing, in the middle of winter and without accommodation.

Can electricity be cut during the winter break?

Prohibition of gas and electricity cuts

During the winter break, gas, electricity and water cuts are prohibited, even in the event of non-payment of invoices. Energy suppliers can nevertheless reduce the energy power of housing, except for tenants benefiting from the energy check. Power reduction is 3 kVA For people with a contract with a power greater than or equal to 6 kVA. It is 2 kVA for those with a lower power contract. Upstream, suppliers have the obligation toinform their customers of the power reduction to come.

When does the winter break start and ends in 2025?

Start and end date set by ALUR law

The winter break lasts five months, From November 1 to March 31 each year. It thus concerns the coldest months of the year. These dates were set by Alur law in March 2014.

Extension of the winter break

Under certain exceptional conditions (health crisis, extreme temperatures), the government can decide to extend the winter break. In 2020, in the heart of the Pandemic of Covid-19, she was for example extended until July.

Can we expel its tenant during a winter break in France?

Expulsion of the suspended tenant

The winter break prevents commitment from an expulsion procedure With regard to any person residing in a room for residential use, whether empty or furnished. If the expulsion procedure was initiated before the start of the winter break, but it could not succeed before November 1, the bailiff responsible for expulsion will have to stop all his steps until March 31 of the following year. The procedure may then resume its course.

The owner can start the expulsion procedure

But the winter break does not prevent the landlord from the landlord to have justice to obtain the decision to expulsion from his tenants. Only the execution of the decision is postponed. The expulsion procedures being particularly long, it is strongly advised to initiate the steps against the tenants who do not respect their lease contract as quickly as possible and including from November 1 to March 31.

Example of dates for an expulsion procedure

We are December 5. Your tenant has not settled his rents since September, although he has committed to quickly fill this delay. Nothing prevents you from initiating a procedure in termination of the lease (by making him issue a command to pay by bailiff then by seizing the district court) during the winter break. However, it cannot be expelled before March 31 of the following year.

What are the situations where the winter break does not apply?

People not subject to the winter break

The winter break does not apply to certain people:

• THE expelled people which can be relocated in sufficient conditions respecting the unit and the needs of the family (the number of rooms, the area and the elements of the accommodation must allow it);
• The occupants of a building having entered the facts: in other words (these are squatters n ‘Having never concluded a lease contract with the owner of the accommodation);
• squatters who have taken up residence in a garage or land;
• L’spouse expelled from the marital home After decision of the family judge in the context of a divorce procedure;
• The husband, partner of PACS or partner accused of domestic violence against his spouse or child, whose business judge ordered his expulsion from the marital home
• the occupants, of a building subject to a decree, whose health and security are in danger

The owner’s appeals to expulsion

The landlord who reports on these situations and may justify them may have the occupants of the housing, even during the winter break period. He will thus be able to resort to a bailiff to have his court decision enforced. The police force (in other words the police) can also be requested and obtained.

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Failure to comply with the winter break: what does the owner risk?

Apart from these cases, no expulsion can be engaged against a tenant during the winter break period. Attention, illegal expulsion is a crime. An owner who does not respect the winter break risks a prison sentence of up to three years and a fine of 30,000 euros.

What’s going on after the winter break?

Once the winter break has passed, the Erental xpulsions can resume. The owners whose tenants have not regularized their situation can then seize justice to request the expulsion. However, the resumption of expulsions is not immediate. It is necessary that a court decision has been rendered, followed by a command to leave the premises. If the tenant refuses to leave, the expulsion may be executed by a justice commissioner, often in the presence of the police.