Fumanzoku

No kidding, and I speak from bitter experience. I have a lawyer and an economist in my house who haven't paid the rent since January. Favour or no favour, if people are in your house, and you want them out at some point, and you don't want your house trashed, do what you can to protect yourself. My experience so far has been 100% negative, I trusted, and have paid and am paying for it.

Sounds great, be sure to get a good deposit though.

I think you've made two valuable points JW. In all the cases I cited above the landlords are absentee, and I'm certain, particularly in my present case, the tenants intended to take advantage of this from the start. And yes, without them accepting a hefty deposit, it's probably better to pass, what do you usually ask for?

This dodgy tenant lark is getting ridiculous. I think the word must've gone out that you can have a nice six month holiday in France by paying no rent and the law will do nowt about it. I'm on my second batch of dodgies now, the last sweet family of five left without paying the last months rent and then went on to repeat that at their next place, andd now my present tenants haven't paid since January - and no, they aren't on welfare, they are an 'economist' and a lawyer, Ha! Add to that my keyholder has just said she no longer wishes to be part of all this as her friend has just blamed her for getting some other tenants who haven't paid since December. I don't think the risk-reward ratio is worth it anymore, what about the rest of you?

In light of recent discussions regarding problem tenants, it seems that, particularly for absentee landlords such as myself, employing an agent would have obvious advantages. Personally, I decided not to do this when I learnt that none of the local agencies were any good; they'd take the rent and their percentage, but would do little else, not even trying to get new tenants, they were even unreliable in showing tenants you found round the property, and would do little or nothing to sort out any subsequent problems. What are peoples' experiences of using an agency for long-term rents? What minimum services can we demand from them? What is a reasonable percentage to pay them? Are they worth employing - in France?

"In Australia there is now a database for landlords/property owners to place names of people who do this very sort of thing, also if you get 4 weeks behind in your rent your name is added." There you are, that's what is needed. How does this stand with the law in Oz?

It's been quite a few years since I was au fait with this market. I wonder if anyone has up to date info/links on what's available? There used to be an excellent little free magaziine called the Independent that had a comparison chart of all the bank's pluses and minuses, I haven't found anything like it yet online. I'm looking for an online instant access multi-currency account, preferably with the Yuan included, with a  Euro debit card.

I have already been named and shamed on here. I mean my name, full address and telephone number.It is not nice and I was angry and upset about it.  AND I HAD NOT done anything wrong apart from posting a post about France. I'd suggest the offended owner(s) should be obliged to identify themselves, and perhaps provide some proof to support their accusations.

Much as I sympathise I think you will have to be extremely careful about this, as you know the Code of Conduct includes a no naming and shaming clause and that includes giving 'clues' about peoples identity. In addition I think the legal position is the same as if you actually name someone (but I'm happy to be corrected) Where the forum can help is by discussing how to get the situation resolved. Other people may have been similarly effected and be able to advise how best to proceed. Russethouse, perhaps I didn't express myself well, but I'm not suggesting using a forum for this purpose. I think this would be best served by a dedicated website.

With reference to my original post on the Gite thread "They come in every form", and the follow-on thread "Dodgy Tenants"; I have since located the family I spoke of, who did the proverbial  'runner', and would you Adam and Eve it, they are doing it all over again in their new place. I am corresponding with their distraught new landlady who doesn't know what to do. As you will all know from the Dodgy Tenants thread there is/was at least one other family of five who have recently been 'on tour' of homes in Vendee/Deux Sevres. So my question is, what is to be done? What about creating an online blacklist with all the legal caveats? Or must we form a secret-society of dodgy tenant monitors?  Once named these people will have a hard time abusing the next victim, but without naming them they'll be free to go on cheating people out of their hard-earned money.  Is there a legal way round naming them,  for example just the initials? This could then be backed up  by a link to  the offended owner(s). If everything the owner says is true what can there be to worry about by naming them?

I haven't been in France since February when everything was working fine. My tenant tells me there's no signal, which probably means  it just needs resetting or something, but before we embark on that I wondered if Sky had changed anything in the last year, ie made UK subscriptions/cards unavailabl/unusable in France somehow.

Agree that the easiest thing to do, if it's six months is just pay it yourself and add it to the monthly rent. There are two problems though: 1) If, as was the case, the tenants say they are going to stay for 'years'! And then  in fact only stay for the choicest summer months (grrrr), what do you do? In this case you are expecting them to pay it so you would tempted to offer a more competitive rental rate. Perhaps one should notify the Tresor or whoever immediately the contract is signed, and leave it to them. 2) Strictly speaking, the rate will differ, in my case it was for one adult and one child, but the tenants were the now notorious combination of two adults, three children, a dog and two cats, so the rate would be higher n'est pas?

