ScruttonStreet

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to answer, it is providing a lot of food for thought. I think you may be right about not renting, the only issue will be that we will probably not use it for more than a few weekends and a couple of months in a year, so seems a bit of a waste to have it lying empty.

Thank you for the reply Andy. In our case that would mean E220 a month for gas, electricty and water E60 a month for phone/tv internet E200 a month in council tax E100 a month for insurance E150 a month for general maintenance/sink fund E150 a month for house management (we let our house out a couple of months per year in London and this is what we pay the firm) Does that sound about right?

First, I have already learnt a lot of information here, so thank you for everyone who contributs to this forum. Second, apologies if this has been asked before - I had a quick look but can't find anything. My wife and I have been going to the Dordogne (expensive area I know) for the last ten years, and sometime in the next couple of years we'd like to buy. Ideally we'd be looking at around E450k. In an ideal world we'd like to use it as a second home but rent it out sufficiently to pay the bills. But I have no idea of the sort of costs owning a house as an oveseas user would be. Particularly in terms of: Utilities Tax Phone/internet Insurance Maintenance Property management/pool maintenance General running costs Anything I haven't thought of I appreciate this is very general, but could anyone hazard a guess?