Renting in Morocco: the rules

Tenancy law in Morocco is national. Law 67-12 on the contractual relations between landlords and tenants of premises used as homes or for a profession (Dahir 1-13-111 of 19 November 2013, published in the Bulletin officiel no. 6208 of 28 November 2013) applies to homes and professional premises, furnished or unfurnished, let for more than 30 days, with their cellars, garages, roofs, courtyards and gardens, unless a special law covers them (art. 1). Shops and workshops fall under a separate commercial lease law, and lets of 30 days or less fall outside Law 67-12 (see 'For landlords'). Law 67-12 came into force three months after publication and applies to leases already running at that date (art. 74). It repealed the old Law 6-79 of 1980 and the residential parts of Law 64-99 on rent recovery; Law 07-03 on rent revision now governs only commercial, industrial and craft premises (art. 75). The only amendment since, Law 05-19 of February 2019, changed the rules on taking back abandoned homes (art. 65 and 66). Market facts, such as rents and where to look, are on the city pages.

The lease must be made in writing with a date certaine (art. 3) and must state: each party's name, profession, address and identity document (and the agent's details if any); the premises, annexes, use and equipment for the tenant's sole use; the rent and how often it is paid; which charges the tenant bears; how rent and charges are paid; and any special obligations. Older leases that do not meet these requirements stay valid, and the parties may sign a compliant one at any time (art. 74). Under the Code of Obligations and Contracts, a private agreement has a date that binds third parties from the day it is registered, or from the date of a legalisation of signatures by an authorised official, among other routes (DOC, art. 425). In practice that means having both signatures legalised (légalisation de signature, done at the commune's office) or registering the lease with the tax office. Both sides have a reason to do it: the fast court procedure for unpaid rent is open only where the tenancy is proved by a writing with a date certaine or a final judgment (Law 67-12, art. 22).

The parties must draw up a written état des lieux (inventory of condition) when the tenant moves in and when the home is handed back, attach it to the lease and give it a date certaine (art. 7 and 8). It must describe the home in detail and avoid phrases such as 'good condition' or 'average condition'; if none is made, the tenant is presumed to have received the home in a usable state (art. 8). If the home is sold, the lease continues for the tenant on the same terms and the tenant must be formally notified of the new owner (art. 4).

A landlord may require a guarantee (deposit) to cover unpaid rent and charges and damage the tenant causes, but it may not exceed two months' rent (Law 67-12, art. 20). It must be returned within one month of the tenant handing back the home, less any sums owed to the landlord or paid by the landlord in the tenant's place, provided these are proved in the proper legal way (art. 20). The parties may agree that the deposit covers the rent for the last months of the tenancy (art. 20). The law does not say where the deposit is held: there is no deposit scheme, so it goes to the landlord.

The two-month cap applies to the guarantee; the law does not separately cap rent paid in advance. Whatever is paid upfront, the landlord must give a signed receipt that separates rent from charges (art. 11), so ask for the receipt to say which part is deposit, which is rent and which months it covers. Disputes over deductions usually turn on the move-in and move-out inventories (art. 7 and 8), which is why a detailed, dated inventory matters. Wear from normal use, accidents, force majeure, age, building defects and damage from repairs the landlord was told about and did not do are not the tenant's responsibility (art. 14). A deposit dispute goes to the court of first instance where the home is (art. 71). Our scam guide covers advance-payment frauds.

The starting rent is free: the parties agree the conditions and the rent, within the law (Law 67-12, art. 2). There are no rent control zones and no reference rents. What the law controls is increases. The parties may agree in the lease how and by how much the rent will be revised, but no increase may be agreed within three years of the lease being signed or of the last revision, by agreement or by a court, and no agreed increase may exceed the legal rates (art. 31 and 32). Where nothing was agreed, the rent can be revised after at least three years at 8% for a home and 10% for professional premises (art. 33 and 34). For a rent of MAD 400 a month or less, the court may set a different increase, up to 50% (art. 35).

