What does French law say regarding the termination of a contract you have with a guest:

What are the rules?

'Le contrat de location saisonnière' provides rules in the event of cancellation by the owner or the guest. In case the cancellation by the house owner / host is not due to Force Majeure the guest may claim reimbursement of twice the deposits paid.

Article 1218 of the Civil Code provides that in the event of force majeure, when a party is prevented from performing its obligations, it is exonerated.

The case of force majeure is defined by the meeting of two criteria:

• on the one hand, the event could not have been known by the parties at the time of the signature of the contract and
• on the other hand, the event absolutely prevents the execution of the contract.

Each party can invoke a reason of force majeure to exempt itself from these rules but remains to prove the reason, which is very rarely admitted by the judges.

To cancel the booking, please contact Gites.