Originally Posted by EuroTrash

I believe most landlords take out insurance against non payment of rent, so in theory it would be the insurer's problem not the landlord's. Insurers have strict conditions on the tenants they will cover, generally they won't cover any tenant who isn't a permanent employee of a well established French company, and I believe that as a last resort the court can make arrangements with the tenant's employer for monthly reimbursements to be deducted from the employee's salary and paid direct to the landlord or the insurer.
But despite all these mechanisms, insurers will always find ways to wriggle out of paying if they can, and if a tenant racks up a lot of debt and then leaves their job and vanishes there's not a lot can be done. I have a lot of sympathy for landlords.