If the tenant does not accept an increase, the landlord must go to the court of first instance. The new rent applies from the date of the court claim, or from the date the tenant received the landlord's formal notice if the claim is filed within three months of it (art. 37 and 38); either side can appeal within 30 days (art. 38). A tenant can ask the court to reduce the rent if circumstances have affected the use of the home for its purpose (art. 36), but may not stop paying because of a nuisance or defect: the remedy is to ask the court for a reduction in proportion to the harm (art. 21). Every payment must be met with a signed receipt separating rent from charges (art. 11).

For context on affordability: the national social security fund (CNSS) reported a median declared monthly wage of MAD 3,363 and a mean of MAD 6,149 for private-sector employees in 2025 (CNSS statistical report for 2025, as reported by Aujourd'hui le Maroc in September 2026). The legal minimum wage outside agriculture (SMIG) rose 5% on 1 January 2026 to MAD 17.92 an hour, about MAD 3,423 gross a month on the standard 191 hours (Decree 2-25-983). Pending: in January 2026 the Secretary of State for Housing told Parliament the government was studying a 'regulated rent' model about 20% below market rents, aimed at the middle class, with first results due at the end of March 2026 (Le360, 13 January 2026); as of 2026-10 we found no published result or text.

Whatever the lease says, a home lease under Law 67-12 ends only after a notice to vacate (préavis d'éviction) and, where the tenant does not leave, a court's validation of it (art. 44). The end of a fixed term therefore does not end the tenancy by itself. A landlord who wants the home back must serve a notice that states the reason, covers the whole home and gives at least two months, served through the formal routes of the Code of Civil Procedure (usually a court bailiff) (art. 46). The notice must rest on a serious and legitimate reason, such as: taking the home back to live in it, or for a spouse, parent or child (and some heirs and children in legal care); demolition, rebuilding or necessary works that require the tenant to leave; or persistent failure to pay (art. 45). The court can validate a notice only on these grounds (art. 48).

The own-use ground has two conditions: the landlord must have owned the home for at least 18 months at the date of the notice, and the person who will live there must not own a home that meets their needs, unless the landlord offers the tenant a similar home at the same rent (art. 49). After demolition or rebuilding the tenant has a right to come back, if claimed within two months of the landlord's notice that the work is finished (art. 50). When the court validates a notice, the landlord must pay the tenant's proven moving costs plus compensation equal to one year's rent (art. 51). The article makes no exception for a notice based on unpaid rent, and we found no official guidance on how courts apply it in that case, so whether it is paid there is uncertain. If the reason turns out to be false or is not carried out, the tenant can claim at least one year's rent in damages (art. 52). A landlord can also ask the court to end the lease without any notice where the tenant misuses the home, alters it without consent, neglects it so as to cause serious damage, fails to pay after a formal payment order, or uses it for illegal or immoral purposes (art. 56).

Unpaid rent has a fast procedure: with the court president's leave, the landlord serves a payment order giving the tenant at least 15 days to pay, and the president can confirm it with an order to pay within 48 hours of the request (art. 23 to 27). A landlord who carries on with the procedure in bad faith after being paid owes the tenant between two and six months' rent (art. 30). A tenant who stays on after the lease has ended or been terminated owes compensation set by the court of at least twice the rent (art. 13). Law 67-12 sets no notice period for a tenant who wants to leave: that is a matter for the lease, so check the clause before signing. On the tenant's death the lease continues for a spouse, children or parents who depended on and lived with the tenant (art. 53), and after a divorce it can continue for the mother who has custody of the children (art. 54).

The landlord must hand over the home with its annexes and the equipment listed in the lease, and a home must meet basic standards for its rooms, ventilation, kitchen, toilet, electricity and water (Law 67-12, art. 5). If it does not, the parties can agree in writing, before move-in, which works the tenant will do and how the cost comes off the rent (art. 6). The landlord must keep the home fit for the use agreed and do all necessary repairs; if the landlord does not do them within a month of being formally notified, the tenant can ask the president of the court of first instance for an order setting the cost and allowing the tenant to do the work and deduct it from the rent (art. 10). Small repairs from normal use fall on the tenant unless the lease says otherwise: doors, windows, glass, bolts and locks, electrical fittings, tiling, painting, ironwork, blinds and grilles, and taps and sanitary fittings (art. 19). The tenant may not make alterations without the landlord's written consent (art. 15) and must report problems promptly (art. 18). If the landlord's works deprive the tenant of the home for more than three days, the tenant can end the lease or ask the court for a rent reduction (art. 17).

