Two Couples, One Apartment: the Cohabitation Trend Reaching Monaco
Publié par Paolo Petrini le 09/07/2026
Temps de lecture
14
min.
Living in Monaco
With rents up 8 to 15% in one year according to our internal 2025 data, a discreet phenomenon is gaining ground in the Principality: couples are choosing to share the same apartment to split the rental burden, without giving up their resident card. Two couples of friends in a three-room apartment, parents living with their adult child and that child's partner, or same-sex couples now treated like any other household: living as two couples under one roof in Monaco is possible, subject to the assessment, always case by case, of the Section des Résidents, the residents department of Monaco's Sûreté Publique. Our agency, which manages a portfolio of apartments for rent in Monaco, assists a growing number of such applications every year. Here is what is actually permitted, what is not, and how to build a solid application.
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Key takeawaysTwo couples, one roof
Key takeaways: two couples under one roof in Monaco
Living as two couples under one roof in Monaco is possible and allows each occupant to obtain residency, provided the home is suited to the number of people living in it. The essential points observed by our agency in 2026.
Who decidesOnly the Sûreté Publique, Section des Résidents, authorises residency in Monaco: each case is unique, Petrini shares its field experience but never makes the decision. Official contact goes through the Monegasque public service website or +377 93 15 30 15.
PrincipleMonegasque regulations require a home of a size suited to the number of people living in it, without imposing any family relationship between the occupants.
FamilyParents may live with their adult child and that child's spouse or partner: four residents in the same apartment, in a home with at least two bedrooms.
Same-sex couplesSince Law no. 1.481 on the contrat de vie commune, the Monegasque cohabitation agreement in force since June 2020, a same-sex couple is treated like any couple: a two-room apartment is enough for two residents, and our analysis of the rights of same-sex couples in Monaco details this evolution.
Rental contextMonegasque rents rose by 8 to 15% on average in 2025 according to Petrini's internal data, across a private stock of around 17 000 homes.
VigilanceThe lease, accommodation certificates and resident card renewals must remain consistent with one another: the departure of one couple can weaken the other couple's file.
Strategic advice: before signing a lease together, have the exact configuration of the household (number of occupants, relationships between them, size of the home) validated against the requirements of the Sûreté Publique. A missing document always comes to light at the worst moment, when the application is filed.
Why are couples sharing an apartment in Monaco?
The answer lies in one figure: according to our internal analysis covering January to August 2025, Monegasque rents rose by 8 to 15% on average in one year, with peaks of +37% on an ultra-prime re-letting. A typical two-room apartment thus went from 5 300 € to 5 800 € per month in one year, an increase of 9.5%. These figures, detailed in our analysis of the Monegasque rental market, mechanically explain the emergence of rent-sharing strategies.
Supply, meanwhile, is not keeping pace. Monaco's housing stock comprises around 21 000 homes, of which nearly 4 000 are State-owned apartments reserved for Monegasque nationals: the market genuinely accessible to foreign residents is limited to some 17 000 private properties, facing international demand that shows no sign of weakening. In this context, sharing a three-room apartment between two couples often amounts to nearly halving an expense that runs to several thousand euros a month.
The phenomenon remains measured, but it is new. These requests for cohabitation by two couples, almost non-existent as recently as two years ago, appeared with the surge in rents and have been recurring, in the summer of 2026, among the enquiries reaching our agency, through the website as well as through our network. Our teams do not speak of a wave, rather of a signal that is settling in: rental candidates who now think in terms of four people where, only yesterday, they would have thought in terms of two.
What do Monegasque regulations say about residents' housing?
To obtain a resident card, every applicant over the age of 16 must provide proof of accommodation in the Principality through one of the four means accepted by the administration: owning the property, being a tenant, being a director or shareholder of a company that owns the property, or being accommodated by a close relative, a spouse or a partner with whom they live as a couple. The general framework stems from Sovereign Ordinance no. 3.153 of 19 March 1964 (Ordonnance Souveraine n° 3.153 du 19 mars 1964) on the conditions of entry and residence of foreigners, and the practical arrangements are set out by the Monegasque public service.
On the size of the home, the official text deliberately retains a flexible wording: the home must be of a size suited to the needs of the people living in it. No public scale sets a minimum surface area per occupant. It is the Section des Résidents of the Sûreté Publique that assesses each file, configuration by configuration, at the time of the application and then at each renewal. This flexibility in the text makes field experience all the more valuable: it is consistent administrative practice, more than the letter of the law, that draws the real rules of the game we describe below.
