My wife and I plan to move to France next year(2012). We plan to rent a house in our chosen area and use this as a base from which we can look for a property to buy as our permanent home. My question is this - it seems to be the case that in order to rent a property we will require, among other things, a guarantor for our rental payments - Who or what constitutes an acceptable guarantor - can we use a relative who does not reside in France or does the guarantor need to be resident/based in France?