I confess this one has me confused. What I've heard is this: This tax is paid by the tenants, whereas taxe fonciere is paid by the owner. The taxe is imposed only if the house is habitable on January 1st. So if you have tenants, who stay at your house for the six summer months, are they liable for six months TH, and if so  how do you bill them - show them last years form. Or do you tell them to contact the Tresor or vice-versa? Or are they not liable as they weren't in residence on January 1st? If they are resident for the six winter months, how are the above questions answered? In my case the place may well be uninhabitable, ie electric and water cut off as of Jan 1st next year, but may be occupied from March, or if nobody takes it, even just occupied for two months in the summer. In this case what do  you do, send proof that it wasn't inhabitable on Jan 1st? And therefore pay not taxe for that year?

"Pay some heavies, have them moved, and make it clear what the consequences are if they pursue you.  It is only my view, but on principle (ie: having worked myself stupid for what i have), i would have them moved.  Strip the roof, flood them out, white noise them to death, dig a massive wide trench around the property, ensure they never get to sleep day or night, block all access and egress to the property, and if necessary....well we won't even go there in respect of what i would do if i was angry...do whatever you have to to move them on.......by the time i had finished i would have them begging me to let them leave!!" Sounds like an average day in (occupied) Palestine. Why not hire a helicopter gunship Chief? Hover over the house for a few days, strafe the driveway, drop marines down the chimney... ;)

I got an enquiry today from someone wanting to rent for the six, now five 'winter' months, will take every precaution in light of what's been said.

Josephine, I received the following advice from an American owner of  French property: "In Europe you, unfortunately now, have to play it by the rules but remember rules can always be bent....The easiest is to change the locks then say you have lost the key, then arrange to meet the renters, with a "locksmith" who helps to "remove" all their possessions due to "flood damage". In the States it's much easier. Just go with the sheriff and change the locks. This has worked for me on strips, office blocks and houses. Non- payers in houses are easy.....if you can't change the locks, just haul off their vehicle and threaten to sell/tell the finance company. In states like Florida....the law is always on the side of the owner and passing bad checks, kiteing, is a prisonable offence and so is staying longer then the contract states. Unfortunately the "Good Old Days" of turning off utillites/putting vermin/snakes in the property or appearing in the dead of night with "large gentlemen" have gone. Thank God I've retired......because of all this PC.....all the "fun" has gone out of the rental game!" On a side note, (this is perhaps not the right thread) but what's the French for broken record ? "disque cassé"?

What are the most popular websites for advertising a Gite?

The silence is deafening, I guess it IS just me then [:(]

Tell me it's just me, but nine times out of ten I access my account on this website I incur an error. Often it will say "vous etes deja connecte" right after I've logged in, as if I've already logged in. Then offers me no option to go to the account. I've just experienced this again andnow I get the message "Error 500: Impossible de vérifier la sécurité". If I do get as far as the account, it'll often crash when I move from one area to another. Now and then it works smoothly but so rarely that I'm  now considering changing banks, as I'm often abroad and need solid online banking access. I should add that the other banks have little or no problem accessing. I thought the SNCF site couldn't be beaten but La Poste have exceeded even their sorry design.

'Crapping on the bed' LOL, things really can always be worse. ps I don't think an apology is necessary, I for one, pardon the pun [:D]

Thanks for the advice Frederick, and sharing your experiences. It all helps in making better decisions in the future. In fact I  found that I miss the summer at my place, and will now keep July and August for my daughter and I, regardless of loss of income.

Pun, You don't get any better do you: "...as far as I know we dont have a landord thread on living France." followed by: "(do)..not use this thread for your mistakes.this is a gite thread not a renting for 2 year one." So what will it be then, there is no alternative thread, but don't post here because you say so? I don't think this merits any further discussion. "Who's the one with the problem ? you or me..." That's a good question, at first I thought it was me, as I'm the one with the temporary problem regarding ex-tenants, and the honesty to share my 'mistake' openly, or 'crying' to use your charming turn of phrase. I'd have to say though, I think your problems are a little more serious, and I don't mean your spelling-punctuation ability. Good luck, and goodbye.

'Pun' A few errors in your less than helpful post: 1) I've already expressed my naiivity at judging them on their 'appearance', did you want to add something other than your ego ? 2) Naming is not allowed, otherwise I'd be shouting it from the hilltops, not hard to figure that one out really is it. 3) I take it you are familiar with 'e-mail', it's a low-cost alternative to writing letters and phoning. 4) I don't recall asking asking for a lecture on the differences between being a Landlord and a Gite owner, these people are now in someone's Gite - get it? You seem to excel in both stating, and not quite grasping, the obvious.

I'm going to have to find out where these people are renting now. I suspect it's the Coulonges sur Autize area. What are the most popular websites for Gites in the area? I'll try contacting all the Gite owners with a warning, and also to get a forwarding address to send these bills.

I'm going to have to find out where these people are renting now. I suspect it's the Coulonges sur Autize area of south Vendee. What are the most popular websites for Gites? I'll try contacting all the Gite owners in that area with a warning, and also to get a forwarding address to send these bills.