Your Gateway To France - Rental Services

Long Term Letting Service In France

Why not advertise your property in France for Long Term Let? This could give you a good regular return on your investment.

Questions regarding renting property in France

You may have some questions regarding the suitability of your house, what is the market like for long-term lets, how can I advertise and attract customers to rent my property out, how much can I charge for long term letting, should I charge for additional bills such as utilities or should I include them in the rental charge, how can I be paid?

Why use the term long-term let?

Long-term let means extending any let from one month or more, which is a different type of letting from the usual holiday rentals which can be one, two or three weeks in length.

The market for long-term lets?

The market for long-term lets in France is growing year on year. With most of these lets being catered for periods of up to six months, but there is also another long-term let which is becoming ever increasingly popular which is the 2 to 3 months period.

This 2 to 3 months period is often people who have found a house, and they would like to move over to France as soon as possible. They have very often or not sold their property in England and are in rented accommodation in the UK, and would like to start theirFrench life.

Who will be my customers?

House hunters do make up the majority of people looking to rent on a long-term basis, and some like to visit different areas, so they can stay in several properties.

There will be on occasions when people are here in France, but their long-term let is coming to an end, and they can’t renew the contract as there will be another letting taken place in the property they are staying in.

There are also customers such as retirees, and people taking sabbaticals which often are lets which are taken off-season as the cost of renting for a month or more in the summer can be expensive or prohibitive.

There are also those people who have bought land and are waiting for their houses to be built, this process can take anything up to 2 years to complete. So long-term lets of a year or more can be sort.

Will my property be suitable for long-term let?

With most of the long-term letting market being in the winter, one of the considerations should be has my property got central heating, or adequate heating in the winter. The south of France can experience very cold weather, just as much as somewhere like the Alps and Auvergne.

If you are offering your property furnished, you should also ask yourself have you enough kitchen appliances such as fridge, freezer, washing machine, tumble drier, microwave, dishwasher, etc., you should not expect a long-term tenant to keep going out every day to purchase food, as they would on a holiday.

You should also make sure your property is well lit with suitable lighting for reading during the longer evenings.
Has your property got any rugs, particularly if you have wood or stone floors, which makes it feel cosy sitting in front of the wood burning stove.

Should I furnish my property for long-term letting or leave it unfurnished?

This will depend if you are also considering advertising your property for holiday rental as well. If you furnish your property you will be able to advertise for holiday rental and long-term lets, which means you could yield in the summer higher revenue as well as possibly obtaining some winter income.

Leaving it Unfurnished

You can choose to leave your property unfurnished which can lead you to offering your house to both the French market and the UK market. There are people who have sold their existing house in the UK, and would like to bring their furniture over with them while they rent, rather than pay to have their furniture into storage and paying for rental.

There is also the French market to consider, where they take their furniture from house to house, like the UK market.

How can I advertise my property?

You can advertise your property with us Your Gateway 2 France. There will be full details of your property on our website, with photographs, what is included in the rental price, details if utilities are paid as extra, heating systems, storage facilities available, and if required, a link to your website and your direct contact details.

It is preferable if the prospective tenant actually visit your property so they can make their mind up to see if it will be suitable for them. It will also give you an opportunity to see if they will be suitable as tenants, if you are based in England you will not be able to do this, we can go with the prospective tenants on your behalf, please enquire for details.

How much can I charge per month?

This is a very difficult question to answer – you can apply a discount of around 20 – 30% over the standard low season weekly prices you charge for lets of up to 3 months. You may wish to give a higher discount on longer term lets.

Should I charge for utilities and extras?

You ought to make the decision on whether you charge for services such as gas, oil, electricity, water, telephone etc. You can charge the tenant at cost for all the services and additional expenses such as logs, linen etc., water can be included in the rental price.

You need to set out clearly what is included and what isn’t included in the rental price from the word go. You can do this in writing advising on the cost of electricity, litre of oil, gas, price of gas cylinders and unit cost for telephone. You should also let the tenant know, if they are liable to pay for the standing charges such as electricity, telephone. By letting the tenant know the costs before entering into an agreement, there will be little room for confusions or any misunderstandings when it comes to paying the bills.

If you have a long let of a year, then it may be advisable to transfer all the utility into the tenant’s name; this could also include the local residence tax (taxe d’habitation). The property tax (taxe fonciere) is payable by the owner of the property.

There is another tax call (taxe de sejour) which is set at local level by the town councils (conseil municipal) which can vary from between a few centimes to over one Euro per person per night depending on your locality and time of year. Check with your Mairie to see if or when this tax applies in your commune and the amount payable.

How to receive payment?

Asking for a deposit up front is definitely advisable; this will reserve the period for the tenant and can also act as pre-payment for utilities. You can ask for one month’s rental as your deposit, as well as asking for the first month’s rental to be paid on arrival and subsequent month’s rental to be paid at the start of each month.

You need to decide on whether you will take Euro cheques, or sterling cheques, but make this clear on the outset.

It may also be prudent to take a cheque to cover for any damages; this can be left un-cashed and given back to the tenant if nothing is damage after their rental period.

Information for Long Term Lets

For bookings in excess of 3 months we believe it is essential to have a formal French tenancy agreement in place, from the point of view of both owner and tenant.

(For bookings of less than 3 months you can use a holiday booking agreement).

The tenancy agreement, or Contrat de Location Habitation Meublée, sets out in detail, in French, all the terms and conditions which need to be agreed in writing between owner and tenant and lists the rights and obligations of both parties. The information covered in this includes:

• Full names of owners and tenants
  
• The full address of the property being rented
  
• The precise dates of the booking
  
• The monthly rent payable and when it is due
  
• Details of responsibility for the payment of utility bills such as water, electricity, gas etc.
  And any other terms which are legal and which are agreed in writing by both parties in advance, e.g:-
  
• Permission to keep pets, with any restrictions or conditions required by the owner
  
• Maximum number of visitors allowed at any one time
  
• Requirement to secure all doors, windows and shutters when the property is empty
  
• Responsibility for tending the garden
  
• A ‘no smoking’ clause, if required.
  

Two further documents should accompany the Contrat de Location. First, an Etat des Lieux, which is a brief but detailed description of the decorative order of the property, so that is clear whether any minor damage (e.g. scratched paintwork, marks on walls, stains on carpets etc) was incurred before or after the tenancy began. Also the owner should produce an inventory listing what is contained at the property. Both the Etat des Lieux and the Inventory should be signed by both owner and tenant.

So, by having a Contrat de Location you should ensure a trouble free tenancy. Everything is set out in detail and signed by both parties prior to the commencement of the booking. Failure to comply with any of the agreed terms nullifies the booking. Far better to do this for both owner and tenant than to enter into a booking relying on terms only discussed verbally several months prior.

Please also note that an English tenancy agreement is not valid under French law.