Can two unrelated couples live in the same apartment?
Yes, two couples with no family ties can live in the same apartment in Monaco and each apply for residency there, subject to one constant condition observed by our agency with the Section des Résidents: having at least a three-room apartment, that is, two genuine bedrooms. The administrative logic is clear: each couple must have its own bedroom, the living room not being counted as a sleeping room.
In practical terms, the lease must reflect the reality of the household. Either all four occupants appear on the rental agreement, or one couple holds the lease and accommodates the second, with an accommodation certificate in due form. Financial means are still assessed individually: each applicant must demonstrate sufficient resources to live in Monaco, and sharing the rent exempts no one from this requirement, as the conditions for living in Monaco we detail elsewhere make clear.
The case arose at our agency last month: two couples with no family connection who, rather than renting two apartments, looked from the outset for a property for four in order to split the rent in two. The owner saw no objection. The essential point remained, and we repeat it systematically: a real estate agency can prepare the ground and structure the application, but it grants no residency approval. The decision belongs to the Section des Résidents alone, case by case. In this instance, the configuration was accepted; nothing guarantees that it would be accepted identically for another household.
Can you accommodate your adult child and their partner under your roof?
Yes, this configuration is possible: a couple of resident parents may accommodate their adult child together with that child's spouse or partner, and all four adults may apply for residency at the same address. Possible does not mean guaranteed: in a strictly identical configuration, the Section des Résidents may accept as well as refuse, each household being assessed on its own merits. Accommodation by a close relative is explicitly listed among the accepted means of proving housing, and a direct family tie makes the assessment of the file easier. Here again, the size of the home remains the key: for two cohabiting couples, the administration expects two bedrooms, with some flexibility possibly coming from the overall surface of the property.
This formula appeals to families for whom setting the young couple up in an independent home would represent a prohibitive budget. It also makes it possible to prepare a smooth handover: the young couple builds up its years of residence, an essential condition for one day claiming the privileged resident card, as we explain in our guide to Monegasque residency and nationality, two statuses that are too often confused.
We recently assisted with an application of this kind: a couple of parents visited a three-room apartment with our teams, then asked us after the visit about the possibility of obtaining residency for four people, namely themselves, their adult son and his partner. The son's presence raised no question, the family tie being direct. The whole originality of the file lay with the daughter-in-law, who had no family connection with the leaseholders. The request fell, here again, within the sole discretion of the Section des Résidents, and this four-person configuration was able to succeed.
Can a same-sex couple obtain residency in Monaco?
Yes, a same-sex couple is today treated like any other couple for the assessment of housing: two men or two women living as a couple can obtain residency in a two-room apartment, that is, a single bedroom, exactly like a married couple. The legal turning point dates from Law no. 1.481 of 17 December 2019 (loi n° 1.481 du 17 décembre 2019) on civil solidarity contracts, which came into force on 27 June 2020: two partners, whatever their sex, may enter into a contrat de vie commune, a cohabitation agreement that gives their life together a legal framework. The same law created the contrat de cohabitation for members of the same family living under one roof.
This is a notable evolution in practice, one that our agency now observes unambiguously in the applications it assists. The contrat de vie commune, while not compulsory to demonstrate life as a couple, considerably simplifies the preparation of the accommodation file.
How does the Section des Résidents assess these applications?
The Section des Résidents assesses these applications on three points: the suitability of the home for the number of occupants, the traceability of occupancy in the documents provided, and each applicant's own financial resources. The guiding thread is consistency between these three elements, to be anticipated from the moment the property search begins.
- Suitability of the home: the number of bedrooms in relation to the number of couples, one bedroom per couple remaining the constant practical benchmark.
- Traceability of occupancy: a lease, amendment or accommodation certificate stating precisely who lives in the home, with up-to-date supporting documents (a recent electricity bill in particular).
- Individual resources: each applicant provides proof of their own means (employment, business activity, bank savings or support from the spouse or partner, with a formal declaration).
A well-prepared cohabitation file takes no longer to process than a standard application. Conversely, an inconsistency between the number of declared occupants and the type of property almost systematically leads to requests for additional documents, or even to having to change homes in the middle of the procedure. Our guide to settling in Monaco details the timeline and the documents of the residency application step by step.