The tenant pays the rent and the charges the lease or the law puts on the tenant, meaning the services needed to use the home (art. 12); the lease must say which charges these are (art. 3). Co-ownership charges billed by the building's syndic are owed by the owners under the co-ownership law, Law 18-00, so a tenant pays them only if the lease lists them. Local taxes are the owner's: the taxe d'habitation (housing tax) applies only to homes the owner lives in or lends to family (Law 47-06, art. 19), and the taxe de services communaux (municipal services tax) on a let home is charged in the owner's name at 10.5% of the rent inside urban areas (art. 33, 35 and 36). Since Law 14-25 (Bulletin officiel of 3 July 2025) both taxes are run by the national tax administration (DGI) rather than the communes (Law 47-06, art. 167, consolidated text of 3 July 2025).

Water and electricity are normally in the tenant's name with the local distributor. In the Casablanca-Settat region the Société Régionale Multiservices (SRM Casablanca-Settat) replaced Lydec on 1 October 2024 for drinking water, electricity and sewerage, under Law 83-21 on regional multi-service companies (Le360, 30 September 2024). As a private company running a public service it is bound by the supplier duties of the consumer protection law (Law 31-08, art. 2). Agent's fees: no law regulates estate agents or their fees. A bill to regulate the profession was tabled in 2014 and was still not adopted in 2018 (Finances News, October 2018), and we found no adopted law as of 2026-10. The customary letting fee is one month's rent, charged even by informal go-betweens (samsar) (Finances News, March 2017), so agree in writing who pays it before any viewing.

Morocco has no address register that a tenant must join, and nothing like Spain's padrón or Germany's Anmeldung. The lease itself is the key document: it records each party's identity document (Law 67-12, art. 3), and it is what a tenant shows to get a certificat de résidence (certificate of residence), the proof of address asked for by Moroccan administrations, for example to issue or renew the electronic national identity card (CNIE). Guides note that some offices want a lease with legalised signatures or a recent bill in the tenant's name (demarchesmaroc.com, as of 2026-10). That is one more reason to have the signatures legalised.

Moroccans identify themselves with the CNIE. Foreign residents hold a residence card (carte d'immatriculation, or titre de séjour), issued by the national police (DGSN) where they live; the same police service issues certificates of residence to foreigners (demarchesmaroc.com, as of 2026-10). No law lists what else a landlord may ask for. Expect to show a passport or residence card, because the lease must name your identity document, and be ready for requests for an employment contract or payslips. Keep copies of the signed lease, the inventory and every receipt: you will need them for the utility contracts, the residence certificate and any dispute.

A tenant may not sublet a home or assign the lease without the landlord's consent in a writing with a date certaine, unless the lease allows it (Law 67-12, art. 39). This reverses the general rule of the Code of Obligations and Contracts, which lets a tenant sublet unless forbidden (DOC, art. 668). The written consent must state the new rent, any charges and the other agreed terms (art. 39). Anyone other than the tenant living in the home for more than three months counts as a subtenant or assignee (art. 39). If the sublet charges more than the original rent for the part sublet, the landlord can ask for the original rent to go up by the difference (art. 42).

An unlawful subtenant or assignee is treated as an occupant with no right or title, and the landlord can ask the urgent-matters judge to order both that person and the tenant out; once the order is made, the sublet and the original lease are both ended by law (art. 43). For a subtenant that is a serious risk: before paying, ask to see the landlord's written consent and the head lease, and pay against a receipt. Our scam guide covers the frauds where someone without the right to let takes the deposit.

