Interesting with respect to France (which I know nothing about so I will go with what you are saying). But I am a landlord in the US and there is no such restr

Interesting with respect to France (which I know nothing about so I will go with what you are saying). But I am a landlord in the US and there is no such restriction and in fact it's written into the lease that I can enter. (Can this be written into the lease in France or it can't no matter what?) Actually by what you are saying "permission of the renter" it would seem that a lease could be written with this in advance, correct? Anyway, it seems, from what you are saying, that the landlord in France is same as the police here. They can't enter without a court order but they can enter if, for example, a crime is being committed or if they suspect someone is in distress inside. Separately (as far as France) I wonder what the distinction is between things that are illegal and things that are actually prosecuted. After all there are many things that are illegal in the US that are de minimis such that nothing will ever happen if it is "small potatoes".