créance à l'encontre de X

12:36 Jan 8, 2014 

and there may be other amounts due by the landlord - e.g., the tenant pays advances to water, heating... which may exceed the actual consumption, etc. In the first part, whatever the landlord might owe to the tenant, it will be first compensated with any amount due by the tenant to the landlord that the landlord can oppose to the tenant's claim (exciper). In the second part, if the tenant goes bust, the landlord can use the deposit and then claim the residual amount in the bankruptcy proceedings. It protects his right to the deposit, as it could be argued that, to protect other creditors, he should pay the deposit into the estate and then claim the entire amount.

11:52 Jan 8, 2014 

Yes, but the landlord currently holds the "dépôt de garantie" (at his bank or wherever) and he owes this back to the tenant (after the impact of claims etc.).