One point must be perfectly clear: no real estate agency decides on residency in Monaco, and ours no more than any other. The practical sequence is always the same: a visit to the property, then, if the candidate wishes to proceed, the floor plan of the apartment is handed over; it is then the client who goes in person to the Sûreté Publique, Section des Résidents, to have the configuration of their household validated, and the lease is signed only afterwards. Each case is unique and falls under the sole authorisation of the administration, which is entirely independent of real estate professionals.
Petrini Exclusive Real Estate Monaco, a Monegasque real estate agency specialising in luxury property, rentals and support for future residents in Monte-Carlo, Larvotto, Fontvieille and La Condamine, brings to this journey its experience and its advice, nothing more: preparing a consistent application, never deciding on it.
In the files our teams see, the most frequent mistake is always the same: signing the lease before having the household configuration validated. An attractive apartment with only one genuine bedroom will never make a residency application for two couples, however carefully the rest of the file is assembled.
Which configuration for which home? The summary table
The table below summarises the cohabitation configurations we encounter and the minimum housing type observed in practice. These are field observations by our agency, the administration retaining its discretionary power over each application.
Summary tableConfigurations and housing
| Household configuration | Occupants | Minimum housing observed | Petrini benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Couple (married, under a contrat de vie commune or cohabiting), including same-sex couples | 2 | 2 rooms (1 bedroom) | The contrat de vie commune simplifies the accommodation part of the file |
| Two unrelated couples | 4 | 3 rooms (2 bedrooms) | Lease in all four names or a precise accommodation certificate |
| Parents + adult child living as a couple | 4 | 3 rooms (2 bedrooms) | The family tie makes the processing of the file easier |
Table produced by Petrini Exclusive Real Estate, based on the applications assisted by the agency and the administrative practice observed in 2025-2026. Each application remains subject to the sovereign assessment of the Sûreté Publique, Section des Résidents.
Living as four under one roof: points to check before signing
Sharing an apartment reduces the rent, not the obligations. Four points deserve particular attention before committing to a joint tenancy in the Principality, a new form of flat sharing that follows rules of its own.
The first is joint liability under the lease: when all four occupants sign the contract, a solidarity clause can make each couple liable for the entire rent if the other defaults. The second is the departure of one couple: since the resident card is tied to the declared home, the remaining couple can find itself in an apartment that has become oversized for its budget, and the departing couple must provide proof of a new home for its renewal. The third is the renewal of the cards: the configuration of the household is re-examined at each renewal, and an undeclared change weakens all the files. The fourth, finally, is the level of resources: sharing the rent lightens the monthly burden but does not reduce the overall budget that life in Monaco requires, whose orders of magnitude we set out in our article on the minimum budget for living in Monaco, bank deposit included.
A response of its time to a market under pressure
Couple cohabitation is neither a trick nor a grey area: it is a rational response, acceptable in the administration's eyes as long as the home follows, to a rental market whose fundamentals will not change. Supply will remain scarce, international demand strong, and the Principality will continue to attract profiles for whom Monegasque residency is well worth a few compromises on space. In the meantime, a three-room apartment shared between two couples remains, per square metre actually lived in, one of the shrewdest ways to secure an address in Monaco.
FAQTwo couples, one roof
FAQ: living as more than one couple in an apartment in Monaco
- Can two couples live in the same apartment in Monaco?
Yes, it is possible. The regulations require a home of a size suited to the number of occupants: for two couples, the observed practice is a three-room apartment with two bedrooms. Each application remains subject to the assessment of the Sûreté Publique, Section des Résidents, case by case. - What size of apartment is needed for two couples in Monaco?
At least a three-room apartment in observed practice, meaning two genuine bedrooms: each couple must have its own, the living room not being counted as a sleeping room. No public scale sets a minimum surface area, the administration assesses each household individually. - Can a same-sex couple obtain residency in Monaco?
Yes. Since Law no. 1.481 on civil solidarity contracts, in force since 27 June 2020, a same-sex couple is treated like any couple: a two-room apartment is enough for two residents living as a couple, and the contrat de vie commune makes the file easier. - Can you accommodate your child and their partner in your apartment in Monaco?
Yes, accommodation by a close relative is one of the accepted means of proving housing. Parents, an adult child and that child's partner may apply for residency at the same address, with at least two bedrooms. Acceptance is never automatic and remains assessed case by case. - Who decides whether several couples can reside at the same address in Monaco?
The Sûreté Publique, Section des Résidents, is the sole decision-maker. An agency such as Petrini Exclusive Real Estate Monaco prepares the file and shares its field experience, but it is the applicant who goes to the administration to have the household configuration validated.
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