To let a home legally: sign a written lease with the required contents and a date certaine (legalised signatures or registration) (Law 67-12, art. 3; DOC, art. 425); make a detailed, dated inventory at move-in and move-out (art. 7 and 8); deliver a home that meets the basic standards (art. 5); take no more than two months' rent as a guarantee and return it within a month of the keys (art. 20); give a signed receipt for every payment (art. 11); raise the rent no more than once every three years and by no more than 8% (art. 32 to 34); and end the tenancy only by a notice on a legal ground, validated by the court if the tenant stays (art. 44 to 51). No licence, landlord register or energy certificate is required for ordinary lets. The owner pays the taxe de services communaux, 10.5% of the rent in urban areas (Law 47-06, art. 35 and 36).

Tax: rental income of individuals is subject to income tax (IR). We could not open the official 2026 tax code (Code général des impôts), so what follows is a tax consultancy's reading of it. Since the 2023 Finance Law it is declared in the annual income return due before 1 March of the following year and taxed on the progressive scale after a flat 40% allowance (Code général des impôts, art. 64, as summarised by Upsilon Consulting, 2026). When the tenant is a company, a public body or a professional taxed on actual or simplified profits, the tenant must withhold tax at source from the gross rent, 10% where the year's gross rent is below MAD 120,000 and 15% from MAD 120,000, and pay it to the Treasury; the landlord deducts it from the tax due on the return (CGI, art. 160 bis, as summarised by Upsilon Consulting, 2026). Since the 2025 Finance Law a landlord whose rent is withheld at source can instead opt for a final 20% levy on the gross rent (CGI, art. 64-IV and 73-II-F, as summarised by Upsilon Consulting, 2026). Letting a furnished home is treated as professional income, not rental income, and gets no 40% allowance (same source). The scale from 2025 is 0% up to MAD 40,000 of taxable income a year, then 10%, 20%, 30%, 34% and 37% above MAD 180,000 (PwC, reviewed April 2026). Some summaries still describe 10% and 15% as final rates; check your case against the current Code général des impôts or with the DGI.

Short lets: Law 67-12 does not cover lets of 30 days or less (art. 1). Law 80-14 on tourist establishments and other forms of tourist accommodation (Bulletin officiel of 15 October 2015) covers, among others, 'hébergement chez l'habitant', where a private person hosts tourists in the home where they live; running one needs an authorisation with a cahier des charges (specification), insurance against fire, theft of guests' belongings and civil liability, and a daily electronic declaration of guests (art. 29, 30, 34 and 36). The implementing decree, adopted in July 2023 and in force since its publication in the Bulletin officiel in August 2023, has the local authorities grant these licences after consulting the services concerned (Le360, 16 August 2023). In December 2025 the Minister of Justice told Parliament that short lets through online platforms fall under Law 80-14 and that decree (Hespress, 22 December 2025), but operators said in May 2026 that the specification needed to apply for the licence had still not been published (Le360, 17 May 2026). Pending: in January 2026 the Secretary of State for Housing said platform short lets should be regulated by decree; no text had been published as of 2026-10.

Morocco has no rent tribunal or tenancy board: disputes under Law 67-12 go to the court of first instance where the home is (art. 71). The president of that court handles the fast procedures: the payment order for unpaid rent (art. 23 to 27), the order letting a tenant do repairs the landlord has neglected and deduct them from the rent (art. 10), and, as urgent-matters judge, orders against unlawful occupants and on abandoned homes (art. 43 and 57 to 70). Rent increases, validation of a notice to vacate and claims for compensation go to the court itself; judgments under the law are not provisionally enforceable, except payment orders and judgments to pay, and the court may make an eviction for non-payment provisionally enforceable (art. 72). The court can also order the landlord to pay compensation for a false eviction reason (art. 52) or a bad-faith payment order (art. 30).

The consumer protection law, Law 31-08 of 2011, applies between consumers and professional suppliers (art. 2): it can reach an estate agency, and the water and electricity distributors, but not usually a private landlord. It makes unfair clauses in consumer contracts void (art. 15 to 19), and consumer associations set up under the law inform and defend consumers (art. 152). Neither tenants nor landlords have a national union or association that handles individual cases, so most people use a lawyer, a court-appointed bailiff for formal notices, or the commune's office for legalising signatures. The texts of the laws are free on the Ministry of Justice's Adala portal. This page is information, not legal advice: for a live dispute, see a lawyer.