Guide

Moving to Paris: a first-time renter's plumbing checklist

A few minutes spent in your first week can save you a stressful scramble later. None of this requires speaking French — just five minutes of looking around your new place.

1. Find the stopcock before you need it

Locate the robinet d'arrêt (stopcock) now, not during an emergency. It's usually under the kitchen sink, in a hallway cupboard, or near the water meter. Turning it clockwise cuts the water supply to your apartment — knowing where it is before something goes wrong is the single most useful five minutes you can spend.

2. Note where the fuse box is too

Water and electricity emergencies often overlap. Find your consumer unit (tableau électrique) at the same time, so you're not searching for two things at once if a leak happens near a socket.

3. Test the hot water and note how long it takes

Run the hot tap and time roughly how long it takes to warm up, and check the boiler (chauffe-eau) if you can find it. This gives you a baseline — if hot water suddenly takes much longer or stops altogether later, you'll know something's actually changed rather than wondering if it was always like that.

4. Check water pressure in the shower and kitchen

Older Paris buildings can have naturally lower pressure than you're used to, especially on higher floors. Knowing your normal is useful — a sudden drop is worth mentioning to a plumber; consistently low pressure since day one is just how the building is.

5. Take photos of anything that already looks off

A stain on the ceiling, a slightly loose tap, a mark under the sink — photograph anything that looks pre-existing on move-in day. If it becomes a problem later, you'll have proof it was already there, which matters for both your landlord and your home insurance.

6. Know who to call, before you need to

Save an English-speaking plumbing line in your phone now, rather than searching for one in a panic. It's a small thing, but it's the difference between a five-minute call and twenty minutes of trying to explain a burst pipe in a language you're still learning.

7. Understand roughly who pays for what

French rental law splits plumbing responsibility between tenant and landlord in ways that aren't always intuitive — our guide on landlord vs. tenant responsibility covers the general rule, so you're not caught off guard the first time something needs fixing.